By
Katie Clark
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Student perception of popularity, partying endures despite service work
Despite recent philanthropic efforts, some UA students still believe that parties and socializing are what encompass the majority of Greek life.
"They're just a group of popular kids who party all the time," said Meghan Connealy, an English junior.
Connealy, who rushed a sorority during her freshman year, knew that Greek life was not for her.
"I just didn't like the feel of it," she said.
"It's an elite group that no one can touch," agreed Ty Key, a music education sophomore. "They're high society, I guess."
However, Terry Thornley, philanthropy chair for Delta Tau Delta fraternity, said that though Greeks do more philanthropy than non-Greek University of Arizona students think, the Greek system often has a negative stereotype attached to it.
"People that aren't in it don't want to get to know it," he said. "Once we get a bad stereotype, it's hard to change that image."
Both Connealy and Key agreed that philanthropy is a part of Greek life, but not as big as the social aspects like parties and date dashes.
"There is a unity, a brotherhood," Key said. "But they definitely have more parties than volunteer."
"They definitely make a point to do philanthropy," Connealy said. "They spend a lot less time doing philanthropy than other things, but they do more than most students."
But she added that she thinks most of the time individuals do not choose to volunteer on their own, but rather it is required by the sorority or fraternity house.
Thornley said although there are no penalties for members who don't do philanthropy work, they can earn "pin points" which ultimately determine which room of the Greek house they are eligible to live in.
Sam Chang, philanthropy chair for Kappa Sigma fraternity, said his fraternity has a similar system.
"No one is required (to participate)" he said. "(But) pretty much everyone participates. It's not that hard to encourage philanthropy."
He also said that Kappa Sigma has done about 800 hours of philanthropy work so far this year.
"This year was actually a great year," he said.
Chang said that members of the fraternity have participated in philanthropy for organizations like the Junior League of Tucson among others.
"It was really great," Chang said. "They had a rummage sale in October and we helped out with security and loading and stuff like that."
He also said that the fraternities and sororities on East First Street blocked off the street on Halloween so kids could trick-or-treat at the houses.
Upcoming philanthropy events at the Delta Tau Delta house, said Thornley, include the Mr. and Ms. U of A pageant on Saturday. Ticket sales will benefit the Ronald McDonald House.
Denisa Casement, director of community outreach for the Ronald McDonald House, said that volunteer support from fraternities and sororities is an important component of the organization's volunteer efforts.
She said that the students often cook and clean as part of their volunteering duties.
"We rely a lot on fraternities and sororities," Casement said. "They do a lot of work for us."
She said that it is difficult to estimate the amount of time fraternities and sororities have spent doing volunteer work at the house because so many groups and individuals come in and out of the organization's volunteer pool, but said their impact is significant.
"We can definitely tell the difference when school is out for the summer," she said.
Erin Oliva, philanthropy chair for the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, said her house does weekly outreach for local Boys and Girls Clubs.
"We really encourage our girls to get involved," said Oliva, a retail and consumer sciences junior. "Our house is trying to encourage philanthropy as much as possible."
Oliva, Thornley and Chang agreed that the negative stereotype concerning Greeks and their associated activities is a result of the media.
"We get a lot of bad press," Thornley said.
"Don't get me wrong, we do have fun," said Chang. "But we want to let people know that every group has its bad qualities."
Mike Moran, president of the UA Interfraternity Council, said that the negative aspects of Greek life often get "played up" in the press.
"It all gets very sensationalized," he said.
Thornley said that the Greek system is working on creating a better image for itself in the UA community by "getting out there" and doing more philanthropy work in the community.
"Our goal is to show that we are leaders, and show that there is more to the Greek system than drinking and parties," he said.
