Junior economics and government and politics major
Most people have found the email written by the Delta Gamma sorority member to be tremendously hilarious. News sources such as The Huffington Post went so far as to call it “incredible.”
I’m not laughing and neither should you. The rhetoric displayed by the email’s author was borderline sociopathic. However, underneath the blatantly horrendous language lays an even more troubling dynamic that is pervasive throughout Greek life: The culture is coercive by nature.
The expectations displayed in the email illuminated the conformity and obedience to norms that have become the cornerstone of Greek life. From the matching tote bags and Greek-lettered shirts, to the very fact that the organizations are inundated with white, well-off students, the idea of uniformity has been a consistent pattern.
The author merely succeeded in revealing these expectations of oneness in a way that was obscene but nonetheless true. You are expected to “please” Sigma Nu; you are expected to cheer for whom they tell you to, and you are expected to party and socialize where superiors determine. Your destiny is no longer your possession — autonomy is crucified and replaced by Pleasantville-esque homogeneity.
Granted, a wide variety of social organizations suffer from similarly coercive cultures. However, what makes Greek life distinctively pernicious is the unquestioning loyalty required of its members. I already mentioned the mandatory physical uniformity, but this effect is exacerbated by the nature of the pledging process and how it indoctrinates new members to unconditionally and irrationally value the image and ideology of the organization. The email was never intended to be publicized. Why? Because Greek culture expects members never to engage in behavior that exposes the atrocities of the organization, regardless of the emotional or mental abuse that is perpetrated.
The embolic fluid of lies sustains this culture of coercive conformity. The secretive nature of these organizations precludes the public from ever meaningfully scrutinizing their troubling conduct. Behind the opulent closed doors of fraternity and sorority houses lie reprehensible practices neither you nor I may adequately criticize insofar as they are enigmatic. We receive minute rays of light revealing indecent actions, such as shocking emails or racist party photos when they leak on the Internet. But how much more do we not know? Behind the sorority smiles and group handshakes lies a crooked culture shrouded in hazy mist.
This culture leads to dubious consequences that ought to disgust any rational human being. The patriarchal relationship between sororities and fraternities establishes gender and sexual norms wholly contingent on female subordination and exploitation — to such an extent that women are valued as sexual commodities. The obvious end result is rape culture, which is beyond objectionable.
What’s most abhorrent is our unwillingness as a collegiate society to sufficiently address these issues by fully critiquing these establishments. I understand some Greek organizations are exponentially more maleficent than others, but until we challenge the entirety of the culture to self-reflect, we will continue the perpetual manifestations of conformist ideologies that the author of the email championed and continue to absolve the laundry list of troubling behaviors we have seen in hazing practices and alcoholism.
This column is not meant to act as a death sentence to Greek life, but as a concerned university student and citizen’s call for Greek life to concede its problematic elements and actively open a discourse to implement revolutionary change.
Marc Priester is a sophomore economics and government and politics major. He can be reached at marcpriester@gmail.com.
