C-
Greeks Doing What They Can to Have Fun
Let me begin by saying I am not a crazy party animal and have no interest in going out and drinking every night of the week. However, I do like to hang out with friends, go to parties on the weekend, and have a good time, and doing so at William and Mary is difficult for many reasons. The administration at this school absolutely despises the majority of normal, social Greek organizations despite what those organizations may contribute to the school on a yearly basis. William and Mary's average Fraternity GPA is higher than the average of the general public, and I am 99% sure the hours of community service and money donated to the community by those in Greek organizations far exceed such contributions by non-Greek students. However, William and Mary seems to think that any type of partying--and ANYTHING alcohol-related--is a horrific attack upon the school's good name. At our school, if a student is found under the influence, it is common protocol to ask that student where they received the substance (generally alcohol). Based on their response, true or otherwise, the organization that receives the blame would be placed on probation at a MINIMUM. While this may not sound too absurd, school administrators put in unnecessary amounts of effort to blame organizations for as much as possible. The "Fraternity House Complex" at William and Mary used to house more than 10 fraternities not long ago, but due to stringent requirements and ridiculous school sanctions, only around half of those still house fraternities. In multiple circumstances, I have heard first-hand accounts of administrators--primarily, a Dean of Students--lying to students about required procedures with paperwork and/or having people sign forms under duress. Had I known any of this going into fraternity rush, I probably would not have been willing to join a Greek organization; however, had I not done so, I would CERTAINLY have transferred to another college or university after a long, boring year. Even being in a Greek organization does not guarantee fun weekends, let alone fun weeks. It does generally provide a close group of friends to live and hang out with, but unlike other schools, the money paid to an organization may very well not be worth the outcome, or lack thereof. Aside from athlete parties and parties hosted by academic clubs/organizations--these parties are weird...as are some of the club sport parties--fraternities are the ONLY parties on campus, and even off campus, few besides Greeks host any parties. Essentially, people who join Greek organizations do so to try and have a good time despite the regular population and the administration of the College. Because of the lack of attractive girls on campus and desire to impress the few that do study here, members of Greek organizations become desperate each year to find "cool" new members and, in doing so, often hastily pick people with whom they later do not get along. I gave a grade of C- for the Greek life at William and Mary because as compared to the rest of campus, these are the most social, fun, and overall normal people here, but because of the logistics of this extremely boring school and "city," they still do not "dominate the scene" whatsoever.