Sororities valuable, so are other organizations

I’ve never really understood the attraction of joining a sorority.

Personally, I can only take women in small doses, and something about greek life seems very claustrophobic.

At the same time, I understand that the experience is valuable for some. The immediate connections and feeling of sisterhood is powerful, to be sure. The greek community at IU also does some wonderful philanthropic work, including raising awareness about breast cancer and generating huge funds for Riley Hospital for Children. It helps that many of the greek women I know are passionate, intelligent and committed – quite unlike the ugly stereotypes surrounding them.

I shouldn’t be surprised, then, that around 1,600 women braved the cold weather last weekend for 19 Party, the start of formal sorority recruitment.

Young women trudged through the snow and visited the 19 sorority houses over a span of two days. The process allows potential new members to interact with sorority representatives and get a feel for each house.

What always strikes me about 19 Party and the subsequent recruitment stages is how superficial the process is, especially when compared to fraternity recruitment.

Young women are expected to make judgments about a house and its members based on 30 minutes of forced interactions.

Often, this can result in some very negative discourse. I have known potential members to rate houses based on how attractive the girls are. This usually devolves into variations of the white/skinny conversations. The more likely a house is to fit into these stereotypes, the more popular it is.

The most infamous example of such negative stereotyping occurred at DePauw University in 2007. Worried that the school’s Delta Zeta chapter was losing out on potential new members due to its staid reputation, national DZ representatives evicted 23 women from the sorority’s house. These members included every woman who was overweight, as well as the only Korean and Vietnamese members.

During a DePauw recruiting event for freshmen, national officials even had the gall to bring in sorority women from IU as DZ representatives.

For some, it might come as no surprise that sororities often resort to rating the superficial. Isn’t that a part of life? Still, one wonders why such trivialities rarely affect fraternity recruitment. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if women could visit an open house or indulge in some drinking games and determine if a house is right for them, like the men do?

Come January, it is inevitable that a group of women at IU will be disappointed when final bids are made. Some will not get the house of their choice, and others will be outright rejected.

But it is important to remember that rejection is not the end of the world. There are many other ways to build a social life on campus and develop leadership experience.

Join a student group or start your own, value friendships and enjoy yourself. You might just conclude that not getting into a sorority was the best thing that ever happened to you.