I would like to begin by stating that I am all for intelligent dialogue about student organizations and ways in which we can strive to improve the SLU community. That being said, it is almost impossible to have these kinds of discussions without an accurate understanding of the groups and activities being called into question. As a SLU Ambassador and a member of the Panhellenic community, I was very disappointed by the negative and inaccurate statements made concerning both organizations in Ryan McKinley’s recent article “Greek Organizations at SLU: Introduction and Influence.”
Let’s start with the numbers. There are approximately 8,600 undergraduate students currently enrolled at SLU. And, to quote McKinley, “about 20% of undergraduate students at SLU are in Greek organizations.” This means that there are around 1,720 SLU students involved
in Greek life. These statistics are clearly communicated during SLU admission presentations and are also available on SLU’s website. We can therefore conclude that it is, in fact, very easy for a prospective SLU student to get an idea of the number of undergraduates involved in Greek life.
Yes, 20% is a large minority. But there is another way to think about what it means for a university’s Greek community to have a “big” presence on campus. Students at many schools often feel that their college experience is defined by their Greek affiliation. This is not the case at SLU. Greek life at SLU is so unique because it not only allows its members to be involved in other campus organizations, but also encourages it. McKinley even makes a point to mention the “many leadership positions members of [Greek] organizations hold.” Greek life at SLU is not restrictive. It’s empowering. To say that students “coming from fraternities and sororities” all have the same SLU experiences is a false assumption, and anyone who is at all familiar with the SLU Ambassadors would know this.
Still, there seems to be some concern about the way in which the Ambassadors, specifically those who are involved in Greek life, represent SLU. Yes, SLU Ambassadors are essentially salespersons for the university. But there is another way to describe this job: we are recruiters. SLU Ambassadors recruit students to the university. Students who are involved in Greek life have ample experience recruiting college-age students to join an organization. Isn’t this a skill set that you would want your university representatives to possess? This isn’t to say that students who are not involved in Greek life do not make excellent recruiters, because they certainly do. However, it makes sense that members of the Greek community would be very likely to apply for and be qualified for this job.
“Despite their training, I doubt any know all, or most of the cultural organizations on campus and the wonderful things they do.” Does McKinley have any basis for this claim? As a student who does not work in the Office of Admission, what relevant experience does he have with SLU Ambassador training to be able to criticize the process? We have an extremely diverse and well-informed group of students representing SLU as Ambassadors. No, we do not all have extensive knowledge of the inner workings of every campus organization or the curriculums of every major. But SLU Ambassadors are strategically chosen so that there are students to represent every aspect of campus life. I have never been presented with a question that I could not answer or direct to another more knowledgeable Ambassador.
“The second way that fraternities and sororities exercise their influence is through rush.” Yes, this is correct. Fraternities and sororities have a recruitment process. These organizations could not continue to exist otherwise. The suggestion that Greek life is exerting too much influence on the SLU community by simply existing is not something that I can adequately respond to without a more detailed explanation as to why this is a problem.
Finally, because I am struggling to keep this response to 800 words, I will say only this about the “stream of wealthy alums” that are supposedly supporting Greek organizations: my chapter was founded in 2001. It should come as no shock that we do not have 30-year-old millionaires throwing money at our sorority.
To be clear, I am in no way insinuating that Greek life should not be challenged, or that this discussion is not a worthy one to be had. I simply believe that making false accusations based on stereotypes that do not apply to our university is an inappropriate way to spark meaningful conversation. I am disappointed that our university newspaper would publish a collection of gross generalizations and call it journalism. My hope is that future critiques of student organizations will be structured, researched and insightful.
