SU students share their thoughts about SU’s Greek Life

While Syracuse University is known for its school spirit, academic programs and harsh winters, it also upholds a reputation for its prominent Greek Life culture. SU has 13 Panhellenic sororities and 17 IFC fraternities on campus. At the start of the spring semester, in the bitter cold, you can spot lines of students outside each house participating in recruitment.

At Orange Pulse, we surveyed 50 SU students about Greek Life on campus. 48% of the respondents were seniors, 2% were juniors, 16% were sophomores, and 34% were first-year students. Of all respondents, 88% said they are involved in Greek Life, while 12% said they are not.

The sphere of influence

There is significant debate on whether Syracuse University’s Greek Life overpowers the campus culture. Since Greek Life has contributed both to students’ overall college experience and, in contrast, negative experiences, it’s important to track perceptions of its influence. When asked about Greek Life’s impact on campus, 72% of respondents said it was just the right amount, while 28% said it was too much. No one selected that it had too little of an influence.

Motivations for joining Greek Life

There are multiple reasons students may want to join Greek Life. Some factors include making new friends, having social plans, gaining a sense of community, alumni connections, philanthropy, leadership opportunities, family tradition, housing, social status or encouragement from friends. 

The top three factors selected were to make new friends (90%), to gain a sense of community (72%), and to have social plans (66%). When asked what influenced students’ decisions to join social Greek Life, 42% of students selected a combination of all the options: self-motivation, societal college expectations, family expectations and friends.

SU senior Miranda Larson has been in her organization since her first year and found that it helped her make new friends and made her a more well-rounded candidate when applying for law school.

“A factor that led me to join a sorority was the leadership opportunities. For a year, I served as my sorority’s academic chair on the executive board. This gave me experiences to discuss in my law school applications and demonstrated that, as an applicant, I could balance my social life with academic priorities,” Larson said.

Deterrents for joining Greek Life

While Syracuse has a vibrant Greek Life culture, plenty, if not more, students are not involved in it. According to the Daily Orange, “As of fall 2020, 3,535 of the 14,479 undergraduate students enrolled at Syracuse University were members of Greek life organizations.” 

Some factors that discourage students from joining Greek Life include cost, time commitment, negative stereotypes, fear of hazing, lack of diversity, misalignment with personal values, concerns about cliques, fear of it affecting academic performance and not meeting the GPA requirement. The top three reasons, according to the survey, were cost (72%), fear of hazing (62%), and harmful stereotypes (58%).

Opportunities outside of Greek Life

Considering the concerns about Greek Life and students’ other interests, 70% of survey respondents feel there are enough opportunities outside Greek Life. Many students mentioned the prominence and quality of campus clubs, such as publications, intramural sports or major-related organizations. There are also professional fraternities such as Delta Sigma Pi, a professional co-ed business fraternity. 

It’s important to recognize that a middle ground can exist when it comes to Greek Life’s influence on students. While someone may be part of a Greek organization, they can still devote their time to academics, other campus clubs and friendships outside the Greek Life community.