Left: The girls of Delta Alpha Theta showing off their letters. Right: DAT girls helping at the Downtown Mission
FACT
FICTION
Fraternities and
sororities offer no
practical life skills
FICTION
Membership causes
grades to suffer. Frat
boys are dumb jocks
and sorority girls are
airheads
I have always been a relatively busy person, with multiple part-time jobs. Add being in a
student group to that, and my schedule got crazy. I had been told about the once-a-week
meetings, on Sunday evenings on campus, where we got together to discuss the events…all the
events. My sorority was also an Optimist Club, so in addition to sorority and Greek life-based
events, we had Optimist Club events to contend with. Over my time with the sorority, I
participated in can drives, penny drives (remember pennies?) and clothing drives. I served
lunch at the local mission, hosted children’s activity days, ran Easter egg hunts and youth
basketball tournaments.
More important, the things I learned while being a member of the sorority are life skills
that I have carried with me well past graduation. These are skills that have gotten me jobs,
helped me travel the world and developed friendships everywhere I’ve gone. Greek life gives
you the ability to run a board meeting, make an agenda, take meeting minutes, plan an event
for 100+ people, plan a fundraiser and analyse the needs of both your individual group and
your community. I can run a successful marketing campaign, complete with social media
marketing skills, as well as coordinate the responsibilities of an organization with the
requirements of the institution under which it belongs. With the sorority, we coordinated with
both the Greek Life council and the University of Windsor. I learned more practical life skills in
my time with the Greek groups than I have anywhere else.
Logan also found surprising benefits by going Greek.
“I definitely changed a lot being in a sorority,” Logan said. “I had very few priorities when
I first entered university, and now I think my morals and values have drastically changed for
the better because of Greek life.”
Logan also mentions the skills that don’t end up on a resumé. “I’ve learned to value the
important things in life like loyalty, friendship and trust.”
FACT
Most Greek organizations actually have some rather strict academic requirements. I served
as the Personal Development Chair in my time with DAT, and was responsible for monitoring
the academics of each member. Falling into academic probation could also result in probation
from the organization. Many Greek groups organize study nights, especially during exams, to
help members coordinate their time so that academics are a priority. We’ve gone on to become
nurses, doc ܜ