Going Greek: An LGBTQ+ Perspective

By: Daniel Clear and Page Shields

Even at its best, Greek life isn’t known for inclusion. Is it time to make a change to Millikin’s social organizations?

Content Warning: Minor mentions of sexual violence

When you type the term “Greek life” into Google, the top related search is, “Why is Greek life bad?” The exclusionary nature of sorority and fraternity life has permeated the media in the last decade, bombarding the public with horror stories of racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexual abuse and violent hazing. This negative reputation has persisted beyond the borders of any one state, labeling Greek life nationally as intense, scary and even dangerous.

But emerging from COVID-19 isolation into a socially-charged environment, students entering college are yearning for a support system. Greek life is marketed as just this, the prime opportunity to gain a built-in friend group, life-long ties and friendly roommates. And there’s nothing scary or harmful about a group meant to have your back — in fact, such meaningful connections are vital to maintaining social and emotional wellness. It’s when these connections are used to enforce damaging heteronormative standards or to encourage aggressive group behavior, though, that Greek life turns from an exciting social bubble to an ever-growing threat.

Members of Millikin University’s progressive student body have high hopes that their efforts toward reform will make the Greek experience on their campus vastly different from that on others across the country. A member of the Illinois Delta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon here on campus is working hard to be a part of that change.

Originally, they felt intimidated by the perceived “bro-yness” surrounding Greek life, but since going through recruitment themself, they have found the community to be far more accepting than anticipated. “It’s a very safe, very queer space,” they say.

Since the member’s joining, an epidemic of sexual assault has resurged on Millikin’s campus, and campus fraternities have been placed

at the controversy’s very center. “Someone in the organization we didn’t expect did something really bad, and we kicked them out,” the member says. Now, they’re focused on changing the organization they’ve joined for the better. The group has formed a close partnership with the Growing Strong Sexual Assault center in Decatur, implementing their sexual assault prevention workshop as an element of all members’ training each semester. “It’s about focusing on the change of the mindset rather than just letting it happen again,” the member says, hopeful that the fraternity’s efforts can make their group into a formative experience rather than a harmful one.

The inherent gender binary present in Greek life is something this member feels passionately about, too. As a nonbinary individual, they “have been working on changing it just by being in the organization,” they say. “The biggest thing we need to see changed is at a national level.”

Even as one of the smallest chapters nationally, Illinois Delta has hosted many of these interactions recently, with national risk-management representatives visiting to help mitigate conflicts with those former members who have committed harmful acts. This member plans to help further their

chapter’s beneficial impact by helping those that Greek life traditionally harms through philanthropy efforts. At the end of the day, “Meeting new people is important,” they say, and these social connections are what they and many other members of Greek life feel their communities are all about.

On other campuses, however, some students feel that Greek organizations’ pasts are simply too dark for locally-led reform. In 1990, students at Cornell College decided it was time to form their own Greek organization free from national perceptions and restraints. Phi Lambda Xi is a gender neutral group with many queer and nonbinary members. They have no national affiliation, leaving the organization’s dues, system of governance and event planning entirely up to its members. The original Phi-Lambs, as their members have been affectionately nicknamed, went through their school’s Greek council to officiate their chapter, and they are now run on the basis of a public constitution.

Current Phi Lambda Xi members reap the most popular benefits of Greek life — support, friends and fun — without risking the expansion of entities that have been historically hurtful. Phi-Lambs are dedicated, too, to ensuring they never become a part of the problem. When asked about resolving issues within the organization, one member says that the organization’s independence allows them to deal with individual problems internally. If there’s a drastic issue with the group itself? “Then we leave,” they say.

At Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, many LGBTQ+ community members have elected to forego the Greek life experience entirely, instead opting to make connections through a group by the name of Transcending Gender. Formed specifically for their campus, TG is a peer education group open to transgender, nonbinary and identity-questioning students at the university. Through board games, food, thrift shopping and more, TG helps people get involved and have fun in a comfortable environment. “Building community is hard!” says one member. “People gravitate toward you, and then you build that superstructure.”

Outside of providing a supportive space for its members, TG works to inform other organizations on Washington University’s campus about the needs of all of its gender non-conforming students. The Fraternity and Sorority Resource Guide is linked on their organization webpage, encouraging inclusive growth within all areas of the university. TG also provides resources for students, including a map of gender-inclusive restrooms on campus and an outline of the school’s Preferred Name policy.

Though these organizations have had an overwhelmingly positive impact on their campus communities, neither fill the housing need that draws so many students to Millikin’s Greek life. While Spectrum, a campus LGBTQ+ club, offers Millikin students a safe space, joining a club doesn’t come with a place to sleep at night. Instead, queer students find themselves with a tough decision: Should they uphold historically problematic institutions in pursuit of cheap housing and good friends, or sacrifice the experience and take out another loan?

Millikin’s chapter of the Alpha Psi Omega fraternity demonstrates how such a housing situation might work. The fraternity does not own a house themselves, but instead rents it from a local landlord. Most members live in the house, but other nonaffiliated students live there as well. If queer students were to similarly pool their money that would otherwise go to chapter dues or apartment payments, they could establish a safe community housing space all together.

It’s time to see an LGBTQ+ Greek organization on Millikin’s campus. Without a national affiliation, students would be free to form their own inclusive traditions, providing a supportive environment and an enjoyable experience for those who might otherwise believe Greek life doesn’t align with their personal values. Housing funds have been built through multicultural organizations before, and an LGBTQ+ group would be no different. As evidenced by SAE at Millikin, there can be great benefits to having a national board to help with conflict resolution, and students’ devotion to bettering their communities is inspiring. But now is the time to move forward beyond an oppressive system, and students within Millikin’s community have more power than ever before to create change.