W&L from a First-Year's Perspective

devlins14
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:30:06 +0000

@Plainsman: I would just like to say, as a student FROM a region of the US not normally represented at W&L, a family with low socio-economic status, and a mindset (clearly, like yours) that orginally thought that Going Greek was synonymous with a “conformist” mindset, that you are being overly critical and are–well, to put it bluntly, WRONG in many of your conclusions. The Greek system here on campus is UNIQUE in the fact that it is extremely inclusive. It’s not that 80% of students here fit a nice little upper-middle class, perky/jock-like, “conformist” stereotype of what you would “normally” consider Greek participants to be. It’s that 80% of students WANT that type of experience and create it within their own friend groups. We have a deferred rush here, which allows all students to get their academic and dorm life under control here and make their OWN circle of friends well before entering into the Greek system, which is WHY so many people see that they have a lot of friends already in respective fraternities and sororities and choose to participate. Also, so many people decide to participate in the Greek system here because virtually 100% of students who wish to rush are matched to a house. So, Mr. Anti-Conformity/Elitism/Stereotypes, you’d learn from speaking to an actual student who attends the university that the way our Greek system is set up actually REJECTS conformist and elitist sentiments and allows everyone who wants to have a Greek experience the opportunity. Also, “independent” students are defined as those not affiliated with the Greek system; the phrase is not short for “independent thinkers.” Clearly that is a stereotype that you, yourself, have projected onto my fellow students. Sidenote: All events, philanthropic, social, or otherwise, are open to all students; furthermore, you will not find an event of any kind that does not have a mixture of students in several different Greek organizations as well as a mixture of Greek and non-Greek students.