The start of the academic year is upon us again. After having lived in college towns for most of my adult life, it’s the traffic that signals the end of summer, and not the weather. The Becque family lives it life in two sixteen-week semesters with an eight-week summer session between them.
The beginning of the fall semester screams POSSIBILITIES! For entering freshman, it is a new beginning. For returning students, it’s a chance to get it right a second or third time. The 4.0 (or 3.5 or 3.0) that wasn’t achieved the first or second time around is still possible.
For thousands of students who have or will be new members (the preferred term for what was once a pledge) of Greek-letter organizations (fraternities and sororities), it is a time of even more possibility. For those who get caught up in the excitement of recruitment without knowing much about what membership in a GLO entails, it will be a learning opportunity. Fraternity and sorority life, when done correctly, is a great educational experience. When done incorrectly it is a fiasco.
This is one of my new favorite photos. It was taken about 100 years ago. These women are recently initiated members of a college sorority. In fact, as charter members, they are the entire chapter.
All of these women are gone. The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organization to which they took an oath of membership is thriving. And it, along with the 25 other NPC groups, continues to provide today’s women with leadership opportunities, philanthropic endeavors, sincere friendship and the chance to be a part of something much greater than themselves. While the 2015 version of this picture includes women in sundresses and t-shirts, with glitter or flowers in their hair, the feelings they show are much the same. Look at the pure joy in the faces of the women standing on the fence in the back row, or at the seriousness of purpose of the women in the middle row, and the happiness of the women in the front. These same emotions can be seen in the photos taken this fall after recruitment.
I implore the 2015 new member classes to remember that there were young men and women who came before them, whose lives were lived in a time few of you could ever envision. The organization you joined needs you, the 2015 new member, to remember that you will graduate and others will follow in your footsteps. Work for your organization, giving of your time, talent, and treasure, for you are but one little link in a very, very long chain of others who have taken the same oath of membership.
The Chi Phi chapter at UC Berkeley, circa 1920s.
Do your part in making your organization proud. Think before you act. Today’s age of instant publicity via social media and a 24-hour news cycle has changed the game. What once would have been a small transgression now becomes a major issue. There is no room for error. If you want to live your life without having to remember that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself, then maybe being a member of a GLO is not for you. If you say your values are something to be admired then your walk must match your talk and vice versa. To say one thing and then do another will not cut it. The men and women who have come before you deserve so much more than that.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
