May 1, 2021 by Johana Ligtenberg

Greek life has historically been an extremely privileged institution in terms of race and class throughout their history according to the New York Times. However, there are levels of complexity in the dynamics of power present even within such a privileged group. Some of the most extreme areas that these are present is in terms of gender, race, and sexuality. Gender standards are among the most visible. While the racial inequities present in Greek life are glaring, gender differences are extremely visible in overt rules compared to more nuanced manifestations of white privilege and exclusivity. These range from rigid rules sororities are held to on a national level and are as dangerous as policies contributing to the perpetuation of rape culture.

Not all the inequalities present between fraternities and sororities are this extreme, however. Rules include strict standards sororities are held to during recruitment involving structured, timed conversations each day and fining of members for various reasons such as touching potential new members (PNMs). 

Former Delta Gamma (DG) Vice President (VP) of Social Risk Ilana Norris says, “Sororities are monitored in a very strict manner, we get fined for touching someone who is with us. Even a pat on the back, or a high five or a hug, if you are really connecting with someone, even if it's your friend--your roommate could be going through recruitment, and you could happen to be talking to them, and you can't touch them.”

DG is a newer sorority on Cal Poly’s campus, founded in 2018. As a result, explains Norris, there is still a lot of communication and guidance between DG’s local council and nationals. In her position for example, there were three people above her in advisor positions who would be made aware of mistakes made if necessary and communicate with her on how to resolve issues.

The high expectations placed on sororities span across different aspects of the Greek life experience. Norris feels that the recruitment process in particular is one of the most sexist aspects of being in a sorority.

“I hated how you can't talk about the five B's [The five B’s refer to booze, boys, Barack (politics), bank (money) and bible (religion)], how those are off limit things. And some, I can sort of understand why. But again, we're all adults, consenting to go through this process. If you're really trying to get to know women in a certain organization, it’s important to talk about what things matter the most to you.”

She describes how it contributes to turning off people from more diverse backgrounds to being in Greek life, because it can make it difficult to express authentic experiences in one’s life.

 Norris continues, “I think it just is a turnoff for a lot of people, because those kinds of topics are their lived realities, and what's important to them and what they like, want to dedicate their life to when they're told that they can't be themselves.” 

The imbalance in how organizations are monitored can have dangerous implications. 

Content warning: Hazing and substance abuse

“Within things like recruitment, for example, fraternities have a lot more leeway with what they're able to do […] Fraternities are the ones who have historically more cases of hazing that have to do with drugs, alcohol, those kinds of things. Then we can look at what happened to Carson Starkey as an example of how violent those places can be without the proper monitoring and oversight that is seen in sororities. If that could continue to be leveled out and have the same kind of oversights and leadership going in to hold people accountable, I think that we wouldn't see as many of those horrendous incidents happening” says Norris. 

End of content warning

These double standards have persisted at Cal Poly in the past year, particularly as they pertain to the university’s treatment and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cal Poly sent out an email on March 12, 2020, saying that all gatherings should be postponed or cancelled. However, based on scenes posted to social media, multiple fraternities (and most likely other student groups) threw parties that weekend for St. Patrick’s Day (informally referred to as “St. Fratties” by many students), with no consequences that were communicated to the student body. This issue persisted into 2021, and the Cal Poly community is currently watching the aftermath play out. Currently, no fraternity chapters have faced disciplinary action for events that took place either year, and none have been disaffiliated over COVID-19 safety violations.

On October 29, 2020, an email was sent out encouraging students to act responsibly on Halloween, outlining the safety enhancement zone and additional law enforcement measures in place in San Luis Obispo, as well as university expectations to avoid gatherings, wear a mask, and obey local restrictions in place regarding COVID-19 safety measures. Again, parties were present in San Luis Obispo and attended by students belonging to varying organizations on campus.

Following Halloween, an email was sent out to the Cal Poly student body on November 5, 2020, expressing concern at an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases following Halloween. One section read that the increases have been traced to three specific groups, listing, “Several campus sorority chapters holding unapproved, off-campus events that have not been managed according to local and state health and safety guidelines” as the first of these groups, and sharing, “we are currently administering more than 400 tests to members of two sorority chapters, which contact tracing efforts tell us were engaging in activities that have greater risk of viral spread.”

Norris discusses the way the school has communicated with the student body regarding COVID-19 violations, stating, “I think it was in November, Armstrong sent an email of ‘here are the three groups of people who we've attributed with breaking CDC guidelines, not following Cal Poly's COVID-19 ordinance’, and he called out sororities and not fraternities. I'm not saying that one can't be held accountable without the other. Because if it truly was just sororities hosting in-person events, of course they should be called out and held accountable and face consequences for making those mistakes, because we all have a civic responsibility to help out our campus community and just protect ourselves too, in general.” 

All organizations and individuals should be held accountable due to the clear health risks present at the moment, including sororities, fraternities, sports teams, and other clubs and organizations.

“I think that should extend to these more exclusive groups on campus, like Greek life is. That same kind of attention should be placed on fraternities as well. I live next to some fraternity houses. And I know that people that don't live there are going in there and that they have parties on the weekends” says Norris.

