The Culture Of Greek-Letter Organizations

Greek-letter organizations are an inherently exclusive groups. GLOs can be studied from their days in antebellum all-male schools to the the modern day college and university campus. Many factors--such as class, religiosity, race, sexuality, athleticism, intelligence, and recklessness--have contributed to particular versions of “fraternal masculinity” at different times. Historically, GLOs are exclusive to only white, cisgender, heterosexual, and elite men within the higher education system; the birth of the GLO is rooted in racism, cis-heteropatriarchy, and capitalism. After centuries of reproducing ideological knowledge, many elite GLOs have created cultures which encourage and reward adherence to rigid gender binaries, and they will actively reject bids from non-white pledges — in practice elite GLOs have not shown evidence of integration despite negative media attention. Though GLOs have since been racially integrated and many are becoming progressive and inclusive of queer members, the roots of their birth seem to make the organizations difficult to fully integrate within if one is not a member of the elite cisgender, heterosexual, white male identity. Additionally, though this type of integration has happened on paper, there is still a disproportionate number of white folks compared to people of color and non-queer people to queer individuals.

The creation of Greek-letter organizations and the subsequent modes of oppression that they embody affect campus publics, not just through exclusion from the organizations themselves but often from college life more broadly. Fraternity men have often proved their masculinity through exclusionary practices and using their classmates as foil. The culture of sexual exploitation was deeply embedded in college fraternities by the 1920s, and continues to persist today. The history of white college fraternities and (subsequently all GLOs) has broad implications regarding youthful and sexually aggressive masculinity in the US. “These rigid formulations contribute to maladaptive behaviors and beliefs, such as eating disorders, body image distortions, homophobia, and date rape and other sexual misconduct”.

Unfortunately, today Greek-letter organizations still exhibit some of the above behavior. Undeniably, progress has been made, but for true inclusion there is still a far way to go. Research indicates that trans/non-binary and POC individuals frequently experience “marginalisation and interpersonal victimisation” within college and university settings. Research indicates that historically white male-centered GLOs whose members participate in collegiate competitive athletics are more likely to exhibit maladaptive behaviors and beliefs. Missing from much of the literature is a discussion of what can be done to address such patterns in higher education, based upon data gathered from transgender and gender non-conforming students, staff, and faculty.