Inside (and outside) Wofford’s Spring tradition 

Each Spring, many Wofford students elect to go through Greek recruitment. While some students remain unaffiliated, Greek students often describe their involvement as being a fundamental part of college life.  

One anonymous member of Kappa Delta says that “college is such a pivotal point that I think it can be agreed upon across the board—whether you’re in a fraternity or sorority or not—that college is the time to form those friendships.” 

According to our non-Greek anonymous source, though, joining Greek organizations is about status for many. He cites “excessive drinking, the attitude of superiority, and the requirements of new recruits that definitely isn’t hazing but is totally still hazing” as the most negative aspects of all of Greek Life at Wofford and beyond.  

Anonymous non-Greek: “To become a member of a fraternity, you essentially have to sign up to pay people to treat you like an animal for a week and then a servant for a semester. Then you call them your brothers for the rest of your life. It makes no sense other than being the price for the status symbol.” 

A Greek male on campus, however, disagreed with the aforementioned notion of mistreatment. “My personal opinion is that Greek life stands for much more than the administration sees. Our organizations provide a strong sense of community and cooperation with others. Many also require that their members reach a certain amount of community hours which promotes Wofford’s image as well as Greek life.” 

He went on to say, “Greek life can do a better job at promoting the good that they do and strive to avoid conflict with the college administration and approach them with patience and respectfulness. Many people associate college with partying and making new friends and this is precisely what Greek life does. While it is possible to achieve both of these without being a part of it, fraternities and sororities work to promote lifelong friendships and connections.” 

Another criticism of Greek organizations from non-Greek students is the idea of “buying your friends.” However, our anonymous Kappa Delta sister would argue that “I don’t think that we’re necessarily buying our friends as much as we’re funding the things that we’re doing with our friends. Most of our money goes to our philanthropy and social events like formals, which are not only accessible to us, they’re also accessible to the dates—both male and female—that we could bring to them.” 

She argues that the process of joining a fraternity or sorority—especially at Wofford—is about streamlining students’ ability to meet potential lifelong friends and to grow closer to friends that they may already have. She does admit, though, that the stereotypes that are attached to fraternities and sororities, especially in her experience in the South, are hard to push back against and disprove.  

Anonymous Kappa Delta: “[The stereotypes have] become self-fulfilling, and that can be good or bad. They’re really hard to break up once you’ve been pegged as that because once you’re pegged as that in your own mind, it’s really hard to deviate and break the stereotype, and once you’re stereotyped in other people’s minds, it takes a lot to stray away from that.” 

Our anonymous non-Greek would at least agree partially, admitting that, even though not all members of fraternities and sororities fit into the obnoxious stereotype, it has generally been true in his experience.  

When it comes to non-Greek women and their views on Greek Life, it isn’t all bad, according to one anonymous source. “One non-Greek female states, “Unlike other schools, I think students involved in Greek Life and students not involved are not forced to be two separate groups… I think this is one of the best parts about Wofford. Sure there are distinct friend groups, but there aren’t strict ‘cliques.’ I don’t see clear-cut examples of sorority girls versus non-sorority girls.”  

She went on to say that the experience of being in a sorority seems to have good and bad sides. “I think some pros of Greek Life at Wofford include: an aspect of getting the ‘typical college experience,’ opening doors to opportunities- whether that be through philanthropies or leadership and the chance to form friendships with people you might not otherwise be friends with. I think some cons of Greek life at Wofford include: the stereotypical Greek Life issues- excessive partying and issues from alcohol tend to be associated with Greek Life.”