How sororities provide support and sisterhood

I’m writing this after getting out of an hour-long meeting on rush rules and listening to arguments on how we should time our house tours during rush. So right now, rush seems like the most worthless activity I’ve participated in. Not only does it waste a perfectly good week of my term, it also seems to substantiate every bad thing I’ve ever heard about sororities, namely: superficiality, cattiness and the downright absurdity of thinking you can get to know someone in 20 minutes.

But the truth of the matter is, rush is the worst part of sorority life. Don’t let how much rush sucks scare you off of Greek life forever. Joining a sorority can be an important part of a girl’s experience at Dartmouth. But contrary to popular opinion, joining a sorority is not really about finding yourself. After spending a year at a place like Dartmouth, most people have a sense of who they are by sophomore year. They have some close friends, specific activities, classes, and so on – of all which they have chosen. They might not know exactly how they fit into the world, but they are far from being floating freshmen. Greek life isn’t about finding out yourself, it’s about finding out what Dartmouth has to offer. It’s about stepping outside of your comfort zone and talking to people who you never would have met otherwise. It’s about finding out just how many wonderful people surround you on this campus. Obviously, you can do this on your own. But to be honest, we are all creatures of comfort. Once you’ve found a good group of friends, a job, and a major, the odds are pretty low that you will go out of our way to get to know totally new people. The so-called “niche” can be hard to leave.

Of course, you could walk around and visit every social organization on campus and try to know all these different types of people individually. Or you could join an organization that prides itself on bringing people together from all walks of life. Obviously, not all sororities are able to do this. But I have had the good fortune of being in a house that points out from the start that its members belong to nearly every organization on campus. If there is anything I want to know about, whether it is finding the Copper Mines or making genie pants, I just need to blitz out.

Additionally, while sororities are not loud and prominent and they certainly don’t host parties for the entire campus, they do provide a space for their members amidst an otherwise completely male-dominated social scene. As a freshman, I felt compelled to go hang out in frat basements because other social options were non-existent. Yet, I never felt entirely comfortable there. I hated the way I would looke around nervously for a brother I knew in the house so that I felt a little less awkward. It’s not necessarily that fraternities are unwelcoming, but it’s difficult to walk in like you own the place when you are, in fact, always a guest. And as nice and wonderful as most Dartmouth guys are, there are always exceptions to the rule. Getting “roofied” or being sexually assaulted is seriously not fun. And it is also seriously a problem at Dartmouth. Quite simply, a sorority provides you with a much safer space where you can hang out and feel comfortable 100% of the time.

There are definitely cons to Greek life. Some girls have terrible times in sororities. The experience is not for everyone. However, there is no way to find out for sure without trying it. If you do end up in a place you love, it will be one of the best things about college. If not, you can always de-pledge.

For me, sisterhood is a group of women who come together because they care about the same thing; providing a place where sisters can feel comfortable and happy while supporting and encouraging each other.

It’s a pretty blatant self-house-call, but I think my sisters are pretty successful in doing just that. If I want to talk or play pong, there is always someone around. There is always someone to lend me a car, help me carry boxes, patch up my torn dresses, explain my physics assignment to me, or pick me up when I am stranded in the middle of nowhere. I am always proud of how supportive my sisterhood is of all its members. The only time I’ve really seen anyone get really angry is when people were worried about a girl being mistreated by her boyfriend. If anything, we care too much about each other. Maybe there’s no good reason for that. Maybe it’s just because of the letters on our butts. But I would like to think that it’s because I am in a house full of people who are willing take a chance by opening their hearts and loving someone they don’t even know.