What is it like on the other side?

Greek Kind of Life was fortunate enough to receive correspondence from a disassociated member of the greek community. Being that this site is made to include all things greek. We felt it was necessary to share her story. We asked our disassociated sorority sister a few questions about her situation.


GKOL: What made you want to leave your organization?

DA: My decision to leave the sorority was not exactly my own. After poor planning on my part and spending my financial aid incorrectly I decided to part ways. I wore my finances thin and had no way to pay my dues.

GKOL: Were there any way for you to come back from your debts?

DA: I came to a point where I owed the house a large amount of money. After discussing the situation with the sorority I was given the time to figure it out. Unfortunately with the hells of financial aid I was left with no options.

GKOL: Financial aid can be hell for a lot of people. What is it like now that you are on the other side?

DA: Well I was sad because I do miss out on all of the activities that used to keep me busy. The close friends I made in the sorority are still close to me. I don't miss some of the dramatic times that were had while living in the house. There are some things I do miss and some things I don't.

GKOL: In the end what are your feelings about the greek community.

DA: I am not bitter about my situation. I understand that it was mostly my fault. My greek experience was great. I think that being a part of a greek community is a rewarding experience. I recommend it to anyone that is interested. Like I said there are things people like and things people hate. All I have to say is manage your money better. You wouldn't want to leave for reasons that could have been prevented

Help a brother out!

Dear Greek Life,

I do not know if I am the only one who has noticed this but it seems to me that greek life as a whole has been slipping this year as compared to last. The best memories I have from last year is ones of participating in other fraternities and sororities philanthropies, and so far this year the social aspect of greek life has for lack of a better word sucked! We pride our selves on how much we give back to the community but so far this year there I haven't seen barely any contributions from greek life to our community. Granted it is getting to be winter so there is less outside activities to do but this still should not be a problem for us greeks. We greeks run the college I attend whether everyone else wants to admit it or not so we need to help out our image a little and show our community we care about something besides booze and partying.

Has anyone else noticed the need for change?

- A concerned brother

What is your greek community like? 
Is it similar to this concerned brothers?


HELP A BROTHER OUT!


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Help a brother out!

Hi GKOL,

My story starts with a man born in 1854.  He is our house dad, and I believe he needs to be abolished.  We recently had our parking lot re-vamped, and our house dad took it upon himself to make sure than no one who didn't live inside the house, member or not, was unable to park there even though there was many extra spots which are handy for us because we like to drive to chapter and other house events.  He flexed his already tight grip on our balls once again by towing a live-out member who had been parked there for three hours so he could work on the re-finishing of the basement floor.  This was a project that said member did not have to do, he was doing it out of kindness and for love of our chapter.  And he ended up having to pay $280 to get his car back from the car repo. place, after working all day to make a place to party for the house from which he was towed.  This is absolutely unacceptable.  A house dad is an advisor of a fraternity, not a warden of a prison.  He needs to work with members, not against them.  Maybe before towing, he could call the member and inform them that they should move their car as soon as they can.  I think the expulsion of our house dad is in order.  What is a house dad really for?  What are the responsibilities of other house dad's on campus?  What is the benefit of having a house dad?  Ours is for some reason trying to put a dent in our wallets to pay the city of Corvallis.  Am I right in saying that this is unacceptable?  Thank you.

--An Uneasy Member

Anyone out there have any advice for our Uneasy Member?
How would you deal with this situation?


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Have any questions for other members of the greek community? 
Send them to greekkindoflife@gmail.com

Help a sister out!

Dear Fellow GREEKS!

I have a major problem! I am junior in my sorority. We all love to have a good time and go out. We always go to some of the greatest parties on campus. I know this may seem sooo stereotypical of a sorority girl. However, I am also a member in top standing in my sorority. My cumulative GPA is 3.8 This causes a problem when sisters in my house see me as this crazy party girl. When in reality the times I do go out (which are not frequent) are simply my release from my stresses of school. I can understand that when I go out, I go ALL OUT! I am not one to drag people to the library or force anyone to study with me. I often do most of my school work at the house by myself. I prefer not to tell everyone how stressed out I am and make their days worse. I feel like this is leading me to look like someone who parties all the time. When in reality I have the balance of school and social life down perfect. How do I get everyone to realize that I am doing quite alright on my own?

Decisions, Decisions -3-

This concludes our round of chat interviews with a few members of different greek organizations.

We wanted to see how they felt about the organization they are a part of.

We asked them a few questions and asked for their quickest response.

Here is the third and final part of the the interviews.

