Last quarter, I texted then-Weekly editor Nick Jackson a tip: Some group was having a fundraising keg race, and it seemed just quirky and illicit enough for Confirmed & Denied. But I was shot down.
“A keg race? What’s that?” he asked.
Incredulous, I dressed him down for being so ignorant – how did he not know such a stereotypical college term?
He countered, “I would argue that you don’t know what ‘college things’ are outside of Greek college things.”
I sputtered; I didn’t want to believe I was missing out on some other aspect of college. Challenged, I considered. Every social event I’ve been to all year has been for a fraternity or sorority. All the places I’ve gone, from ski trip at Breckenridge to the Kentucky Derby, I’ve traveled with people who are in Greek houses – mostly my own. Even football games, the quintessential college activity, for me are tinged with Greek life, with tailgates at off-campus locations of fraternity brothers.
People often describe Northwestern as “a bubble.” Our student body is highly segmented – there are Greeks, athletes, theater performers – which is probably why, despite its significant size, Northwestern feels small.
That’s why when we were crafting The Weekly from scratch, we created the “Social Diary.” Based on New York magazine’s “Sex Diaries,” the Social Diary would ideally exhibit what NU students actually do on a daily and nightly basis. I really wanted to know what the rest of Northwestern was doing when all of us Greeks were at the Deuce. (The problem is, people don’t want to read average, and criticism comes from all sides: An unaffiliated hardworking engineer is ridiculed for being boring but select for salaciousness, and a partygoer is equally chastised.)
It’s hard to see what’s going on outside your particular bubble, so a degree of pluralistic ignorance seems to be at work. Varsity athletes apparently refer to non-athletes as “regulars. “One of my friends said the other day, “nobody reads The Daily,” which you know isn’t quite true. Our perspectives are limited to our own realm of experience, and it’s hard to know what everyone else is doing.
To try to find out, I took a little informal survey, asking people what epitomizes college life. Several non-Greeks mentioned things I wouldn’t have thought of, like fundraising parties, play rehearsals and ultimate frisbee. They also named watering-hole hangouts not even on my social radar, like the Celtic Knot and Prairie Moon. But Greek or not, frat parties seem to be a college constant: One unaffiliated student who identifies with the theater community said when he is at any sort of “frat gathering,” he feels “very college.”
That’s not to say Greek life defines college even for the people in such organizations. One brother named the Lakefill and the library before any frat activity in the survey, and certainly I know sorority sisters far less involved than I am.
Northwestern is inherently segmented, divided into multiple specialized undergraduate schools. I’m not sure if by going Greek I further cut myself off, depriving myself of important college opportunities. But if I am missing something, I’m hoping someone will tell me before it’s too late.
Medill senior Jen Wieczner can be reached at [email protected]
