Sororities And Fraternities Rule This Campus
From the massive southern houses to the ridiculous parties and the atmosphere of superiority that oozes from the people that take part. The University of Alabama has the biggest sorority and fraternity culture in the whole of the US. Its incredible and pretty unbelievable that anything like this could ever happen at a university in this day and age but it has been happening in American universities for generations and they pride themselves on this. We have nothing to compare it to in england, i think that is maybe why in the first week of arriving all of the international students were just in ore of the whole situation. The Greek life is all about money and family history/legacy. The week we arrived it was rush week for the sororities so every day hundreds of girls were out on campus doing various tasks and being judged and evaluated for god knows what to see if they had the right looks and attributions that each sorority was looking for. From our point of view looking in, it seemed like the most ridiculous tradition that could ever take place in this day and age. So demoralizing and degrading for the girls involved. Last week 1,200 girls took part in Rush Week ad only 500 got a place in a sorority and for those 700 girls it was literally the end of their lives. The University of Alabama police were even on suicide watch for the weekend because the girls took rejection THAT seriously. Its hard to imagine that these girls could get that involved in such a process but watching it all take place it was obvious that these young girls get sucked in and spat out again by those that feel it necessary to judge a girl on their looks, the way they dress, the amount of money their family has and how much of that can be donated to their sorority. We even found a manual in a toilet which had been left by a distraught girl who had been rejected. This manual had everything in it, from what to wear to what to eat and how to conduct yourself throughout the week to make a good impression. The boys fraternity life is a whole other subject which i will have to go into in another post!
From the massive southern houses to the ridiculous parties and the atmosphere of superiority that oozes from the people that take part. The University of Alabama has the biggest sorority and fraternity culture in the whole of the US. Its incredible and pretty unbelievable that anything like this could ever happen at a university in this day and age but it has been happening in American universities for generations and they pride themselves on this. We have nothing to compare it to in england, i think that is maybe why in the first week of arriving all of the international students were just in ore of the whole situation. The Greek life is all about money and family history/legacy. The week we arrived it was rush week for the sororities so every day hundreds of girls were out on campus doing various tasks and being judged and evaluated for god knows what to see if they had the right looks and attributions that each sorority was looking for. From our point of view looking in, it seemed like the most ridiculous tradition that could ever take place in this day and age. So demoralizing and degrading for the girls involved. Last week 1,200 girls took part in Rush Week ad only 500 got a place in a sorority and for those 700 girls it was literally the end of their lives. The University of Alabama police were even on suicide watch for the weekend because the girls took rejection THAT seriously. Its hard to imagine that these girls could get that involved in such a process but watching it all take place it was obvious that these young girls get sucked in and spat out again by those that feel it necessary to judge a girl on their looks, the way they dress, the amount of money their family has and how much of that can be donated to their sorority. We even found a manual in a toilet which had been left by a distraught girl who had been rejected. This manual had everything in it, from what to wear to what to eat and how to conduct yourself throughout the week to make a good impression. The boys fraternity life is a whole other subject which i will have to go into in another post!
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| These images are from Bid Day, the final day of Rush Week. Each house congregates outside their house while the new members are waiting to find out if they have got in or not. |
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| Hundreds of the girls family and friends wait to find out who has got in. |
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| The girls who are finding out if they have got into the sorority that they want have to go into the stadium to collect their envelope which contains the verdict. Then they run screaming and crying down this street manned by police to their given sororities. |
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| This is one of the sororities new members running down the street in front of the crowd. |
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| The girls, some crying because they didn't get in and some extremely happy exit the stadium as they hold their envelopes. |
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An experience that photographs can not quite give justice, as you can probably imagine!!
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