Greek life is a hot topic around the country right now. Structures of power are cracking down on fraternities and the way that they run themselves. Kamal Andrawis, a former fraternity brother and a Greek associate addresses this topic in his TED Talk. Andrawis recognizes the fact that there have been major issues within the Greek system in recent years, however, he highlights the positive products of being involved in a fraternity. He speaks on the relationship between Greek life and how the media portrays all fraternities negatively. I find this quite interesting because, despite the fact that there have been some major problems in Greek life, Kamal Andrawis argues the media solely acknowledges the negative aspects because it is easier to make a large headline. In reality, the constant scrutiny that fraternities experience is a product of the false representation portrayed by the media.
Granted, some of the stereotypes may be true. As of late, Greek life, more specifically fraternities, have had some trouble staying out of trouble. I mean, letting hundreds of college students run their own houses and be in complete control of their actions must come with some sort of advisory warning. Hazing incidents, sexual harassment, and excessive drug and alcohol abuse run rampant throughout anything hashtagged “frat”. Parties, sex, drugs, and organizational dispute are common themes in the fictional portrayal of frat life. Fraternities are under fire and for good reason. There are most certainly some punishments to be dished out and issues within the greek system where the reigns need to be pulled in a little bit, but Andrawis argues the stereotype of fraternities being “dangerous”, “sexist”, “homophobic”, and nothing but “party animals” is wrong. In fact, there are several beneficial outcomes to being involved with Greek life.
In contrast to the famed frat stereotype, Kamal provides several examples of valid reasoning for why fraternities are more than just disorderly party scenes. Throughout the TED Talk, Andrawis constantly mentions the strong alumni network that allows for internships and job opportunities. This being one of the main reasons I myself chose to join the greek family. There are countless other research-based facts mentioned to back the argument. Did you know that the first female astronaut was a greek? Or that 85% of the most recent fortune 500 were Greek alumni? In fact, since 1910 85% of supreme court justices and 76% of senators were part of the greek community. Contrary to popular belief, Greek life has multiple fronts to it. There does seem to be more to the fraternity houses than drinking and partying. Andrawis continually exaggerates the brotherhood and the special bonds that are built within these houses. Relationships to last a lifetime and a network that goes unmatched. That is how he describes the deep connections pieced together in this “frat life”. Apart from the negative media coverage, there are plenty of outstanding figures the Greek system can boast about.
However, Andrawis argues that the media only acknowledges the negative aspects of fraternities and greek life. I agree with him completely because the headlines always read: “hazing incident”, “sexual harassment”, “overdose”, and “alcohol poisoning”. While these are factual reports, the media fails to cover the better side of the story. In doing so, they leave readers and viewers with a sort of stereotypical view of fraternities. And I’ll tell you what, it is not a good one. What the news outlets don’t report is that greek life students have a 20% higher graduation rate, or that “over 7 million hours are volunteered and 54 million dollars per year are donated”(Andrawis). These are the type of stories that need to be shared. The media has yet to release any positive news about the greek community. The power that comes from mainstream media causes a single side of the story to be told about fraternities.
Andrawis explains how the media tells a one-sided story about Greek life and in doing so, falsely represents the community. It is always easier to report the big news and stream the major headlines. The media knows the power it contains in this country and is smart enough to know how to use it. The stereotypical fraternity is all we hear about and why? Well, we only hear about that because that grabs attention. That’s the juicy stuff. Of course, the media is only going to report the stuff that is deemed “interesting” by society. This may be strategic for major media sources, however, it leads to a false representation of fraternity life. Consequently, parents, family members, and others urge prospective greek members to avoid joining greek life because of this false representation.
Similarly to other structures of power, the media has a major impact on Greek life and fraternities. Fraternities around the country are under constant scrutiny from the media, the universities, the national boards, and alumni. With first-hand experience of this, I cannot help but side with Kamal here. The media is the overarching source of power, but they put pressure on the universities to pressure the Greek system and revoke privileges and independence. That being said, another major topic in the past several years has been fraternities disaffiliation from universities in order to leave the constraints that they feel have recently been established. The inappropriate view of greek life has completely hindered the whole greek system and taken away almost all fraternal privilege. While, in reality, the system is based on independence and further restraint on fraternities only burns the match faster and causes fraternities to pull away from their ties to these structures of power.
There is a larger ethical issue here. Andrawis provided several examples of valid reasons explaining why Greek life is important and how it can benefit the surrounding community. The fact is, the media does not want to report that side of the story. In order for the whole picture to be seen and the negative stereotypes of fraternities to be erased, the major news outlets must take a step back and realize what they are doing. The first priority should be to accurately and effectively report the news. For the most part, I believe that that is being done. On the other hand, just as Kamal explicitly states, the whole story of fraternities is not being told. There is more to the story than the partying and the terrible incidents that make the daily headlines. A fair and accurate reporting source is crucial in this country and Andrawis begins to raise a much larger ethical dilemma in his TED Talk by pointing out that the media is one-sided and knowingly impacts the stereotypes of certain communities.
