What is it that makes Greeks so incongruent? Well let's really think about that for a second.  What is the first thing most people think of when they hear the words Greek Life, fraternity, or sorority?  More often then not they think of alcohol and large quantities of it, huge parties, themed events with extravagant and in most cases provocative attire, and most of all, they instantly think that we do absolutely nothing beneficial except give other college students a venue to drink, a lot of times underage.  But can you really blame them? Granted it's not completely our fault, but can you blame them? A lot of people's only interaction with Greek Life is through movies like Animal House, American Pie: Naked Mile, and American Pie: Beta House. Now we all know that we are more than that but how do you change the public's opinion?


When you really think about it, we don't make life easier on ourselves.  We brag up and down about how we do this philanthropy and we help out the community in this way or that. It's true that most Greek organizations have a philanthropy or community service project that they put on and if they don't ( even if they do) they participate in other Greek's philanthropies.  That is awesome don't get me wrong but that small impact is not much to stand on when you compare it to the negatives that society holds against us.  Yes we do great things for our communities but we also promote underage drinking, binge drinking, cheating, and stealing.


My chapter is just as guilty as anyone elses.  I have seen old tests passed around, I have seen massive amounts of alcohol consumed, and I have even partaken in some of it myself. We talk about being professional and developing young men and women into upstanding citizens of society. You know what society says? YOU GUYS ARE DOING A DAMN GOOD JOB. Let's face it, there is no way to ever change everyone's opinion. I'm not so neive to believe that you can but we aren't doing everything we can to change society's opinions either.  If we continue the way we are we will never be looked at as upstanding organizations that are beneficial for our communities.


Let's recap. We put on TGs which we dress up for and walk around campus and people see us like that. We throw massive parties and invite anyone and everyone to come and drink and get drunk regardless of age. We keep test banks and pass them down through the years. We steal things, mostly from each other due to rivalries but regardless its still theft. 
 BUT
We hold philanthropies on a regular basis. We donate blood to the American Red Cross and food to food banks. We take part in community service all the time. That's all great but it's not enough. If we want people to believe in our organizations the way that we all believe in them, then we need to step up and correct our incongruencies. Until then, we are always going to be viewed the way we are.