Some believe that unequal rules and treatment also contributes to the culture surrounding sexual assault in Greek Life. Sorority bylaws restrict throwing parties or having men present at houses beyond certain hours, yet were the only student organization called out in the November email to students.

These rules contribute to a disparity in power and dangerous situations, as young women seeking co-ed socialization opportunities or simply to attend parties as a college student are forced to attend events hosted by fraternities. This can lead to them finding themselves surrounded by unfamiliar people in unfamiliar locations while under the influence, without the “home turf” safety advantages in house social experiences could theoretically offer.

Many Greek life organizations are being forced to cope with these inequities and expectations in the journey towards improving inclusivity. Chris Martinez is the current Co-Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for Alpha Sigma Phi (A Sig), and was the chapter’s former President and Vice President DEI as well. A Sig is a relatively new chapter on campus, and Chris expresses that their leadership is actively working to create a positive presence on campus with this blank slate. 

“We're really striving to push to develop a positive environment and a welcoming organization, so that we don't fall into negative stereotypes” he says.

He expands on what tangible measures they are taking, saying, “That comes with trying to do our best with getting involved within the community, with other outreach organizations that encourage that. There are systemic issues that have been put in the past, like legacy rules. We always have to consider how this is gonna affect someone else on a financial level, or based on their background.”

But unfortunately, many Cal Poly fraternities have been focused in recent months and years perhaps less on creating a more inclusive space and more on damage control of their image. Nearly every fraternity at Cal Poly faced allegations ranging from sexual assault, hazing, racism, homophobia, misogyny, and more on the @ShadesofCalPoly and @CalPolyStories Instagram accounts starting in Spring 2020, and apologies rolled out in the form of comments, stories, and posts by chapter Instagram accounts. Controversy has followed Greek life at Cal Poly since its beginning, and will likely never end unless serious steps are taken by Greek life members and the university. 

Members of Greek life at Cal Poly are advocating for their organizations to confront issues within the system, with many chapters navigating how to address DEI as well as gender inequity. Martinez has devoted his senior project to helping develop and revise training programs that cover these topics for fraternity and sorority life, and incorporates these topics into A Sig chapter meetings through presentations and dialogues. However, Norris points out that the nature of Greek life can cause challenges when it comes to transparency between chapter actions and the greater Cal Poly and SLO communities.

“Greek life in general is so secretive, and confidential and exclusive, there can be conversations happening behind closed doors within the Greek life community, within your organization, of the steps being taken to better our organization and move in the right direction. But since those conversations are normally happening at Chapter meetings, which are only for members of that organization, no one outside would know” she says.

This issue reflects the challenges with transparency and accountability present in Greek life. While many chapters as well as Cal Poly’s Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils posted action plans on their Instagram account’s last summer, students who are not members of these organizations would have no way of knowing how or even if these goals are being addressed.

Calls for Greek life to be abolished gained momentum on social media throughout the summer of 2020 due to the damage that has been caused by these organizations through racism, misogyny, and other issues. Some students dedicated Instagram accounts and petitions to this cause for their particular university, some with thousands of followers. 

Cal Poly placed all of Greek Life on probation after the photos of a Lambda Chi Alpha member in blackface emerged in 2018, and these organizations have been a continued source of controversy and bad press for the university year after year. One Vox news video proposes that part of the hesitation of universities to abolish Greek life comes from the high rates of donations from former members.

Both Martinez and Norris are actively trying to fight for positive change within their respective chapters to help make sure that others can also have the positive experiences and sense of community that they have enjoyed.

As a mixed race woman in a sorority, I have seen both the benefits and the damage caused by the Greek life system and the imbalances between fraternities and sororities firsthand. The very secrecy and exclusivity that some may tout as a benefit of Greek life is very quickly becoming its downfall, and in order for organizations to be able to continue to function as part of college life, change needs to happen. 

However, Greek life is deeply connected to American college culture as a whole, and most current students understand that complete abolition of these organizations across the US is not feasible by the time they graduate.

Expressing plans for action on social media is not enough, and organizations must learn to maintain transparency without becoming performative. The question of if Greek life can function in an anti-racist society is still being answered, and the actions taken by organizations in the coming months and years will determine if there is space for them to continue to operate at Cal Poly. 

Martinez says, “It's understandable why a lot of people believe that Greek life should be abolished, because historically Greek Life has always been predominantly white, not only that but wealthy white people as well, and you tend to find a lot of cases of sexual assault[…] I think it's understandable for people to want to abolish something that continuously perpetuates that behavior. However, there are actions and there are people out there who have found a place within Greek life that has genuinely saved their lives on multiple occasions. It genuinely provides a network of emotional peace for some people, it creates memories you could really look back on and genuinely say, that was an amazing point in my life.”

Ask most sorority members why they chose to rush, and they would praise benefits such as close female friendships, leadership opportunities, and philanthropy. However, the different standards that sororities and fraternities are held to by universities and society as a whole can often hinder and damage an otherwise positive experience.