The Influence Of Greek Life On College Campuses

Greek life flourishes college campuses all across the nation. The amount of students who join each year only rises. Greek life first started in the late eighteenth century when students decided to form groups to discuss topics not discussed in class, seek academic ventures, create friendships, and express themselves in a free manner. The first fraternity was created in 1776 by a group of students in William and Mary College, where they named it Phi Beta Kappa and kept their society a secret. The first sorority was formed in 1867 at Monmouth College, where they named themselves Phi Beta Phi. The term “rush” originated during this time and was coined to imply fraternities rushing to find freshmen to join their group. Today, “recruitment” takes the place of rush because they only want to recruit the best people possible.
Today, there are approximately 900 million students who are a part of Greek life nationwide. Sororities and fraternities play a huge part on every college campus and incoming freshmen typically question whether Greek life is for them. Although this “club-like organization” offers students advantages such as long-lasting sisterhoods/brotherhoods, leadership opportunities, and future job connections, Greek life does have its fair amount of disadvantages. Greek life can be fairly expensive, time consuming, and even too exclusive at times. College is a time for students to discover themselves and decide on their majors. However, another decision that comes when entering college is deciding whether to pledge or not to