It is no secret to anyone who knows me that sororities are not really my cup of tea. To be honest, when I see the dozens of freshman girls huddled together for recruitment weekend each year, I typically roll my eyes or make a sarcastic comment. However, I’m a big enough person to admit that my views on sororities really just apply to me.
I understand as well as anyone how important it is to find your place at a school like LMU. I found mine at the Loyolan, and I completely understand that someone could find that same sense of belonging as a DG or a Theta. I support everyone who is trying to find a place that makes his or her LMU experience a more positive one.
That being said, it can be especially difficult on our campus not to be involved in Greek life. Take this weekend for example. Most girls on campus are busy with recruitment, so campus life is pretty much dead for a good 72 hours.
What I hate seeing is girls who join sororities because they feel like it’s their only option. I’m here to tell you it isn’t. If joining a sorority isn’t calling you, don’t do it. These tips may help you survive a non-Greek life:
1) Have some guy friends. That way, during Greek Week and recruitment weekend, you don’t feel the need to die of boredom while the majority of your girlfriends practice for things until midnight. Also, guy friends come in really handy during lip-sync, considering you probably don’t want to go alone.
2) Take pride in the fact that you will never have to utter the words, “I really don’t want to go to [blank], but I will get fined if I don’t!” Because while formals and date nights may sound appealing, the majority of sorority events are actually not at the top of a “fun-things-to-do” list. My friends in sororities complain about most of the things they are forced to go to, but I respect that it is worth it to them. It doesn’t mean, however, that it didn’t feel good to get to watch American Idol this week while they went to recruitment practice for three hours and learned how to flirt with girls.
3) Watch the television show “Greek” on ABCFamily. It’s seriously funny, and, while you laugh along, you don’t have to feel embarrassed that you partake in some of those same silly rituals. Considering it’s recruitment season, let’s take a quick look back at “Greek’s” most recent recruitment episode. The girls in the fictional television sorority were learning what hand signal to make behind their back when a conversation with a potential new member gets so severely awkward that they need to be “rescued” by another sister. I got to laugh at how ridiculous that is, while my friends in sororities were busy trying not to confuse the hand signals on Greek with the ones their sorority actually uses.
4) Have some great excuses ready as to why you cannot be on every Turtle Tug/Arrowspike/Almost Golf/etc. team you are asked to be on. Now, I know, those events raise awareness and money for good causes, but when you are one of the only girls on this campus not in a sorority you tend to be asked to do one of those things almost every weekend. In order to keep your good karma, maybe just tell them to buy one less American Apparrel shirt and donate that money straight to the cause.
5) The money you didn’t spend on sorority dues can be donated to helping the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Zing! (I know, that one was mean. Most girls join sororities because of the great philanthropy work they do, right?)
In all seriousness, however, I hope everyone had a lovely recruitment weekend.
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