Greek life is deeply rooted at DePauw. The first Greek organization came to campus in 1845, before DePauw was even named DePauw University. Roughly 70 percent of DePauw students are in a Greek organization, and Greek life unquestionably dominates our social scene. In the wake of the DePauw Dialogue, if we take seriously the charge to make DePauw a more inclusive institution, we must take serious steps to address the exclusion and marginalization our ubiquitous Greek system causes. Without addressing this elephant in the room, it may be difficult to truly make DePauw a more inclusive community.
The implicit segregation that exists in the Greek system where Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) fraternities are generally full of white men, Panhellenic sororities generally full of white women and MGC and NPHC sororities and fraternities generally full of students of color, did not happen by accident. Instead of forming an inclusive community, over the years the Greek system sectioned off different identities into their own communities. As women and people of color were not allowed into fraternities of all white men, they were forced to create their own communities. Unfortunately, this system founded on racist and sexist exclusion has not been structurally altered since it was created.
In practice, the lack of meaningful structural change has led to continued racism, sexism and exclusion within the Greek system. For instance, take one of the many double standards between Panhellenic sororities and IFC fraternities; sororities can’t hold social events in their houses, though fraternities can. This creates a male-dominated and controlled social scene that has been shown to produce higher rates of sexual assault.
Moreover, while I do not intend to speak for an identity that I don’t share, given the recent history of alleged racial harassment committed by IFC fraternity men, supplemented by the in-group out-group bias inherent in the Greek system, it is not difficult to see why some students of color might not feel comfortable socializing in an IFC fraternity setting.
What’s more, as many Greeks tend to only socialize with those in their chapter, our perspectives and understanding of different identities is often limited, further hindering efforts at creating community and inclusion on this campus. It is therefore clear that the effects of racist, sexist and exclusionary intentions upon which the Greek system was created have yet to be spurned.
While many schools have recently banned the Greek system on their campuses, this solution seems currently unworkable in the DePauw context. Without the Greek system, DePauw would be unable to house all of its students, would experience meaningful disengagement of alumni and would see a largely dampened social scene, likely leading to less applications from high school seniors.
However, this does not mean other solutions are not possible. For instance, schools such as Wesleyan college have attempted to make fraternities co-ed to reduce incidences of sexual assault. This is just one of a multitude of possible solutions to make Greek life more inclusive and less harmful.
We will need to find solutions that work on our campus and in our context. But before we can do that, we need to recognize that the Greek system is historically highly flawed. We need to recognize that these organizations are inherently exclusionary. They have been made to discriminate and they play a major role in the marginalization of students on our campus. It is therefore necessary that we get serious about fixing the Greek system.