<p>So, I've read a lot that greek life at NYU is lame - to say the least. Most students say the parties are lame, and its not a big part of the nyu scene.</p>
<p>I met someone this weekend who is in a sorority, and loves it. Told me greek life is the only way to make friends at NYU.</p>
<p>What does anyone have to say about this?</p>
<p>Lol.</p>
<p>Greek life at NYU definitely is not as big as it is at other schools. However that is not to say that they do not have fun, just not as popular a choice. The frats and sororities are in the top floors of the Lafayette residence hall. They don’t usually throw parties in the penthouse, instead they usually go out as a group and hit the clubs and bars. I see them go out and do a lot of activities throughout the city together.</p>
<p>It is definitely not the only way to make friends. Although a lot of people join greek life because they fear they will not be able to. If that statement were true then the few hundred in greek life out of the some odd 50 thousand students are the only ones with friends. You make friends through your classes, through the hundreds of clubs and organizations that NYU has, and through your cohort groups. Making friends isn’t any different at NYU than it is at any other school or any other time in your life. How did you make friends in high school without greek life?</p>
<p>I’ve said it before. Unlike a lot of other colleges, greek life is very polarizing: awesome if you are in it, pointless if you are not. </p>
<p>Ao hit it on the head. People in greek life think that it is awesome and essential to the college experience. A lot (a LOT) of NYUers will disagree. I lived in Lafayette and I waded through the same throngs of people in greek life. I think that if you are interested in that part of the college experience, it’s there for you. If you are not, there are many, many other ways to make friends and still have a great time at NYU.</p>
<p>No one goes to NYU for the greek life solely. NYU isn’t like Bucknell or Dartmouth that have huge Greek lives that play a large part in social activities around campus. I feel like those who join a Fraternity or Sorority at NYU are those that weren’t able to make solid friends the first round you could say. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>"I feel like those who join a Fraternity or Sorority at NYU are those that weren’t able to make solid friends the first round you could say. Just my opinion. " </p>
<p>location: NYU’14 </p>
<p>not to be a b****, but you don’t even go to NYU yet, and therefore have not experienced the social or greek scene at all. I’d venture you guess that you know five or less NYU students involved in Greek life.
I’m in a sorority, more than 75% of my friends are not. I have made most of my friends outside of greek life, as have the majority of frat/sorority members that I know.<br>
No one goes to NYU for greek life, that’s true. But it’s a good way to meet upper classmen, it’s something to get excited about, it’s tradition, there’s a bit of friendly competition thrown in there. </p>
<p>I hate to sound like a crazy, but none of the greeks I know were unable to make friends before they joined, they were just seeking a little something different to supplement the normal NYU social scene. If that’s not what you’re looking for, that’s totally fine. It’s not for everyone.</p>
<p>Paki, that is a really stupid claim to make. Aside from not even being an actual student yet, the assumption and feeling you get (what has caused these feelings or assumptions, might I ask) is unprovoked, imho. People all join greek life for different reasons, and no one completely shuts themselves off to non greeks. Most people are able to make friends here, and although there are some people do it solely for meeting people (as is the case for transfers who live off campus), many do it for parties, for the experience, and networking. I didn’t really consider rushing initially, but through a bizarre chain of events I did, and have never looked back. I was not lacking whatsoever in the friend department, and have introduced many of my non greek friends to my greek ones, even getting a few to join.</p>
<p>Hmm one thing I’ve noticed - and this is purely anecdotal, just sharing my experience - is that guys in frats tend to have lots of Greek and non-Greek friends and hang around both equally, whereas lots of sorority girls seems to hang out mostly with their sorority sisters - at least the 3 sorority girls I know (2 are in the same sorority, 1 is in another) are like this. One girl I was friends with freshmen year joined a sorority soph year and from then on her social life pretty much revolved around that. Although all these women seem to be friendly with non-sorority girls, from what I’ve seen they mostly hang out with other sorority girls. I’m not saying this is a bad thing either since Greek life is obviously meant to foster friendship.</p>
