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Melissa Nieves

Professor Chrysafi

English 201

6 April 2017

Introduction:

The topic I’ve chosen is greek life, specifically the ones in John Jay. I’ve chosen this

group of individuals, because I have recently crossed into a sorority Kappa Phi Alpha, in

January, but until a few months ago I had zero idea what a sorority was, what it meant to be apart

of and what exactly I was getting into. I feel like most high school kids when they ask about

greek life, they have zero understanding about it unless they have an older sibling who has gone

through it and think it is just a good question to ask on tours. At least that’s how it was for me.

When I started John Jay I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of students I saw

everywhere and I was immediately put off because I am not very good at making friends. So

when I noticed all of these girls who were clearly not a part of the class of 2020 posting about

rush events on the John Jay 2020 facebook page I got curious and decided to check them out. I

went to three different sororities, but I found my home within the org I crossed into. When I met

the girls it felt like a perfect match. Which is why it was hard for me to understand why greek

life gets a bad reputation within college communities, whether it being due to hazing, or movies,

or just maybe one bad experience one individual had. Unfortunately this often sets a precedent

for other organizations who had nothing to do with these tragic events that took place While I am

apart of Greek Life, I only have so much experience in the two and a half months that I have

been apart of it. I hope to learn more from my own sisters as well as reaching out to others on

their opinions of greek life and their experiences with it when it comes to the real world. This

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inquiry is relevant because greek life is actually pretty popular in John Jay and this could stop

the gap that has formed between greek life and non greek life students since the sororities and

fraternities, on campus, positively affect the students that join and allow for a different college

experience.

Assumptions & Early Hypothesis

Speaking from experience of when I first entered Greek Life it was very intimidating

because I had no prior knowledge aside from “chick flicks” such as Sorority Wars and House

Bunny. My assumptions were that I would be seeing if I fit in and they would be doing the same

thing to me. I feel that when people think about greek life they automatically think of hazing and

being forced to do crazy things. I was not really thinking along those lines when I went to my

first rush event. But, if I had put more thought into it and allowed myself to be scared by those

movies, horror stories I might have not even made it to the rush event” Since 2005, more than 60

people have died in fraternity-related incidents”(Friedman, J. 2015). Overall, this group was very

welcoming, and I felt right at home when I met the girls of Kappa Phi Alpha. I have friends in

other sororities and I know that’s how they felt when they met their current sisters too. When I

searched up greek life many articles with bad connotations regarding alcohol abuse, “While

fraternity and sorority members form strong bonds, much of the bonding among members

revolves around alcohol and partying.” (Garrett 2002). Another downside to greek life, seems to

be them their inability to stay out of the spotlight, especially under negative circumstances

“dangers of fraternities (and sororities), whether it's a campus rape scandal or a story about a

hazing death.” (Luca, Briana 2015). Overall, the negative stigmas regarding greek life, seem to

outway the good that they were intended for.

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Methodology:

While searching for information regarding sororities, the first place I looked was the

couches in John Jay. I also, searched up sororities and fraternities on google scholar as well as

the John Jay library search engine. When making observations, I sat on a couch and I basically

people watched. I observed the way greeks interacted with one another, what they did and more

importantly how they interacted with those outside of greek life. Something I also, kept a eye out

for was the way non-greek like people acted around the couches and where they would sit and

things similar to that nature. I also, attended a few different greek events just to see how many

people from outside of greek life came out. I went to a sororities dodge ball game, and I also

went to a student panel/discussion about gender roles.

Greeks interacted with each other on a regular basis, I observed many who has classes

together and waited for each other before heading off to class regardless of their letters. I also,

noticed that there was a clear divide amongst greek life and non greek life as the day went by.

During the early hours people sat wherever even in the spots that a lot of orgs occupied, but as

the day went out it became, more greek organizations in the middle with everyone else around

them.

