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Jenna: Welcome to ME/US/U, and this is Susky Rush
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00:01:08
Jake: Hey, I’m Jake, and I’m in Phi Mu Delta
Ainsley: I’m Ainsley, and I’m in Zeta Tau Alpha, and Sigma Alpha Iota. And you’ll be meeting Jenna soon, who is in Alpha Delta Pi.
Jake: In this episode, we will be covering the Greek life community here at Susquehanna University and how we, as a Division III university with approximately 2,500 students, differ from Division One universities with tens of thousands of students in their Greek life organizations.
Ainsley: We will discuss topics such as philanthropic opportunities provided by Greek life, number of members we see as obtainable, how we interact with one another on campus, and the history of our organizations.
Jake: There is a stereotype around Greek life and hazing, parties, finances, etcetera, and this episode is here to help ease those thoughts.
Ainsley: We will take you on a journey through our Greek life experience through interviews with our peers, up to professional staff, as well as continuing to rid of the stigma against Greek life as a whole.
Jake: This is an opportunity to show Greek life beyond what the nightly news can show regarding specific negative situations that have unfortunately occurred at other universities.
Ainsley: Here at Susquehanna University, we use our influence in Greek life to create positive opportunities for our campus community.
Jake: Here, we will show what it is like to be proud to wear letters on your chest.
Jake and Jenna in action!
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00:02:28
Jake: Hi again, I’m Jake, and I’m a member of Phi Mu Delta. Recently, I was elected President and with that comes a major responsibility to uphold the responsibilities and dignity of my chapter. I would not feel so strongly about this though, if it was not for the history of my organization that I’m about to discuss. Phi Mu Delta originated in the year 1918. It did not originate here at Susquehanna. It originated in New England at three other universities of Vermont, New Hampshire, and University of Connecticut. Phi Mu Delta originated at Susquehanna University in 1924, so we are actively one of the oldest chapters that is still around, and that is a super cool piece of history. I remember I went to our National Convention my first year that I joined, and I got to hold the flag that said, “Susquehanna University 1924”, so that means that also next year we’ll be celebrating 100 years here. So, that’s also very, very fun. Some other things that really show why Phi Mu Delta was the place for me: We had brothers who are honored for their service in World War II here at Susquehanna. We have a very, very nice memorial for World War II veterans that were also Susquehanna students, and a few of our brothers were those veterans, so it’s very, very nice. And we also have our Tudor house, which is a staple of PMD, and it’s also one of the things that makes Susquehanna, Susquehanna because it’s such a standout. It’s not our first house. It is definitely our second house. We had a Tudor house that used to be on University Ave, kind of called the “Jewel of Selinsgrove”. It was a big monstrosity of a Tudor house that could hold like 120 people. It was twice the size of the house we have now, which, if you’re a student at Susquehanna, you know that we have a pretty big house for Greek life. So, that was really, really interesting to learn about, and it was really interesting to see how we kind of mirrored that with our new house after the old house was no longer able to be lived in. Some other things, just about our organization here on campus: If you were to talk to staff or you were to talk to faculty, you would kind of hear about how Phi Mu Delta brothers are kind of all around campus, all the time, low key running like our hair is on fire. A lot of us do a lot of things, and I think that’s a big part of what this whole podcast is about and saying, “Yes, I’m we’re a member of our Greek Life organization, yes, I’m a proud member of Phi Mu Delta, and I’m very proud to be the President of Phi Mu Delta now. But I’m also very proud to do the things outside of Phi Mu Delta that make me who I am.” And it’s very important that we all have those signifiers, and we all have those things that make us uniquely us. And that’s what brings us together as a better organization and men who want to really live by our three pillars, which is brotherhood, service, and democracy. So, we really, really enjoy each other’s company. Some just like other things that are really fun: I have a fun little story. I guess it’s not that fun, but, with our old house, it was very, very big, and we had, like, a coal furnace. And at one point there was only three brothers who was living in the house, so they used to take shifts of who would shovel the coal into the furnace so that they wouldn’t go cold. So it would be, somebody would be shoveling coal for, like, an 8 hour shift while the other studied, and then the other one slept. And they would just switch off, and they, like, scheduled their classes around each other, so that they could continue to have a life in a large house that, I mean, probably they didn’t need for three people. But, it was just, like, a beautiful thing about brotherhood and how they really wanted to take care of each other. It was something that you don’t really see anymore, and every time I hear that story, I’m reminded of why I joined an organization in the first place. It really is a beautiful thing, and I love to hear about it. But that’s a little about Phi Mu Delta. Pretty soon you’ll be hearing from Ainsley. Ainsley has two organizations. She has Zeta Tau Alpha and SAI, which she will go way more into. But, yeah, brief introduction into Phi Mu Delta. Coming up will be Ainsley with her organizations.
