This poster entitled “The truth about Greek life” is disingenuous. I was reading some Fraternity Insider newsletters written by Wilson Heller in the 1970s and he was railing about the “all but 2 U.S. Presidents” stat touted on the poster below. Heller was calling the statistic inaccurate in the 1970s and he was correct then. The statistic hasn’t been valid since the 1960s, and, even then, Heller took offense because some of those Presidents were honorary members. More than 40 years later, that stat is still being touted as true, when it is patently false. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know it’s one of my pet peeves. (See http://wp.me/p20I1i-Vb and http://wp.me/p20I1i-11G)
Another untruth used on recruitment tools is “Both female U.S. Supreme Court Justices are Greek.” News flash, folks, it’s 2014 and four women have served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Only one, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alpha Epsilon Phi, is a member of a National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organization. Although there are rumors to the contrary, Sandra Day O’Connor is not a sorority woman. She attended Stanford University when there were no NPC chapters on campus. (Edited 10/27/2020 – Amy Coney Barrett is an initiate of the Kappa Delta chapter at Rhodes College.)
Another incorrect “fact” is that the first woman in space was a sorority woman. Sally Ride was not, but there have been many others who are. See http://wp.me/p20I1i-le for that list.
Fraternity and sorority life has so much to offer and I consider myself a cheerleader for the experience (and if you doubt me, read the other 400+ posts on here), but I cringe when I see these claims. The truth is much more effective and compelling than these outdated, specious statistics.
It really should be called the “Not So True Guide.” See the NIC and NPC facts below.
Facts from the North American Interfraternity Conference website for the fraternities which belong to that organization:
- Total Undergraduate Fraternity Membership: 325,530*
- Number of Men Initiated in 2011-2012: 84,954*
- 5436 Chapters on roughly 800 campuses*
- Community Service Hours: 2.8 million hours*
- Philanthropic Dollars Raised: $21.1 million*
- All-Fraternity GPA: 2.912 versus All-Male GPA: 2.892^
- Greeks in 112th US Congress: 42 Senators (42%), 101 Congressmen (23%)
- Greeks in 113th US Congress: 39 Senators (39%), 106 Congressmen (24%)
- 50% of the Top 10 Fortune 500 CEOs are fraternity men; 15% of Fortune 100 CEOs are Greek
- 44% of all US Presidents have been members of a social fraternity
- 31% of all US Supreme Court Justices have been fraternity alumni
(*) Compiled from Member Fraternities in the NIC Standards Compliance Report for the 2012-2013 Academic Year
The 2012-2013 National Panhellenic Conference statistics for the 26 women’s fraternities and sororities belonging to that organization:
College Panhellenics
(460 of 569 reporting)
• 569 College Panhellenics
• 850,411 hours donated to community service efforts
• $5,276,728 raised for philanthropies
Alumnae Panhellenics
(108 of 197 reporting)
• 197 Alumnae Panhellenics
• 53,394 hours donated to community service
• $438,757 raised for scholarships
• 412 scholarships awarded
• $82,247 raised for philanthropies
There are also fraternities and sororities which belong to other umbrella organizations including the National Pan-Hellenic Council, National Multicultural Greek Council, and the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations for which I could not find the statistical information, but each organization adds to the philanthropy service hours and funds raised.
This poster recently came across my twitter feed and I love it! It states the facts about Greek life opportunities at Indiana University. It doesn’t infer cozy relationships between being a member of a Greek organization and becoming President, a member of Congress, the first person to do something spectacular or connections to any famous people.
And in keeping with Murphy’s Law, the second I hit “publish” I saw another poster similar to this is on my twitter feed.
This poster appeared on my twitter feed from @UMD_GreekTerps the University of Maryland Department of Fraternity & Sorority Life. I believe they are producing them for the Big 10 Universities. Terrific job Terps!
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. 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/
