How Powerful Are The Greeks On Your Campus?

[Kevin]

At Central Oklahoma, we typically are at the head of all bodies of student government, except for the judiciary part (but they don't really count). This is not done without some serious collaboration with non-greeks though.

I can say this though -- our student body's Constitution was written by a member of my chapter, I'm not aware of a Senate Speaker Pro Tem (that's the dominant legislative branch), a President or Speaker of the House who hasn't been Greek.

GLOs are far and away the most active participants in general campus life events, sports, intramurals, etc.

[Thetagirl218]

At UNF I would say the majority of people in SG are Greek, but there still is about 35% that are GDI. However, over the years most people that come into SG end up going Greek! I was an officer in SG for a while, and I can say that the last 3 Student Body presidents and the president-elect (He was elected last week) are all Greek. Most of the Senate Leadership has been Greek for the past 5 years or so and a couple times there have been cases where GLO presidents have been officers in SG.

[knight_shadow]

At UTA, the majority of the campus offices (Student Governance, Ambassadors, Senate) are held by Greeks. There are, however, several other organizations (Campus activities, for instance) that are run by non-Greeks.

I don't know if it's power, per se, since Governance doesn't really "make the rules," but it does give Greeks more presence on campus.

[Jestor]

Not particularly strong at my school because Greeks are only about 1 or 2% of the population, but we usually manage to get at least 2-3 Senate seats a year.

I honestly think we'd be a lot stronger with formal rush and have been pushing the idea for the last two years, but, well... let's just say our Greek advisor is adamantly against the idea.

[PhoenixAzul]

At Otterbein, the majority of students in leadership positions, at least while I was there, were Greek. I think its the nature of the groups...being local, you've got a heck of a lot of work to do to keep things running smoothly, so they attract self-starters and multi-taskers. I know our newspaper editorial staff was, at one point and time, almost 90% Greek (yeah, writing articles about Greek life was rough!), the Trustees and Senators were often Greek as well.

But the thing is, that it wasn't just Greek life. OC seems to have this thing with people who multi-task like no tomorrow. They're in Greek life and Res life and Religious life and x, y, and zed. I don't necessarily think that Greek Life is the key to their involvement, but it is complementary as it gives you an understanding of the ins and outs of college policy and administration, which can be useful in other student organizations.

(Readers Digest version: Otterbein students are overachieving nutters who love their school and their organizations...and that's the way we like it! )

[SWTXBelle]

I don't know the situation now, but back in the 80s SAG was full of Greeks. In fact, a Sigma Chi was running for ASG president, and a non-greek was so close to him in votes that they had to have a run-off. An obnoxious Young Democrat kept going "Sigma Why? Sigma Why?" while we were waiting for the results. The Sigma Chi won, and I sweetly said "That's why Sigma Chi!". This "gentleman" actually said he wanted to hit me. Ah, the good ol' days. . .

[breathesgelatin]

W&L is for the most part completely controlled by Greeks, but this is basically a function of the fact that like 85% of the student body is Greek. There are certainly non-Greeks in positions of leadership. To some degree it depends on the organization.

I would say that 9 times out of 10 members of the Executive Committee (EC) and Student Judicial Committee (W&L's two major forms of student governance) are Greek. I can think of some instances where this was not the case. The one that's coming to my mind, though, is of a woman who was my class's representative to the EC for three years. We all presumed she would run EC President as a senior but she ended up not running at all. She was elected as a non-Greek (elections were held in the fall before freshmen pledge) and pledged a sorority. But she had disaffiliated with said sorority by the time she was a junior...

This is pretty pitiful, but I think for a while it was harder to get elected as a woman than as a non-Greek. Although by my senior year the gender thing seemed to be working itself out (finally). This is in part due to the fact that the early 2000s saw the advent of the first 50-50 classes.

[KenUDiggit]

This is kind of off topic but does the SGA at any campus have the power to do any major things?

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by KenUDiggit

This is kind of off topic but does the SGA at any campus have the power to do any major things?

That's what I was saying in my post a few days ago. Student Governance is in charge of all organizations on campus, but the student leaders don't have any real "power."

[breathesgelatin]

In general I view SGA as total BS. At UT they mostly pass resolutions on this and that. The major things they've done since I've been at UT that seem the most notable to me is levy several fees to pay for student projects. They've raised money to build statues of Cesar Chavez and Barbara Jordan on campus this way, and they've done the same to build a new student activities center (which I'm really skeptical if we actually need).

At W&L the EC and SJC were empowered to rule on matters relating to the Honor System and student misconduct (respectively), including the ability to suspend and expel students, so those were pretty serious duties. They also allocated money to student orgs. Those basically seemed like the two most notable things they did.

The Graduate student government at UT gives us free pizza for grad student appreciation week. And free beer once a month or so. Quite frankly I'd rather have free beer than a Student Activities Center. LOL.

[bballbandit]

SGA over here has actually done a lot, such as removing ridiculous late fees that should never have been implemented in the first place. The financial aid office over here is a complete joke, the SGA has really gotten on them recently and the results have been much more satisfactory. I'm pretty confident they will be fixing the tuition situation(raising 5-7% annually, I think it's 7% for fall 08, approaching UT and aTm costs quickly). There are a few members that are Greek, but my school isn't the most supportive of Greeks in general.

[Dougie]

Well at Miami University (Ohio), at least for 08-09, the Greeks have a lot of power as far as student government goes. The Betas have the Student Body Presidency, the AKAs and Phi Tau each took one of the three vice-presidencies, and the Phi Delts have the President of the Senate and the Treasurer. Plus, it looks like there will be a solid Greek block in the Student Senate. Not sure about the student court, but as some one else said, “They don’t really count.”

[1908Revelations]

I don't think so at my school by one of my Sorors (my LS) has been the USGA president for two years! Yay!!