You’ve heard the rumors: you have to be rich to go Greek, fraternities and sororities all have hazing rituals, Greeks never study. Although popular TV and movies depict exclusive Greek houses and parties every night, the truth is that K-State Greeks are respected students. Greeks are among the top scholars at K-State and put in thousands of community service hour every semester. Read on for some common myths about Greek life, then get the facts.
Truth: Living in a house is comparable to living on campus or off. The advantage to living in a Greek house is your fees include meals, laundry, facilities, parking, and Internet access. And to help with costs, K-State Greeks are awarded more than $400,000 in scholarships each year.
Truth: If you're conjuring images of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde when you think of Greeks, you're sorely mistaken. Regardless of the way popular movies portray Greeks, the average all-Greek GPA is higher than the average non-Greek GPA, and has been for the past 20 years. Fraternity and sorority members also consistently win some of the most prestigious scholarships at K-State, such as the Rhodes, Truman, Marshall, Goldwater, Udall, Rotary, and Fulbright.
Truth: If you think Animal House and Old School are accurate depictions of Greek life, you've seen too many movies. The three pillars of Greek organizations are scholarship, leadership, and community service. K-State Greeks have logged more than 20,000 community service hours, and raise approximately $100,000 annually for philanthropies.
Truth: All K-State fraternities and sororities have anti-hazing policies. K-State was the first campus in the nation to adopt anti-hazing policies in 1957. Any instance of hazing, as defined by K-State, will not be tolerated.
Truth: Each house has distinct differences. The oldest fraternities were established in 1913, and the oldest sororities in 1915. All eight of the first houses are still at K-State. Several other chapters have joined them, including nine multicultural fraternities and sororities. New chapters have sprung up as recently as 2007.
