As a sister, a proud feminist and yet a perpetrator of the harsh, exclusionary tactics I was taught to recruit new members, I felt guilty and malicious for participating, and angry at what some would call a broken system. Recruitment consists of a process in which thousands of freshman girls file into sorority houses at colleges around the country ready to “speed date” with members of the chapter to become one of nine million Greek-affiliated college students in the country. The first month of my sophomore year at college, I spent the majority of my time participating in sorority recruitment. In a time in America where elitist, exclusionary and discriminatory institutions are being called into question, I ask myself the same questions I have had since I joined Greek Life: Why is Greek Life so attractive to young American college students? Do the benefits outweigh the negatives? Is Greek Life the problem, or is it a microcosm of a much larger American issue regarding classism, elitism, white privilege and discrimination?
![greek rank greek rank](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8YWn0aLeW_Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
I’ve spent time and energy calculating an argument, researching and reading and compiling different anecdotes of both the benefits and harmful effects of Greek Life - and now, I’m ready to speak up. Greek Life made a huge campus much smaller, gave me a freshman year social scene and a best friend, but I also saw the dark corners that don’t appear in bid day photographs and game day apparel. The truth is, I’ve been caught in an ethical mind game regarding my mixed stance on the institution. I’ve been sitting on my hands for four years, holding my tongue from writing about Greek Life to prevent myself from releasing a hasty, unfinished argument for how I feel about the community. I felt out of place, uncomfortable and sad living in the sorority house - which was mandatory for sophomore members. It was likely my fault that I’d distanced myself from the other women, but we didn’t share the same priorities, which became clear to me after recruiting a new member pledge class my sophomore year. At the end of my sophomore year, I decided to drop my sorority affiliation after participating in an extremely shallow rush process, while also feeling ostracized and disliked by members of my chapter. Yet, Greek culture seemed like an attractive and simple way to find instant friends for an out-of-stater, so I changed my tune. As a freshman, I was hesitant to join Greek Life, as I’d consistently maintained that being in a sorority wasn’t a “me” thing to do. On the other hand, my involvement paved the way to a moral tug-of-war regarding my hybrid stance on the institution of Greek Life - not just at the University of Michigan, but in America.
![greek rank greek rank](https://www.greekrank.com/images/articles/article20170731/image013.jpg)
By way of my sorority affiliation, I was able to create the longest lasting friendships of my undergraduate experience and found a best friend I’ll have for the rest of my life.
![greek rank greek rank](https://cdn.greekrank.com/images/articles/article20210223/feat_image002.jpg)
I joined Greek Life looking to find a community outside that of the theatre students I’d be spending most of my time with and to be exposed to a new perspective. My college experience was, in some ways, defined by my affiliation with Historically White Fraternities and Sororities, or HWFS, at the University of Michigan.