A pledge to forget sisterhood...

NY times article: My Sorority Pledge? I Swore Off Sisterhood. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/fashion/02love.html?ref=fraternitiesandsororities

A NOT SO HAPPY RUN IN WITH THE PAST: When we think sisterhood and close bonds of friendship with sorority sisters, we think of found memories and happy reunions. For this woman, Kelly Dick, her reunion was more of a nightmare. This article is about the repressed memories of a 40 yr old woman who is confronted with her past when she runs into a former sorority sister. She attributes this woman to the "unraveling of her youth." This sorority sister used to interrogate and haze her during her college years and contributed to her partying way too much and making bad decisions. Kelly's most horrible memory from college, losing her virginity, has been attributed to her sorority sisters who set her up with this fraternity guy who put her "deflowering on display for..his voyeuristic brethren."

EWWWWWW. It's horrible that some of the worst memories of this woman's life can be attributed to sorority/fraternity life, while I can say that some of my fondest memories can be attributed to Greek life. I can't think of anything more disgusting than a guy taking advantage of a girl and it being on display for anyone. Apparently they called these occurrences "ledge parties." At least some of the fraternity guys had the decency to stop this because Kelly was unconscious, however, if she had been conscious it would have been okay. I find this to be appalling. I don't know of this happening these days on this campus, but I would hope and pray that fraternity guys are gentlemen and sorority sisters are not pushing their sisters to just hook up with that guy since he's a catch...

Inaction also makes you guilty...

When thinking about the bystander effect, it is easy for me and I'm sure others to just place blame instead of taking some sense of responsibility because it is the easy way out. Many times we might see a sister getting way to intoxicated at a tg and think "wow she's making a fool out of herself..." but fail to think twice about it when she leaves with that guy who I'm sure knows she waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too drunk! We turn a blind eye to the consequences that could come about from that situation... All we do is place the blame on her and preach "personal responsibility," but when personal responsibility fails and no one takes action people can get hurt. I know many times I don't want to leave the party or want to tell a sister no(tough love), but sometimes that initial awkwardness can spare your sister of some heartache and embarrassment. I know we all want to sit her and say people should be responsible for their actions, but as a sister you should feel some responsibility for your friend. I know that I want to trust that my friends would tell me no, so I'm gonna tell work on telling them no. The thing about the bystander effect is that you are just as guilty for the what happens if you do nothing about it when you could have. If you see something happening, take some action.

I'm sure some of you guys went to Something of Value. This prompt reminded me of the mock trial about the sorority girl who died after a night of drinking(tg and o-patio) and they were trying to find who was legally at fault(the social chair, pres, big sister, etc)..the moral of the story was who should have been emotionally responsible..

Oath-Sincerity of one's actions

The best way I could think of to analyze the word oath was to hit up dictionary.com. This definition struck me as important to sorority/fraternity life...
Oath: a solemn attestation of the truth of one's words or the sincerity of one's actions
The part that really speaks to me is the sincerity of one's actions. Yes, by joining a sorority or fraternity there are lots of things you are obligated to do such as community service, philanthropy, academic excellence, but I think we need to reflect on our intentions. Are we doing these things because they are required of us or because we want to be better individuals? Do we do community service because we want recognition or because we actually care about people other than ourselves? Oath seems to be a simple word meaning "promise", but it is much more complex than that. Oath is not only fulfilling our promises to our organizations but doing them in a manner that is sincere and meaningful because if we don't we are breaking our oaths. Another important aspect of oath, is that it unites all Greek organizations and sets us apart from other organizations. Furthermore, an oath is for life. When taking my oath, I don't think I realized the implications of that. This means that once you are an alum, you still hold an obligation to your organization. Your continued support is needed to further the growth of new generations, whether that be through donating to scholarship funds or volunteering with current members. DZ is not just 4 years but for life..

Citizenship

Alpha Pi's Mud Tug with my DZs! Me and my contestant for Big Man on Campus!






