A British Guide to Greek Life

Before coming to the US, pretty much the only things I really knew about Greek life- in other words fraternities and sororities- were from movies like ‘legally Blonde’, ‘Neighbours’ or ‘American Pie’, and my preconception really couldn’t have been more wrong. UE is a pretty small campus, yet Greek life is very prominent- nearly a third of the school are part of a fraternity or sorority and every week there are new events held by one of the different chapters.

As I’m only here for one year I didn’t feel it was worth joining a sorority for such a short period of time-mainly due to the cost- although I know if I was here longer I definitely would. Therefore I’m definitely not an expert in the subject, however over the last few months I’ve learnt a fair amount about Greek life that I thought was worth sharing so when I talk to people back home about it, they understand what I’m going on about a little bit more, as it's pretty cool. (To be honest it’s mainly my mum who has no idea what I’m talking about when I mention Greek life, but I’m sure you can all benefit from this too) This is a rather long post, so brownie points to anyone who reads the whole thing.

Why ‘Greek?’

To be honest, there really isn’t anything ‘Greek’ about fraternities and sororities apart from their names. They’re described as "Greeks" because their chapters typically use Greek letters to name themselves, using titles such as Sigma Alpha Epsilon (ΣΑΕ- one of the fraternities on campus) or Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA- a sorority on campus) Your fellow fraternity/sorority members are known as your ‘brothers’ or ‘sisters’. Every chapter stands for a certain charity and throughout the year charity and fundraising events are organised, as well as other social activities. People may join Greek Life to make new friends, gain leadership positions, have brothers and sisters there to support you constantly, or to be a part of a network with thousands of alumni all over America and the world.

Rush Week:

Although I didn’t take part in Rush week, many of my friends including my roommate did and were able to tell me all about it. It happens at the start of the fall semester for any of those interested in joining a fraternity or sorority. Rushing typically involves visiting a number of Greek chapters, interacting with the members, both formally and informally and choosing which sorority/fraternity you feel like joining. Rushing for guys seems to be a lot more casual than it is for girls, and the week ends differently for sororities and fraternities too.

Bid day vs Passover:

Bid day happens at the end of Rush week for all the girls who receive a bid for a sorority. You receive an envelope with your formal invitation to a sorority, and upon opening it, you run outside to find all your new ‘sisters’ screaming excitedly welcoming you to your new sisterhood (it’s a pretty crazy scene). Passover is slightly different. The guys also receive an envelope with a formal invitation to one or more fraternities, and choose which one they want to join. Then, they come outside to find all the different fraternities in a sort of semi-circle. Instead of wearing shirts, the frat guys all paint them on instead. Still not too sure why they do this exactly- I assume tradition, but it’s pretty cool as some of the designs can get really elaborate and impressive. The reason it’s called Passover is because the new members have to literally jump into a crowd of their new brothers and are passed over them in order to fully become a member. A lot of people go to watch to support, and it’s also fun to see a bunch of people covered in paint being chucked around in the air.

Frat parties:

Most parties at UE revolve around the fraternity houses. There are 6 frat houses on campus, so there’s usually something going on in at least one of them on the weekends. The parties are usually open for anyone- you can just show up with your ID and walk straight in, although ‘private parties’ are a thing too. They’re usually themed, and most people will make an effort to dress accordingly although dress on the whole for partying is pretty casual. I could go in jeans and a t shirt and doubt anyone would think much of it. Also grinding is a thing, and I can’t say I’m a fan of it. But beer pong is fun!

Bigs/Littles

Upon joining a fraternity/sorority you get assigned with a Big Brother or Sister, and you are known as their ‘Little’ Brother/sister. A Big’s role is to kinda be your mentor/friend as a newbie to Greek life. New fraternity members find out who their big is at their ‘Semi-Formal’ which happens soon after they join. Semi-formals are events that every chapter holds, and you dress up, take a ‘date’ (it can be anyone- not strictly a girlfriend/boyfriend) and spend the evening in a country club dancing, giving awards to certain members and finding out who the new member’s big brother’s are. The Big/Little process is very different for sororities. For a week before finding out who their ‘big’ is, their big will leave them presents outside their door ranging from cool sorority ‘merchandise’ to artwork, to shirts affiliated with the sorority. My roommate joined Phi Mu, and for a week she had piles of presents left outside our door every evening. There was awesome artwork, SO many t-shirts (I think over 50) and a bunch of other cool stuff left for Sabrina, my roomie, to guess who her big was before she was revealed to her that Sunday.

There is SO much more to Greek Life than just this, and I’m sure if I was actually involved in a sorority I would be able to give a much better insight into it, but these were just things that have stood out to me as a newbie to the whole system. There really is nothing like this at all back home so I hope this has given you a better understanding of what it’s like (kinda). And to any Americans reading, especially those actually involved in Greek Life, I hope I didn’t mess anything up!

Bid day

Bid Day

ZTA (Zeta Tau Alpha)

Passover

Passover