One of my friends is a minority in a top sorority, one of two or three in her house. She had hoped the incoming pledge class would include another minority, but it didn't happen. So, we got to talking about the lack of a visible minority presence in Greek life.
Instead of killing Greek life and performing this complex act to prove how much the campus treasures diversity, why isn't Vanderbilt trying to bridge diversity and Greek life?
When prospective students tour Vanderbilt, tour guides whisk them through a series of paths, hallways, cuts and the maze from Goblet of Fire to avoid any glimpse of Greek Row. The tour avoids mentioning Greek life. The administration drags existing students through exercises in futility like the Delta Force, designed to regulate Greek life into footnote status. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt programming like MOSAIC encloses visiting minority students in an unconventional Vandybubble. Friends who attended MOSAIC in high school admitted their weekend here produced misconceptions about the role of minority groups on campus.
Thus Vanderbilt sells an image of itself, constructed in a vacuum at odds with reality. That image creates false hopes and an unnecessary mystique around Greek life, as though it's some dirty word to be avoided, and something that must be mitigated by Vanderbilt's academic upgrade.
Vanderbilt is doing this wrong. If they keep doing it wrong, we will become the administration's dream: a generic Duke stepsister.
Greek life renders Vandy unique among its peers, delivering a defiant, definitive, silent "screw you, we're awesome" to other schools. Pride's involved. And yes, Vandy will always retain the Good Times contingency of high achievers—maybe Southern Cal and W&L will steal a few, but Vandy still looks sexy there.
But the recent fundamental changes to the financial aid system affect the university's student profile by definition, and I'm not talking about race. We all know a multitude of students who never saw Vandy as an option 25 years ago now recognize new incentive to attend, enabled by an unbelievable grant system. If cost prohibits these new students from joining Greek life (more than a few friends never did initiation or deactivated because of cost), then change the game.
Either offer more scholarships each year than the paltry few available, or pressure the chapters to reduce fees. Work to get NPHC better real estate, incorporate Greeks into prospective student events, kill some of these stupid study session rules, encourage all students to rush, encourage Greek life to represent the campus: Do something, Vanderbilt. Greek life is about tradition, natural community, raging and that screw you. Vandy should — needs — to promote the hell out of that, whether it's Panhellenic, IFC or NPHC.
Vandy is already Brown or Wash U. We can change the game on the Greek life, change the game on U.S. News — or can be Duke's stepsister, but I guarantee you, we'll lose.
—Katherine Miller is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at katherine.m.miller@vanderbilt.edu.
