This past Friday, I had the opportunity to attend the groundbreaking for the new Greek Village. While the individual chapter I belong to is still weighing a move into the new Greek court, it is refreshing to finally see the University pay more than lip service in support to the Greek system as a whole.
In the next several years, students will see new houses that look like traditional fraternity and sorority homes being built, as well as new lighting and infrastructure that will make the area safe and comfortable for all that live there. There will be townhomes for smaller chapters, meeting facilities, unity labs and a commons ground where organizations can hold events.
Stereotypes aside, Greek organizations are a vital part of any University in the nation. They’re a tradition, especially in the South, that exemplifies the class and etiquette of a time that is slowly passing us by in an increasingly transparent and politically correct world. These organizations are important to N.C. State, because they’ve been a part of the University community since nearly the beginning. Members continue to pay dividends through Greek alumni’s disproportionate involvement on governing boards and through financial contributions such as the one that Lonnie Poole, a brother of Pi Kappa Phi, made to sponsor the new golf course on Centennial Campus.
At N.C. State, these students are leaders — serving in leadership positions in various extracurricular and service organizations on campus. We, as Greeks, are scholars; we have Park Scholars, engineers, business majors, science majors and boast a GPA that mirrors the campus average each and every semester. We are service-oriented and put on events that have become traditions at N.C. State, raise thousands of dollars for charities and put in thousands of hours in service to the local community.
Fraternities and sororities provide an important element to collegiate life that can’t be duplicated by any other organization on campus. It’s time that N.C. State moved past the stereotypes of “sorostitutes” and the stigma of the “red Solo cup” and accepted Greek students for the ambitious and successful part of the University community they’ve become.
Regardless of what my chapter decides to do, I’m excited about the idea of the new Greek Village, because it’s past the time that the University recognize a need for new housing that conforms to the standards demanded by today’s students. The brick boxes built in the ’60s just aren’t cutting it anymore and weren’t helping out the University’s reputation for architectural beauty. Hopefully, this is a signal that N.C. State’s administration is ready to do more than just talk about supporting its organizations and instead go beyond, building community centers and new street lights. It is time the University treat its organizations with the respect and equality that each and every student deserves at N.C. State.
Tell Benton how you feel about the new Greek Village at [email protected]
