citizenship

I personally try to show up to other chapter's events and offer my support. Even though stopping by and buying food is not a big deal, it shows other chapters that they have the support of the greek community. I always make sure i'm not bashing other chapters or perpetuating stereotypes about other chapters. saying something positive about a chapter you don't belong to can go a long way to unite us. I also try to make friends with greeks outside my chapter and council. Doing things like taking this class, hanging out with friends at their sorority houses and presenting myself as a positive example of who an alpha chi woman can be is just a few small steps i take to display my individual citizenship to the greek community. 

It is extremely difficult to rally 115 girls to a common purpose, but my chapter really tries. Of course there are the lazy ones who never go to any speakers and never attend other chapter's events, but they are greatly outnumbered by those who are excited to help out other chapters when we can. Attending philanthropies, and even talking to friends about events that other chapters put on is definitely encouraged among our chapter. We are not perfect, and could be doing a lot more but the effort is there.

As greeks, there is a tendency to be exclusive and view ourselves as separate from the rest of the student body, and this is one thing that bothers me a lot about greek life. Things like helping with move-in and doing council-wide events for the campus are a start, but not nearly enough! i would like to see greek life integrate itself into more campus events. A positive thing is that we can only get more involved from here. We all talk about unfair stereotypes and get pissed when we're labeled as slutty, or stupid, or elitist. these stereotypes do not just go away on their own. We have to actively combat the negativity surrounding greek life and displaying more citizenship within the campus community is the way to do it.