GKOL:Once you were a part of your house did you still think it was the right decision?
Sorority Sister:yes
GKOL:Assuming you have been in your sorority/fraternity for longer than  4 Months do you still feel the same way?
SS:yes
GKOL:Has the feel of the house changed since you first became a member?
SS:nope
GKOL:What aspect of your house do you truly enjoy?
SS:the friendships and bonds with the girls.
GKOL:What aspect of your house do you truly dislike?
SS: the food
GKOL:If you had the chance to change anything, knowing what you know now, would you?
SS:nope

Decisions, Decisions -2-

This continues our round of chat interviews with a few members of different greek organizations.

We wanted to see how they felt about the organization they are a part of.

We asked them a few questions and asked for their quickest response.

Here is part two of the the interviews.

GKOL:Once you were a part of your house did you still think it was the right

decision?

Fraternity Brother:Yes

GKOL:Assuming you have been in your sorority/fraternity for longer than  4 Months
do you still feel the same way?

FB:Yes

GKOL:Has the feel of the house changed since you first became a member?

FB:No, I just have just realized that fraternities are not all fun and games.

GKOL:What aspect of your house do you truly enjoy?

FB:The other guys in the house and getting to know them better

GKOL:What aspect of your house do you truly dislike?

FB:The maturity level of some of the members

GKOL:If you had the chance to change anything, knowing what you know now, would
you?

FB:No

Decisions, Decisions -1-

Greek Kind of Life chatted briefly with a few members of different greek organizations.
We wanted to see how they felt about the organization they are a part of.
We asked them a few questions and asked for their quickest response.
Here is part one of the the interviews.

GKOL: Once you were a part of your house did you still think it was the right decision?
Fraternity Brother:yes

GKOL:Assuming you have been in your sorority/fraternity for longer than  4 Months do you still feel the same way?

 FB:yes

GKOL:Has the feel of the house changed since you first became a member?

 FB:yes

GKOL:What aspect of your house do you truly enjoy?

 FB:brotherhood

GKOL:What aspect of your house do you truly dislike?

 FB:Lack of accountability

GKOL:If you had the chance to change anything, knowing what you know now, would you?

 FB:yes

So what's it like in your neck of the woods? -1-

This is a recent interview had between Greek Kind of Life and a Sorority Sister.
Let's see how she feels about her greek community.

GKOL: How important is it to you to feel a sense of community within the greek system at your school?

SS: It is very important to me that the whole greek community is close, not just houses in themselves. Being part of a greek house is something that is supposed to bring people together, rivalries are fine and all but the only thing that comes out of houses being cruel to each other is confirming stereotypes and people getting hurt.

GKOL: What is the overall feel of the greek community at your school?

SS: To me I feel that the greek community here is fairly close and at it's worst it's tense but cordial. I am not the type to make enemies though so I might be looking at it through rose tinted glasses. For me I have only heard of rivalries and never seen them enacted, but there is no doubt that there is an undercurrent of tension between certain individuals.

GKOL: How would you describe the influence that social greek organizations are for the social life of campus?

Help a brother out!

Dear Greek World,

I am writing here because I learned about this site from a friend and thought I would give it a try. Im looking for some advice. I am a member of a national fraternity, we are one of the larger houses on campus. We always do really well in rush and gain alot of members. This being said I feel like there is a such thing as doing too well in rush. My house rushed about 45 new members this year. At first it was cool because we had bragging rights as doing the best in rush. Then I started to realize our numbers were starting to affect our closeness. With so many people now in and out of our house (not everyone can live in), it is hard to keep in touch with so many people. I have noticed that the upper-classmen and lower-classmen are becoming two separate groups. I don't want this to affect our success in the future. Does anyone have an idea on how I can try and fix this?

Anyone have any ideas for him?


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Have any questions for other members of the greek community? 
Send them to greekkindoflife@gmail.com

How you doin' ?

It seems that greek recruitment is riding a roller coaster of participation nation wide. Taking a look at various greek life websites across the nation, the numbers vary from school to school. At  The University of Missouri their greek life since 2004 has increased 1% each year in women and stayed the same in men. According to the numbers at The College of Charleston men only gained a third of new membership that women gained. Oregon State University saw an average of 40 new members for sororities and an average of about 20 for a few of the top fraternities. Oregon State University has also reported a decline in overall greek life participation since the 80's. These waves in numbers makes us wonder how other schools are doing? Also, Why are men slowly becoming disinterested in the greek system?

What do you think?

What's all the fuss about?

Greek Life is an ever changing community. Houses arrive on a campus one year and some are gone the next. The opportunities while in greek life and post greek life are endless. Many will meet lifelong friends, some may even meet their soul mates. Career opportunities often become available through greek networking. A person can learn so much about themselves and who they want to become. On the other hand, the challenges greek life faces are similar nation wide. The same rules are being broken and the same penalties are being enforced. Arguments between friends and thoughts about disassociating are frequent. Let's share our stories! We can always learn something from one another.