Raise your hand if you know a Greek. And no – I don’t mean Greek as in Nia Vardalos in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones who wear those two or three significant letters on their chest and are super involved with a particular organization; the ones who hold core values and high ideals; the ones who occupy roughly 30 percent of AU’s campus; and the ones who are typically mis-stereotyped. 

I can’t tell you how many times I get an eye roll when I talk about being Greek. 

I normally follow it with a speech about how no; I am nothing like Elle Woods, even though my favorite color is pink. 

People constantly ask me if sorority life, or Greek Life in general for that matter, is what it looks like on TV and the movies. And though it may seem like a huge surprise, it’s not. Is there anything on television that is portrayed correctly? Not really. 

Yes, a sorority does consist of 80+ girls (on AU’s campus, at least). Yes, we can all be dramatic sometimes. Yes, if you put all of us in one room there is probably going to be a lot of commotion and screaming. But no, we aren’t all dumb blondes. No, we don’t haze our members and do weird chants with candles. And no, we don’t drink, have sex, and party. 

I was recently doing some research on a program that I considered partaking in after graduation. 

This program involved living on college campuses, being a part of the student body and preaching about Christ to the students. 

I wasn’t completely sold on the program yet, and then I saw the “Greek” tab. After reading about this specific part of the program, I was furious. 

The website reads, “Greek students are often the hardest to win over to Christ due to the unique struggles and challenges they face daily from their own brothers and sisters. Oftentimes the culture in fraternities and sororities is the opposite of a life centered on Jesus Christ, making it very difficult to come to know Christ or continue living their faith during their college years. They are in need of specific investment that goes beyond the needs of average college students due to magnified negative pressures that lurk in their daily lives.” 

This is exactly the kind of mis-sterotyping I am talking about. Whenever people think of Greeks, they automatically associate partying, drinking, and negative behaviors with all involved. At Ashland University, that is completely not true. 

Sorority and fraternity members hold a number of student-leadership positions on campus; they spend their time raising money for their philanthropies, which range from women’s heart health and the homeless to the Alzheimer’s Association and the military needs. They hold social events; they partake in healthy competition. And the stereotype about Greeks hating other chapters? Also untrue. Some of my best friends are in different chapters from my own. 

So, to this falsely accusing website, can’t you say that about any college situation? Negative peer pressure can be found in any college situation; not just with Greeks. Why are Greeks automatically put into this light where “magnified negative pressures lurk in their daily lives?” My sisters build me up; they never tear me down. 

Being Greek makes me hold myself to a higher standard because what I do not only affects myself; it affects 95 other girls. My sisters only challenge me to be the best version of myself and never pressure me to be something I’m not.

Being Greek is nothing like what it seems in the movies. I’ll admit that before joining my sorority, I was a bit skeptical and was against the whole idea of it, too. However, now I can’t imagine a single day without my sisters, or without being Greek. 

Being Greek is an experience that I will forever cherish and is something that has made me into who I am today. Stereotyping Greeks completely mislabels who we are as people. So get to know Ashland University’s Greek Life as we truly are before you label us as something we don’t deserve.