An interesting I noticed at the dodgeball event was that, there were hardly any people not

apart of greek life that came willingly without knowing anyone. If someone was there it was

because they were very good friends with the people already in greek life. I think this really

showed the division amongst greek life and other students, because they do not seem to be

considering these events as open invitations to everyone around school, instead something where

if they did attend they would seem like a fish out of water.

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I spoke to several people, I spoke to my sisters, two brothers and a couple of sisters from

other sororities. All of these I had informal and just casually brought up questions about how

they felt about the couches or if they thought it was strange that it was only greeks at events. The

photographs I took were of all the greek life at events and the very few non greek lives, because

many group photos were taken where you could see this clear divide.

Data Analysis:

The significance of my observations show that there is no harm being committed by those

in greek life on campus, there just seems to be an off putting connotation surrounding it that

many people do not cross. Five of my sister who had crossed in the past year told me that even

for the last two years before they joined greek life they sat at the couches and were friends with

greeks and still went to events. So being scared of greek life is not a universal thing, there ar

some people who can be involved without being apart of it, and it is a good way to get know

about different organizations and see if you really want to join it. Personally when thinking about

it, I do not think I could have been able to sit on the couches and just get to know different

people in greek life because it would have been far too intimidating, but it’s not impossible.

When reading articles, the topic of greek life was always drinking, alcohol, and a lot of

sex. Obviously, I did not see this at school, I’m not sure if this has anything to do with John Jay

being so small, but for the last three months that I have been apart of greek life I did not witness

this, and when I asked around everyone was pretty much hurt/ or appalled at these ideologies of

greek life because those are not the reasons people join greek life, They join for friendship -

sisterhood or brotherhood - they join to be philanthropic, or they join because they wanted to

experience something different they have never experienced before.

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Conclusion:

Ultimately, my finding showed that people in greek life while in college are no

different from those outside of it. The only difference is their world becomes smaller because

instead of lets say a school of 16,000, it feels like a world of 100 or so. Regardless of someone

being greek or not, the people I asked chose to consume alcohol upon their accord, and without

greek life they still would have. None of my thoughts or question remain unclear at this point, I

was expecting this to be the output since sororities and fraternities get a bad reputation even if

they’ve never done anything wrong. Considering the release of Burning Sands, I believe that

further examination of sororities and fraternities should occur, but the focus should be on their

pledging and hazing instead of the aftereffects of joining.

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References

Friedman, J. (2015, November 20). Greek life on campus. CQ Researcher, 25, 985-1008.

Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/

Luca, Briana. "Greek Life Isn't The Problem, The People Are The Problem." Elite Daily. N.p.,

06 Aug. 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2017

Ethnographic Interview of , Kesiya Joseph, Sarah Feliciano, Kailyn Cano, Ashley Granados, and Nymeria Gomes, March 30th , 1:30 - 3:00

Garrett Deanna M. “The Value of the Greek System: Should Fraternities and Sororities Have a

Place on Campus?”The Vermont Connection.". N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

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Photos :

This is is an image of the

dodgeball game, everyone in the

picture is a part of a greek org.

This is my sisters and I at a Pie-

A- TKE event where the proceeds

go towards St.Jude’s Hospital.

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This is the meet the philanthropics event that happened in John Jay in February.

This is the gender panel I attended. The three girls on the left hand side are not in a greek org.

Field Notes:

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Observations on couches:

● Greeks are the center of attention

● Other students sit on the outskirts

● Only a few non greek people come to the couches, and it is usually because they were

friend with people prior to them joining greek life.

● Greeks are only dating each other, I saw no one with someone outside of greek life.

Observation at dodge ball event:

● Majority of the students in attendance were greek

● It was an event targeted towards greeks, not just anyone could play

● When the picture was taken, we were told to throw up our signs, which insinuated that

non greek people would not be around.

Observation at gender panel:

● Surprised to see non greek people there

● Everyone was very welcoming towards them

● They weren’t actually friends with the people hosting the event, they had just shown up

Pie-A-Tke:

● My friends at city college who are not in greek life told me I should have invited them to

come

● It was open to everyone, but it was only greeks or peoples girlfriends participating

● Students just observed and watched.