<p>I feel like one reason people go Greek at NYU is get that they’re looking for a bit of a traditional experience in a very non-traditional college.</p>
<p>This is my personal experience and not necessarily representative of all of NYU Greek Life. I pledged for a sorority and it hazed to the extreme. I quit after a month when I realized my (and the other girls pledging) grades sucked. I didn’t think it was worth it. However the rest of the girls crossed and I never hung out with them again. My impression is that they spend most of their time with their sisters.</p>
<p>People go into greek life for various reasons (not necessarily just looking for traditional college life but also for community and other social and extracurricular opportunities). However just because it’s NYU, don’t think there isn’t hazing and don’t think people in Greek Life just did it because they couldn’t find any other friends.</p>
<p>Holy crap, okay, well I go to NYU and the Greek Life is sketchy and lame and I’ve heard nothing but bad things about it. The one legitimate Greek Life-y sorority that I’ve heard of had a stage of hazing called “Blow or Blow” which is more than a little worse than exactly what you think it is. People in Greek Life at NYU are all smiles about it and then you hear about the things they do and you wonder what’s wrong with them. Then you bring it up with them and they’re like “yeah, well, it’s Greek Life!” and the halfway sane people can reply (in their heads, I’m not that sassy) with whatever “yeah, well” they choose, but I find “yeah, well, I don’t need to pay thousands of dollars and sexual favors for the homeless to make friends” works just fine.</p>
<p>You can join one of the diversity sororities, but those are just a bunch of spoiled children that happened to fall out of a non-white but perfectly wealthy woman that **** and moan their insecurities away by ironically exacerbating racial problems on which they are ignorant and misguided yet somehow try to center around themselves. Hint: if you’re Hawaiian and you’re at NYU with no financial aid, you belong to one of the richest demographics in the country.</p>
<p>Greek Life at NYU is somehow even dumber than Greek Life at other schools. It absolutely blows my mind that people are so casual about it and the things that go on. It makes me think that most of the people that talk about it just haven’t been to college yet. And don’t give me that “maybe it’s not for you” crap because every bit of dialogue and cited activity is fact. You don’t have to embellish them with the adjectives I used, but if all of it sounds normal and acceptable to you, then best of luck, really.</p>
<p>^ I agree with the heavy on the hazing stuff but some of those comments about the “multi-cultural” greek life was just racist. I pledged for a multi-cultural sorority and they hazed intensely (so I quit). I found those were not girls I wanted to be friends with. However I think it’s wrong and racist to make conjectures about their statuses as minorities just because of their involvement in Greek Life.</p>
<p>All in all I don’t think Greek Life is necessarily a bad way to make friends at NYU but at the same time if hazing is involved (I know of a PanHel that absolutely doesn’t haze because they just started as a chapter at NYU, so they do exist) then you need to think hard about if that’s the way you want to make friends.</p>
<p>MichaelBlake is the perfect example of what was being described above: a closed minded, judgmental, ignorant person outside of the greek circle that seems to find a myriad of reasons for which to hate us. The Blow or Blow thing was this horrible rumor that spread around the school, and I have lots of friends in said sorority, and they all can deny that claim. MB is the type of person that quickly dismisses greek life, and downright bastardizes the true values that it does create by simplifying it to a completely inaccurate level. Dont listen to this idiot, and dont think that the rest of nyu is as stupid as this guy.</p>
<p>Conjectures about their minority status? I’m a minority, I’m just not recognized as an under-represented one because there isn’t a significant Greek-American population. My dad is a self-made son of Greek immigrants. What the hell does minority status even mean? Is that something I should apply for? Asians are a minority, but they get screwed over in the college process.</p>
<p>Hawaii has some of the most heavily contrasting and clear-cut socioeconomic divides in the country: fact. If you’re Hawaiian and you go to NYU without financial aid, chances are you are very rich. She’s actively racist towards white people for absolutely no good reason. She says that the difference between a white person and a non-white person is you’re not white if a demographic wants to kill you. Aren’t you glad these multi-cultural sororities are taking such an intelligent and productive approach to racial issues?</p>
