Opinion: Greek life has long been a social system that benefits a select number of members. It has a history of being subject to complaints, rumors and allegations. From the looks of it, these complaints will not be slowing.
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I’m a first generation college student. Along with understanding how the higher education schooling system works, I can’t afford to also understand how the Greek social life system works either. I’ve only learned about Greek life passively. In my teen years, my idea of what Greek life is like was shaped from movies such as “Neighbors” and “Pitch Perfect.” 
Now in my college years, this idea is shaped through my friends talking about the most recent Greek life drama, rumors and allegations. Through classes, I’ve talked to fraternity and sorority members about how they like or dislike their chapter. Every single time I’ve watched, heard or spoken about Greek life, I am always amazed at how clear it is that there is a power dynamic problem within this social system. 

Any human-made system has systematic problems. This is just nature to us. Humans are faulty creatures. However, it seems that Greek life has some more explaining to do compared to other college social systems. For instance, the fact that sororities are unable to possess alcohol while fraternities are able to possess alcohol amazes me. If one party must depend on another party for some type of object or goal, it is an unbalanced power dynamic for the dependent party. Such is the case with alcohol in Greek life. Since sorority sisters are unable to possess alcohol or throw parties, they must rely on others to supply these things if they wish to have them, and the most convenient “others” are fraternity members. Thus, an unfair power distribution is formed. The men bring the beer and the party, and the women solely bring themselves. Not only is this sexist as in women should appear classier than men and withstand alcohol possesion, but it further promotes rape culture. This dependence on men assumes women to stand submissive during parties and at the expense of men giving them alcohol in a loud, dark and unfamiliar place. 

There is a noticeable popularity contest within Greek life, as well. Certain sororities have a stronger relationship to certain fraternities than other sororities; some fraternities are more popular than other fraternities. There are affiliated and unaffiliated chapters — mainly due to violations of codes of conduct. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, an unaffiliated chapter, has its own troubles within Greek life’s popularity contest. It is unaffiliated and known for being referred to as “Sexual Assault Expected” nationally. 

“A lot of that misconception comes from fraternities in the South,” Carson Kroll, SAE’s Sexual Violence Prevention officer for the University of Oregon, said. “The people [at  UO] think that we are similar to that for some reason. That national view of SAE is so broad and we get thrown under that label.” 

I empathize with SAE members due to the fact that not all of their members sexually assault women and must withstand hate for being something they are not. But this also makes me question what caused them to join SAE in the first place. Did they research how their potential fraternity is viewed publicly? And once they heard about the acronym, what caused them to still stand as an SAE brother? 
This hyperfixation on SAE is causing long-term negative effects on Greek life as a whole, I believe. By painting SAE as the bad guy, other fraternities profit off of their unpopularity in the public eye and can potentially slide past sexual assault weariness. However, fraternity members are 300% more likely to sexually assault someone compared to non-fraternity members. Sorority members are 74% more likely to be sexually assaulted than other women in college. These are horrific statistics. What are the solutions? 
There is no good fraternity or bad fraternity. Rather, every fraternity continues to perpetrate the power struggles relating to gender, alcohol, popularity, sexual assault and rape culture. Despite recent additions such as Sexual Violence Prevention chairmen, sexual assault still continues to happen. I believe a lot of issues within Greek life have to do with alcohol and the high pedestal partying is placed on. If Greek life were to minimize these two issues and their presence in college social life, there could be a noticeable drop in sexual assault rates. 

We are currently in the Red Zone. This means that we are in a period of time during the first three months of school on college campuses that wave in a rise of sexual assault cases among students. The Red Zone coincides with fraternities throwing parties often during the start of school to celebrate the new year and their newest members. Fifty percent of all sexual assaults on college campuses occur during this period of time. 

Are the power dynamics clear now?