Written by Alessandra Hickson
There is no Greek life on campus, and for a good reason, it seems. That kind of lifestyle just wouldn’t work here. Many, many students have said that the entire campus feels like one big sorority, and that’s very true. One of the reasons cited in other places for the importance of Greek life is that it helps to create close bonds between people who might otherwise not have those bonds. At a large, coed school, this may be so (although there are, of course, other ways of bonding with one’s peers that do not specifically require anything Greek), but at Mount Holyoke, it seems that those types of bonds occur naturally, in living, working, and playing with your fellow students. Everyone wathces out for another and all share pride in the school and its long tradition of educating women. Perhaps because there's already a sort of enclave, there isn't a need to create any separate enclaves within the larger one.
While it’s true that there are many student organizations on campus that are almost like separate enclaves, in the sense that they are smaller communities within the larger community, they don’t carry the automatic aura of exclusivity that Greek life does. There have been students who have felt disaffected by this and who have tried to bring Greek life to campus. Ultimately it was decided that the majority of students are very happy with the absence of sororities. So, for the time being, those looking for the benefits of Greek life will have to look elsewhere.