<p>Oh wait, I forgot, I’m racist for even questioning the racial identity of someone who was arbitrarily put on a list by a government that detains five year olds for having arabic last names. My bad.</p>
<p>woodendynamite, it is not a rumor, I know the girl, she lives a floor below me, I am not stupid. I know many people in Greek Life at NYU and at other schools. I hear about the hazing. stop calling me a liar. I’d be all for Greek Life if it didn’t take itself so seriously, and if it didn’t degrade women so terribly. The whole system is so backwards that people seem to think the things it makes girls do are just the way it should be. </p>
<p>Of course they are going to say Blow or Blow didn’t happen, hazing is illegal as hell with the school, and that type of hazing is illegal in all kinds of ways. They’re not allowed to talk about hazing. I have something for you guys, ready?</p>
<p>“We’re the Gamma Phi Betas, we’re vixens of the night,
We’re hot, sexy **<strong><em>es, we’d rather </em></strong> then fight,
So hoity toity, G-d almighty, who the ***** are we,
Drink, ****<em>, c</em>ck-suck, we’re the G-Phi-Bees!”</p>
<p>Whoah, wait a minute. How do I know that? That was supposed to be a secret! Apparently if I sing it to anyone that belongs in Gamma Phi Beta they’ll have no idea what I’m talking about! I didn’t realize I was dealing with *****ing Freemason’s here, these people are geniuses! </p>
<p>Ask Brad Pitt what he thinks of Greek Life, I must have gone to the same brainwashed idiot convention and been told about the same exact hazing rituals.</p>
<p>I hate Greek Life for what it has done to some of my friends. I don’t know what makes you such an authority to call someone smart or dumb based on their opinion, but I’m going to go ahead and trust my opinion a little bit more since I’m not being lied to.</p>
<p>And all girls in sororities ever do is come to me to complain about the other girls in a sorority. That’s a real productive system there; I’d say it’s totally worth jumping down someone’s throat for having a negative opinion of it. And don’t you dare call me close-minded for criticizing a system that is infamous for shutting out any sort of non-white (the same way the diversity organizations shut out whites. boy what a solution to racial tension!) You want to know how many blacks are in fraternities at SMU? None. Zero. Look it up. I guess I’m a close-minded idiot for being offended by that.</p>
<p>In closing, I don’t know what you want me to say woodendynamite. I suppose I’ll just admit that it is physically possible that someone could have snuck into her sorority meeting, been so charismatic that everyone completely forgot that she wasn’t an older sister, and then forced her to either use cocaine or perform certain favors on a man of their choice. I suppose I’ll admit that she could be clinically insane and actually want to lie about something like that (which doesn’t bode well for your argument anyway). But if I were a betting man, I’d probably place my money on the frequently reaffirmed and widely held opinion that Greek Life can be very messed up sometimes.</p>
<p>@Michaelblake: Oh god, I heard about that Blow or Blow thing, so it’s really true? I know a girl in that sorority and she denied it as well, but I expect they were all instructed to. Don’t get me wrong, I know a certain level of hazing is expected in a sorority, but that is just sick and degrading :/</p>
<p>And yes, that new sorority that just started a new chapter at NYU in '08 or '09 doesn’t haze from what I’ve heard.</p>
<p>As for the “cultural” sororities, I have nothing against them except one of my friends from freshmen year joined the Asian sorority and after that basically cut off ties with all her non-sorority friends and especially her non-Asian friends. But that’s just one example, I’m not going to assume they’re all like that.</p>
<p>I have absolutely no problem with a productive sorority that doesn’t promote racial tension and doesn’t put girls through hell. If there’s a new chapter that doesn’t haze, that’s awesome, but unfortunately it will probably be thought of as the “fake” sorority. And as for the racial sororities, I hate that I’ve had several experiences in which those involved ironically cut themselves off from the rest of the world (the asian ones are particularly terrible, and if you want to hear the most horrific hazing stories ever, talk to someone in an asian sorority) but unfortunately that’s all I’ve had.</p>
