Why are elite Greek organizations composed of almost entirely straight, white, middle-class students?
DeSantis, Alan D. Inside Greek U.: Fraternities, Sororities, and the Pursuit of Pleasure, Power, and Prestige. Lexington: U of Kentucky, 2007. Print.
In his book, Dr. DeSantis explains that there are numerous reasons that Greek organizations remain homogeneous. The first of these factors is self-identification: DeSantis explains that he only thinks of himself as an Italian-American when he is around other Italian-Americans, or when Italian culture is discussed. When students pledge Greek, they are surrounded by others that are straight, white, middle-class and hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine, so they don't have to think of the other identities that they may have, such as poet, helper, working-class, bi-sexual, etc. Therefore, these Greek students think their own race, class, ethnicity is just natural and universal. Another reason is racial nepotism-- white Greek students downright favor whites when they go pledge, and Greek organizations are worried about what having black students will do to their reputation. Finally, some of the xenophobia is not deliberate-- people in general tend to like a person and feel comfortable around them when they feel like they have things in common, be it race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, or religion.
This book took my argument exploration on a journey in another direction. It dealt with the role of gender in fraternities and sororities, and unfortunately confirmed all of my worst fears about Greek Life-- they are elitist organizations that endorse rape, poor body image, cheating (both kinds), fighting, homophobia, drug abuse and alcoholism. Fraternities are much more negative than sororities, but women typically perform better in college than males anyway. However, while only a small percentage of people every join a Greek organization in college, the majority of politicians and business leaders were involved with Greek life. I wish I could have more of a positive view about Greek organizations, but they largely stand guilty as accused.
This source communicates with Source 1 regarding the stereotypes of Greek Life-- this book holds that they are mostly true. It speaks out against Source 2-- it suggests that the way that Greeks want to portray themselves does not measure up with the xenophobic ways these organizations really act. The book seems to provide evidence against Source 3. Source 3 suggests that men in fraternities develop higher moral capabilities than non-Greeks, but this is clearly not the case. Over half of the respondents in Source 3 did not conduct an exit interview a few years later, so it is likely that the more "moral" respondents of Greek Life felt obligated to complete the exit interview, while the data of the typical sloppy Greek males was never recorded (they ignored the exit interview). Also, level of morality is self-reported, so Greek males, feeling defensive or guilty about their actions in college, may have exaggerated their moral accomplishments.
Unfortunately, I was not able to glean as much useful information about student backgrounds as I wanted from this book. I was able to build up a case that the "rush" process (when freshman are recruited) leads to homogeneous, and negative college environments, but I couldn't find reliable information about what kinds of students successfully join fraternities/sororities. Certainly ones that are attractive, well off, thin/buff, and masculine/feminine get in, but this isn't enough information. Is it possible that Greek Organizations merely uphold the status quo, and nothing else? Surely this is damaging in itself, but do Greek Organizations steer members to become more racist, homophobic, and gender stratified? Finding a direct cause and effect would be useful in developing a convincing argument about the state of Greek life in American universities.
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