Greeks
rely on competition
Jennifer Camacho/On-line Forty-Niner
By
Marissa Pendergrass
On-line Forty-Niner
Amidst
all of the mid-semester pressures of being
a college student lies unexpected changes
for those involved in a fraternity or sorority
at Cal State Long Beach. Hundreds of students
participated in the fall 2003 Rush Week,
however, many did not expect to be faced
with the increasingly competitive and critical
attitudes between different groups.
Being
that those students who join a Greek organization
are largely impacted by their involvement
throughout their college career, these transformations
of interaction between fellow Greek students
is at its peak right now.
"Whether
it's the shirts we wear on campus or the
events that we hold throughout the year,
there has been such a huge increase of competitive
attitude since I first became a member,"
said active member C.C. Taylor of Gamma
Phi Beta. "Everyone is always trying
to out perform one another and be the most
unique."
The
National Panhellenic Conference for women
of which all sororities recognized by CSULB
are affiliated, embraces leadership but
competitiveness has been a huge issue in
the most recent years.
Being
that tradition is such an important part
of being in a sorority or fraternity, the
Greek system has an even harder time finding
ways to be more creative, groundbreaking,
and original than other clubs and groups
on campus. However, this cutthroat approach
to living the Greek life is not always seen
as such a negative thing.
"I
definitely feel that these changes in the
[Greek] system at Long Beach State will
lend to positive changes in an evolving
part of many college students lives,"
said active member Sheri Moslenko of Gamma
Phi Beta.
Leadership
and teamwork are now being put to the test
for each group to come up with the best
ideas as well as events. Reputations are
formed through these "inner revolutions"
between groups and will deeply affect the
spring 2004 Rush Week.
Even
though fraternities and sororities operate
much differently when it comes to event
planning and publicity, much of the same
competitiveness and pressure to be the best
co-exists. A great deal of this also has
to do with how many new recruits a fraternity
or sorority ends up with at the end of Rush
Week.
Due
to rush fees costing up to $50, time consuming
meetings, and uncertainty of which one to
join, many students join at the last minute.
Each fraternity and sorority has been forced
to be very aggressive with the ways in which
they attract the new members they wish to
recruit.
"This
year's fall Rush Week ended up being one
of the smaller recruitments that Long Beach
State has seen in a while," said active
member Keith Dancey of Sigma Episilon Phi.
With
the year's smaller turn out in students
wishing to rush a fraternity or sorority,
the need to be as unique as possible has
never been quite as important as it proved
to be this year.
"This
year's fall Rush Week ended up being one
of the smaller recruitments that Long Beach
State has seen in a while."
-- Keith Dancey,
Sigma Episilon Phi
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