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When I decided to come to UGA, I immediately fell into the Greek life trap. I thought I needed to be in a sorority to make friends. Part of me was even excited to prove my worth to a bunch of girls that I had never even met, as backwards and twisted as that is. I sit here now, four and a half years later, having had a lot of time to reflect on my journey through Greek life. Here are my thoughts:  

 

To even partake in the recruitment process at all requires a $200 deposit, 19 letters of recommendation and the means to purchase 5 or more new outfits that meet the current trends and colors for the fashion season. From the get go, beginning the process of rush requires money, time and connections to either alumni or current members of a sorority. Without those things, your chances of getting into a “good” sorority, or any sorority at all, are much lower. In fact, it is considered rude if you fail to get recommendations for every sorority. 

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On the flip side, if/when you are permitted into a sorority, you are expected to shell out at least $300 per month in dues, purchase new clothes for recruitment, social events and formals, attend chapter meetings every month and maintain a “professional” and “desirable” social presence. You can’t wear your letters downtown, for fear of sullying the name of your precious, beautiful sisterhood, despite the fact that every Tuesday and Thursday your sorority encourages you to binge drink with your fellow sisters at a fraternity house. 

 

During recruitment, both sides put on their full faces of makeup, their most in-style dress and their most acceptable personalities to represent themselves and their organizations as the best of the best. Recruits try desperately to get accepted into the “best” and “prettiest” sororities while sorority members desperately try to convince each “worthy” girl that their sorority is the best, most authentic home she could have ever hoped to find in college. 

 

At the end of a long, sweaty, stressful day of small talk comes the best part. You march to the chapter room with all of your sisters, the stench of sweat and spray tan still sticking to your bodies. You sit in front of a screen, and you, along with every member of your sorority, go through each girl who is “on the cusp,” meaning her scores weren’t good enough to put her through to the next round but not bad enough to cut her either. This is where you discuss “membership concerns”, where girls are allowed to state “facts” about why this person should not be a member of the sisterhood. Hypothetically (but not really) speaking, if a girl had posted #freethenipple pictures on instagram, someone would flag that as a membership concern. But don’t worry, instead of outrightly calling her a slut, you’d all wrap it up in a sweet, little bow of “we just don’t think she would be the best fit for our sisterhood.” 

 

My "home" throughout this stressful, disgusting process was Alpha Gamma Delta. My journey with Alpha Gamma Delta began on bid night, in the backseat of an older girl’s car, sitting next to one of my fellow new members. We were listening to a song, I can’t remember which one, but it explicitly used the N word multiple times. One of the girls in the front seat rapped along, using that word every time the singer used it, with no censorship. When the song ended and we went to get out of the car, she looked back at us and said “Oh s---, I forgot she was in here,” referring to my fellow new member who was black. 

 

I would say that this experience was my first introduction to the racism that permeates greek life; however, it is clear that from the moment I paid my registration fee for recruitment in April of 2016, I had begun to partake in a racist system. The entire basis of greek life is to maintain and uphold the status quo, and the status quo is patriarchal, heteronormative, and racist. This knowledge, which constantly conflicted with my internal desire for a socially just world, was what ultimately caused me to drop my sorority. I could not find a way to reconcile my desire for social justice and my continued greek life membership because it was not possible. There is no way to ethically partake in or continue to support a system that, at its core, relies upon whiteness and exclusivity to exist at all. As an ex-sorority girl who benefitted greatly from the social perks that Greek life has to offer, I hold no hope in my heart that Greek life can be fixed. Greek life must go.