<p>I am a hispanic, in a well respected fraternity. Look at ANY of the fraternities and tell me that you see nothing but whites. We are a melting pot-no discrimination against income, race, religion, etc. I wish that was the same for the rest of the school. I have heard multiple times people complain about others around campus about refusing to go out/invite someone because they dress cheaply or never spend money or couldnt keep up with the expensive things they do. Greek life is a family, and in any family, they are going to bicker, but when times get tough and one needs a shoulder to lean on, they never hesitate to look at a fellow brother or sister. Maybe it is good that you didn’t join Greek Life, you clearly would have been incapable of getting anything beneficial about it, nor would/did you comprehend anything that was going on below the surface.</p>
<p>Listen, I understand that Greek Life is supposed to promote brotherhood, but it doesn’t. It is historically infamous for being white-centric and racist. Things have changed and there are plenty of non-whites in fraternities, but I have a problem with Greek Life in general, not just at NYU. Like I said, talk to someone at SMU. There are zero black people in non-exclusively-black fraternities there. None. I’m not making this up. The Greek Life there is the reason that school is segregated beyond belief. I am not exaggerating.</p>
<p>What if you rushed a different fraternity? What if you simply didn’t get chosen for one, and you got into another? What you ate for breakfast that morning could have led you into a different group of brothers, and it could have been a fraternity that is mortal enemies with the fraternity you are in. Everything about Greek Life is completely arbitrary. Bonding during a period when you’re being put through hell isn’t magical brotherhood power, it’s psychology 101.</p>
<p>And I don’t care about the “underlying message” if it’s lying under rufilin and sexual abuse. You seem to have completely brushed over all the terrible experiences I’ve come across and gone straight to “well it promotes brotherhood, and the fraternity I’m in isn’t racist, so I guess you’re an idiot.”</p>
<p>Don’t tell me maybe it’s good I didn’t join Greek Life like it’s a ****ing crossroads I completely botched because I’m just personally incompatible with the world. But then again a whopping 1% of NYU students participate in Greek Life, so from now on I’ll do my best not to rot with the other 99% of socially ailing husks that missed out on spending over three-thousand dollars for a semester of abuse and a free line of cocaine. </p>
<p>But it promotes brotherhood so it’s okay.</p>
<p>EDIT: People like you are the kind of people that join “brotherhood” societies that propagate the use of phrases like “people like you.” If I want a shoulder to lean on I’ll go to one of the friends I made for free. And if I want to comprehend the *<strong><em>ing Kierkegaard-level deep *</em></strong> going on in the Greek Life system I’ll borrow the Sparknotes from a friend and hope to one day have the capacity to, you know, really think and get deep stuff.</p>
<p>It sucks that there are terrible people at NYU that discriminate based on income and dress and all that; I agree with you. I understand that the Greek Life system often avoids all that, but it does some terrible things as well. I have seen people deeply hurt because of it; I have seen people shut out because of it. I agree with its intention but I don’t agree with its execution. And the fact that you’re talking down to me is partly proving my point.</p>
<p>ok, my biggest problem with your post is that you are really using one example that just doesn’t work in the context. You are comparing SMU to NYU. I would probably not have joined greek life at ANY other university, as I think that a lot of the hazing rituals are ridiculous. That, and I probably would not have been able to go through the process. The greek life, as well as every other facet of the university is different. SMU and NYU are completely incomparable. We have all heard stories of chugging a gallon of cheap whiskey, being beaten with mag lights, all in the name of brotherhood. But listen up, NO FRATERNITY/SORORITY AT NYU DOES ANYTHING CLOSE TO THIS. I would have NEVER joined if that was the price to do so. The fact that they do not let blacks in at SMU greek life, as well as other universities (Vanderbilt, et al) completely sucks, but that is NOT the case here. If there was an african heritage club at one school, where one of the members killed a white kid, and we had the same branch of a club here at this school, would you try to shut the club down and advise people not to join? No. We are such a microcosm here, which is essentially what makes this school beautiful. We have a gay fraternity for heavens sake, do you think those people are evil and paying for