Cheyenne Lazarus
By Lily Engel, The Whetstone
Those who choose not join a sorority or fraternity often say it’s because of the stereotypes.
“When I think of sorority girls, I just think of the stereotypical pretty, preppy party girl,” said junior Casey Beall.
For them, a video that recently went viral makes a lot of sense.
Alex Purdy, a student at Syracuse University, made a video about her sorority experience. Purdy was new to the sorority scene and wanted to make new friends going into colleges.
“I didn’t know much about sororities going into it but I decided to join based on the values that were told to me,” Purdy said in the video. “It was appealing to hear that it was full of women who encourage each other to be their best self.”
But her experience was nothing like the way she expected a sorority should behave.
“The problem is the overwhelming lack of compassion for one another,” Purdy said in the video. “I was so upset to see the way women treating other women to see women in leadership roles telling us to care more about what other people think and what we look like.”
Sophomore Sam Burns believes girls join for a title rather than the charity work.
“I think sororities are kind of preppy,†she said. “ I know they are supposed to be doing things for charity but I don’t think it is about that anymore. People make it more of a status then actually doing the charity work and things Greek life are actually supposed to do.â€
Cheyenne Lazarus, Student Activities President and member of Alpha Phi Omega, said she thought Purdy’s video was good.
“When I watched the video, I had a lot of respect for her speaking up about what she went through in her sorority,” she said. “When you are in a Greek organization, you are supposed to be like a family to each other and considering what the girl was saying in the video, she did not want to be in a family that did things she didn’t believe in.”
Lazarus said the sorority stereotype is often based on movies.
“The tall, pretty blonde girl that’s really popular and all about herself,” she said. “But in reality, most sorority girls are not like that and that is what people have to understand.”
Ashlyn Hare, a Delta Phi Epsilon’s alumna, joined a sorority to get more friends and to be part of something. She had a different experience with her sorority.
“If you look at our sorority, there are a lot of different ages and sizes,” she said. “They accept you for who you are and they don’t expect you to change.”
