Alyssa Banister- Greek Life: Literacy Practices

To those out there who do not know about Greek life it is a one in a lifetime experience. I always used to say that Greek life was not for me and that there was more to life than this silly organization. I always heard the comments “you pay for your friends” or “all they do is party” or even “you have to have money to be in Greek life”. All of these things are completely false.

Over the few weeks we have been assigned this project I went out to the Greek community and to my sorority Pi Beta Phi and observed the communication practices they held. I looked deep into the organization and took notes on how they interacted with each other, what they wore, and what activities the Pi Beta Phi sorority has done for the community. All of these things might not seem like a literacy practice but by wearing a certain type of clothing is a statement, people read into that. Also, by how we communicate with one another not only within our chapters but to other sororities and fraternities.

Fraternities and sororities have a stereotype that one would say is: Fake, the partiers, degrading, shallow, and snobs. Why is this? As seen from the outside community that are not Greeks the word gets around easily to those who do not know anything about us. Not only that but through media we seem to believe everything that is said about the Greek life. One of the articles I have chosen, Sorority Life: The hidden Truth, aims to go beyond the stereotypes about campus Greek life popularized in such movies as Legally Blonde and Revenge of the Nerds or MTV's reality series Sorority Life. Instead of listening to the media and looking at all of the bad that Greeks seem to be portrayed as doing I went in to see what good they were doing and what literacy practices that they used in everyday choices to go about living as a Greek in a positive light.

Elise Moore, a national counterpart from Pi Beta Phi headquarters came down and I was able to speak with her on the feelings people get about Greek life. In sum, she told me that most people who are not in Greek life only hear the negatives about a sorority or fraternity. Yes, there are parties and hazing incidents but, do we want these things? No. We can make as many rules as we want but when you get a bunch of college students together and call them an organization there is bound to be something bad to happen. People do not speak on the positive things that a Greek organization has to offer. Publicity does not care because to them, it is not an interesting story. Greeks do a lot of service for the community at large and for other small foundations in the given area.

Pi Beta Phi’s philanthropy is Literacy, and as a National organization this sorority raised more than 8 million dollars in funds and in books to give back to schools in need just this year alone. There are also many other chapters who raise money for their philanthropies such as; St. Jude’s Hospital, Dance Marathon, Austism Speaks, Make a Wish Foundation, Domestic violence, and many more. Greek Life has a set stereotype and with this blog, I am hoping to not only show the true identity of the Greek’s though their literacy practices, but to also show how chapters work hard to serve their communities and make a difference.

During my research I was able to sit back and watch how my sorority communicated with one another. Every Tuesday night chapter meetings take place at their houses and dinner is given to us. After dinner, we go into ritual (meaning wearing your dress clothing, dress pin in place, and secret things are put in place to be let into the meeting.) With these meetings we are under ritual and our president is in command. All Greek chapters are different and many things happen while in those meetings. But for the most part daily achievements, announcements, ideas and much more are talked about during these weekly meetings. As stated above, many secrets are withheld in the Greek community that cannot be spoken about publicly but, while I was in chapter I was able to see how those who are in hierarchy are able to take charge and we know from experiences what goes on in the meetings.

Another literacy practice that is withheld in a chapter is the bylaws and mission statements. When in a Greek chapter we live our values based off of our bylaws (rules) and our mission statement. Pi Beta Phi speaks weekly on our bylaws and what values should be practiced in our everyday lives. For Pi Beta Phi we believe our values are critical and that is what sets us apart from other chapters. Each chapter has their own set of laws and values that their Greek founders have made for them to go off of. Looking back into the past and when we were founded we were given Greek letters, a golden arrow with twelve links, a wine carnation flower, the Pi Beta Phi Crest, colors wine and silver blue, angel wings, and much more.

All of these things are symbols that represent Pi Beta Phi. When seeing these symbols, we automatically associate them with our sorority and know that there is hidden meaning. Other sororities and fraternities have their own set of these types of symbols that again make up who they are as a chapter.

I believe that these are literacy practices that are being withheld in our chapter because of their meaning and we are publicly advertising these symbols such as the arrow, wings, and letters by wearing them around campus, putting them on flyers, or even on bags and on our house. These letters symbolize the significance of our sorority and we practice these symbols as a language we know that make up Pi Beta Phi. We are not only communicating to the Greek chapters but to the community at large who we are as an organization. We withhold certain values and portray Pi Beta Phi everywhere we go and knowing that we are representing our letters out in the community we are communicating we have pride in our greek culture.

While reading these scholarly articles, I was able to see how the authors portrayed those who are Greek. In our UC community, Greek Life is not the biggest organization on campus, yet to us we are a huge group of individuals who like to have fun, work hard in school, and live our values everyday. By the statement of wearing our symbols and going through campus we are promoting a new type of literacy and communicating a way of cultivating throughout college and many years afterward. Being apart of the Greek community and seeing how those who are involved and not involved speak to one another and show their pride of their chapters has showed me that no matter what the organization or group involvement we are associated with, we all communicate in different ways. Whether it be like Pi Beta Phi who wear their arrow pointed high, wings on their back, and colors showing brightly... we all communicate a sense of humbleness that we are at home.

Literacy practices are fully dependent on the organization and their practices in this care of Greek life is based on ritual that has laid the foundation to what Pi Beta Phi is, the symbols that explain our sorority, and the ways we communicate with others and within the chapter are just some of the literacy practices used every day. Greek life has a stereotype of being some obnoxious group of college students who go about their day partying, being crazy, and irresponsible. I hope now I have shown you that through their literacy practices and what makes who these chapters are through my example of Pi Beta Phi, that you now see the light at the end of the tunnel for this organization. They are strong willed, scholarly, and upmost prideful of their letters.

This video is here to show you my experience and what makes me feel at home. My sisters are my everything and we as a chapter live our values together and practice our own literacy through rituals, symbols, and everyday events that we experience together.