friends? Speaking of paying, let me lay it on you. $3000?! What friggin greek system were you looking at? My fraternity is about $275 and the MOST I have EVER seen any system charge dues is $350, so you are EXTREMELY misinformed, which harkens back to the other ridiculous claims you have made. I did not pay for friends, I had MANY friends before this, and have lots of friends who are not in the greek system (3 of whom I am sharing an apt with), and I have been able to enjoy my frat parties inviting them as well. I rushed freshman year with friends who I met during welcome week, and I can proudly call them my brother today. I rushed 3 fraternities, and got bids from all 3, and I meshed extremely well with one of them moreso than the others. So I definitely took my time, and was able to pick what was, and has been, best for me.</p>
<p>I am by no means a supporter of NYU Greek Life (given I’ve rushed, half-pledged and quit an NYU sorority) however I think it’s totally unfair to say Greek Life has been founded on xyz-bad things and so therefore all of Greek Life is racist, sexist and disgusting. I mean do you know what every sorority and fraternity is like? No. Neither do I. So I can fairly say, my experience wasn’t a good one and the sorority I pledged for was made of people I don’t think are good people but I don’t think anyone has to the right to say all of Greek Life is one way or another. And I certainly know several people in Greek Life that are amazing friends and others that awful people.</p>
<p>And I mean come one, the United States is “historically infamous for being white-centric and racist” but that doesn’t mean every institution in it is that way. That doesn’t mean every single American is racist and sexist and violent just because they live in and are citizens of a country that is founded on racism, sexism and violence. Regardless, if something isn’t right for you, then it isn’t right for you. But it’s not fair to preach to or judge anyone.</p>
<p>As another Greek at NYU, I’ll offer my two cents.</p>
<p>I made many friends before I joined greek life. I would say (or at least in my case) you meet the majority of your friends in your freshman dorm. If you’re lucky enough they’ll stick with you for the next few years too as they did with me, but maybe I just had better luck than most.</p>
<p>One of my really good friends joined greek like, which I had not given a thought to before he did. I actually made fun of it, like most non-Greek NYU students will. After he joined though I decided to give it a chance and I ended up joining. There are a couple of fraternities that don’t have a pledge process (you go to rush week, which is a week of EVENTS, not hazing, where you get to know people. events include dinners out, hookah bar trips, football game viewings at the house, etc.). If you get a bid at the end of rush, you do not become a “pledge” (aka a second-class citizen in the frat hierarchy). You become a brother. </p>
<p>That said, there are only two fraternities that do this and the rest of them do have a pledge process. Everyone at NYU hears the hazing “horror stories” but 90% of them are straight up fabrications. There are some behaviors that walk the line between hazing and not, meaning that there really isn’t much risk of emotional/physical harm that could come from them. Blow or blow is false. Forcing girls to drink and run up a flight of stairs in heels is false (yes, that’s one of the alleged hazing acts). Most of the frat hazing stories are false too.</p>
<p>Most Greeks probably do appear to only associate with their brothers/sisters. This isn’t necessarily true, but even if it is, what’s wrong with that? If they’re your true friends and you really enjoy being around them, why the hell does it matter whether or not they’re your brother/sister? </p>
<p>People join Greek life for a lot of reasons. Many people do join it because they haven’t found a community that they feel they fit into at NYU. Some people are used to having big social groups at home and aren’t used to having to network and stuff to meet new people. If you haven’t found friends through other means and you do find them through a greek organization, what is wrong with that?</p>
<p>There are a lot of things I like about Greek life, and a lot that I don’t. Obviously fraternities and sororities kind of reinforce traditional gender stereotypes/roles, but it’s no where near the level that it is at other schools.</p>
<p>If you’re interested, go to a few rush events. Sororities have a much more formal recruitment process than fraternities, so you’re required to meet every sorority before you choose any particular one. If you’re looking to join a frat, go to Club Fest and visit each of the booths to get a feel for the guys and pick up a copy of their rush schedule.</p>