ME & Citizenship
CHAPTER: One of the most important ways in which I display citizenship within my sorority would be through attending chapter. This is one of the simplest ways to participate. Part of citizenship is through voting and sharing your opinion. I hate it(and I’m sure this happens with everyone’s chapter) when people complain about all the things they hate about the chapter, yet they are unwilling to give suggestions of how to solve these problems. I just want to be like if you want things to change you have to take action or run for a position
PHILANTHROPY: Within my chapter I participated in our annual philanthropy Big Man on Campus which is a male beauty pageant. My role was to be a coach and be on stage with my contestant and support them. Furthermore, I’ve participated in numerous other philanthropies of other chapters such as Mud Tug, Derby Days, Alpha Pi/Delta Tau Delta flag football, ATO Casino Night, etc.
COMMUNITY SERVICE: Personally, during winter quarter I volunteered at the Columbus Literacy Council every Wednesday night. I also volunteered with some of my sisters at the Habitat for Humanity warehouse.


DZ & Citizenship Me at Sigma Pi's chartering dinner PHA: My chapter shares our opinions by attending president’s meetings, being a part of attending roundtables for each of the chair positions of each chapter, having members of our sorority have leadership positions on PHA.
SOMETHING OF VALUE: Our chapter participated in Something of Value. All of the sororities of PHA were invited. It was a really beneficial event. We learned a lot about personal responsibility and responsibility for the members of our chapter, especially when it comes to planning social events. Personally, I learned a lot from all of the other social chairs of the sororities and during our small talks we all opened up to each other.
INVOLVEMENT: My chapter tries to send members to all the philanthropies hosted by other chapters. Recently my chapter has participated in Alpha Phi/Delta Tau Delta’s flag football, Chi-O’s Moonball, Alpha Chi Omega’s Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, Kappa Alpha Theta’s 5k, etc. My chapter had members participate in all of the events for Greek Week. What does this look like?
SUPPORTING EACH OTHER: Recently my chapter sent two delegates(me and my president) to Sigma Pi’s chartering reception. It was kind of disappointing to not see a representative from all of the chapters, but I was really glad I attended. We got to see what an actual charter looked like and it was so cool to hear their creed.
CHAPTER RETREAT: Part of showing citizenship within the sorority/fraternity community is through supporting the community through service. My chapter volunteered at Columbus Speech and Hearing last Saturday. It was the day after a tg, but everyone showed up and had a good time. We helped set up for a garage sale to help raise money for Columbus Speech and Hearing and organized some of the classrooms for the children.
COLLABORATION: I know this is one of the other C’s but I think it plays into Citizenship. Our chapter has worked with Delta Theta Sigma to host a Wiffleball philanthropy. Currently, our Chapter is working on a Lacrosse Philanthropy with ATO for next fall.

OSU GREEK COMMUNITY & citizenship
IMPROVEMENT & MAKING PROGRESS: I would say that the fraternity/sorority community could definitely improve on being involved in the university community/ improve their image. I know most chapters participate in Greek Week and Homecoming Week, but I’m not sure if those events really impact the university community in a positive way because I feel as though most chapter focus on the social aspects of those weeks(tgs and socials). I know many chapters have participated in Rock the Block and Community Commitment day, which is good. I know currently PHA is working on an event Capture the Splash, which our chapter is participating in to promote unity within the sorority and campus community. After talking to a few friends on IFC, I know they are making strides to work collaboratively to promote Greek life in general, rather than just for specific fraternities.

Congruence in the Greek Community-fact or fiction?

The activity we did during our class week was really enlightening. For the most part, the Greeks I enterviewed gave me the "cookie cutter" answers(ohhhhh yeah service is one of our top priorities when in actuality it's getting hammered). A few of the people I think were actually congruent in their chapters beliefs, their personal beliefs, and how they act and reflect those beliefs, but I would say a majority of the people were telling me what they thought I wanted to hear or they might have been scared I would judge them... I thought it was funny how one of my friends was like do you want me to tell you the ACTUAL truth or do you want me to lie? From this, I think I have learned something positive. I think as a Greek community we sometimes get offended by the stereotypes that are thrusted upon us, but I think sometimes we do actually prove those stereotypes right(being a drunk fool one night). As a whole, I don't agree that those stereotypes accurately portray Greek life because Greek life is about scholarship, philanthropy, sisterhood/brotherhood, leadership, etc.(these are some of the things I got from my interviews). As a community we should unite and work together to highlight these positive aspects of Greek life. As seen through many of the mission statements of the chapters, we all share common goals and ideals. If we all reflect back on our roots, our common bonds can hopefully bring us together.