The quickest way to explain what fraternities and sororities are would be to mention the movie “Animal House”. Then you get the pictures of keg party with people wearing bed sheets as their togas, pranks, and frat brothers being kicked out of their Delta Tau Xi house. (Okay, for those who don’t remember those rowdy Delta boys, think “The Skulls” without the murder schemes.) In reality, fraternities and sororities are much different than what the movies portrait.

Fraternities and sororities are parts of a long held social system on university campuses known as "the Greek System". Fraternity by definition is a social club for male undergraduates designated by Greek letters. Most fraternities and sororities are social, meaning that they serve the purpose of being “home” for their members, and the houses serve as their dormitories. Social fraternities are strictly for male, and sororities for female. There are also professional fraternities and honor societies that extend to students of particular majors and/or honor students. These professional/honor fraternities can be coed.

Basically, fraternities and sororities are just like majors/departments in Thai universities. They have the same brother-sister mentality, initiations, and strong sense of belonging. Unlike in Thailand, American students have more freedom to go from one major to another. Some of them are accepted to the school with no declared major. Therefore they don’t have the freshman traditions the way we do. Students start college and they’re on their own. College can be quite a lonely place for some students. For many American students, they turn to fraternities and sororities to find friends and to feel belong.

Everyone is welcome to enter the Greek system. Most cases, living in the Greek house turn out to be cheaper housing than university housings. Be warned that all of them have different fees, not including the cost of attending formal dances and other functions. In addition to money, joining the Greek system also requires time, and effort. First you have to “rush”. Rush is the process you have to go through to become Greek, which involves attending informal and formal meetings and parties. They will teach you Greek letters and other traditions. The fraternity/sorority houses would then offer you a bid, an invitation to join them. Once you accept the bid, you become a pledge. After more training sessions, you will be initiated into the house and become a member. Then again, for some houses, if you are a legacy—your family members were members first—you are automatically accepted. You will have the choice to live in the Greek house or not.

There are a lot of controversies regarding the Greek systems. Unfortunately, some rare few frat and sorority houses generated bad press and horrible stereotypes for the rest of the Greek system. Some say the Greek system is snobbish and pretentious, overly selective, racially segregated, and prejudice against appearances, financial status, and sexual orientations. Another stereotypes are that sororities are the breeding ground for eating disorders, and fraternities are all about binge drinking and dangerous hazing. In reality, all organizations can be as diverse as the people wanting to join them. More “liberal” houses are established to accept gays and lesbians. There are problems with eating disorders in dormitories and athletic teams as well as any place else on campus. Finally, hazing is illegal in most states, on all university campuses, and in every Greek organization. And alcohol is no longer permitted on the premise of any Greek houses.

(Hazing is what Thai people know as the violent version of freshman initiations or “Rabb Nong”. They make you do things against your will. Sometimes the initiations went beyond good clean fun to down right humiliating, traumatic, or even deadly. There are many more who suffer psychologically as well as physically.)

Despite all the negative words, being a part of fraternities or sororities does have countless benefits. First of all, they give college students a second "family". The Greek brothers and sisters come out of the experience with many friends and a lot of connections, which are excellent networking groups for later life. Secondly, by living in the Greek house, you have the same experience as living in a dorm with some of the perks like attending parties and formals. Being in a fraternity or sorority also require you to keep up with your grades. If your GPA falls below 2.50, you can no longer be a member of the fraternity. And finally, Greek houses are very involved with the community and philanthropy. They have given hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours and millions of dollars to worthy causes every year.

I personally haven’t the experience of the Greek life, but I know many people who have an awesome time being Greek. And of course, I also know those who don’t like the Greek life one bit. Some people seek lifelong friendship and surrogate family in the Greek system. Some believe that being in a fraternity define who they are. Some believe it makes them more elite than others. Some believe it completes their college experience. And some just want to feel like they belong to something special. It’s all about your perception, and how you feel about yourself, and the Greek lifestyle.

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