00:06:40
Ainsley: Hey, it’s Ainsley again! I have the opportunity to be a part of two wonderful organizations. For Zeta Tau Alpha, I am the music chair and take part in preparing our rituals. Rituals are beautiful parts of Greek organizations that home in on our beliefs and founding precepts that align with our rich history. Zeta Tau Alpha was founded in was founded in Longville University in Farmville, Virginia, by Maud Jones Horner, Della Lewis Hundley, Alice Bland Coleman, Mary Campbell Jones Batte, Alice Grey Welsh, Ethel Coleman Van Name, Helen May Crafford, Frances Yancey Smith, and Ruby Leigh Orgain in 1898. Zeta Tau Alpha is technically a fraternity, as we are not connected to any male fraternity, as many sororities are. Sigma Alpha Iota is also a women’s fraternity, but we are also a professional music organization. Our founding chapter was established in 1903 at the University School of Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Elizabeth Campbell, Frances Caspari, Minnie Davis Sherrill, Leila H. Farlin, Nora Crane Hunt, Georgina Potts, and Mary Storrs Anderson. In SAI, I am currently the Sisterhood Chair, and was recently elected to be the Vice President of Membership for this upcoming semester. Being a part of two respected and empowering organizations is truly one of the best decisions I have made in my college career. I find myself extremely grateful for all of the opportunities, leadership experiences, and meaningful relationships that it has granted me. You’ll next hear from Jenna, about how ADPi has truly impacted her life.
00:08:37
Jenna: So, I know that women’s friendships seem to get a bad rep and I won’t lie, I kind of used to believe in that too. Growing up, I actually had a really hard time finding my place. It’s not like I didn’t have friends, it’s just that I didn’t really have any good ones. I played soccer and I did theatre and I made friends from some classes, but I wasn’t really ever a perfect fit in the puzzle. I was always kind of the odd one out and I was fully aware that I was kind of just a place filler in friend groups. I always had my sister Sammy through thick and thin, and I was finally able to make one friend that still stuck around, so, shout out to Lexie. Coming to college was a really big transition period for me. I made a couple of good friends here that I’m still close with, but I still needed to look for something else, and I just wasn’t sure exactly what it was. I wasn’t even considering going Greek at all during my first semester, but I kind of ended up signing up for recruitment out of curiosity. And I ended up finding a home with Alpha Delta Pi, and while this isn’t something that I expected for myself in the slightest, it’s something that I desperately needed. I found comfort, support and friendship in my time with ADPi, and I’ve built relationships that amount to that of Sammy and Lexie back home. I never realized that female friendships could be so uplifting and inclusive. Not only that, but it’s been amazing to see my friends in other chapters grow into their homes there and joining different organizations didn’t impact our relationships with each other or even our other friends not involved in Greek life. I went into recruitment not really knowing anything about sororities whatsoever, and I even fell victim to making those stereotypical jokes about it being a cult. I didn’t realize how wrong I was about that, especially here. There’s no hazing. It’s not all about partying, and every organization here is dedicated to supporting their philanthropies and each other. I also think the size of our school really impacts the experiences we have in Greek life because at a bigger school I would just be a number in the chapter. But here, I’m a person and a member, and I’ve been able to get to know my chapter and other chapter members, as a whole and as individuals, which I know I wouldn’t have been able to do at a larger institution. I also didn’t realize that the network of former ADPis are all over. I’ve had opportunities to meet ADPi alum that work in the publishing industry and talk with them about career choices and development, and I’ve been able to network with so many graduated members, regardless of what university they attended. Every single person that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting through my Greek life experience here at Susquehanna has made a positive impact on me, and I do think that our community is really special when considering the relationships each organization shares with others on campus. We get to know members of other organizations and support them, whether it’s their philanthropies, their accomplishments, or just offering them friendship. I’ve felt so embraced as an individual and a sister in Alpha Delta Pi. Everyone encourages me to be my weirdest self, and I’ve never been so comfortable and secure in my self-perception before. I’ve grown so much as a person, and I’ve become more appreciative of my life, my academics, my relationships, and so much more. I have Greek life here at Susquehanna to thank for that.
00:12:19
Ainsley: Here at Susquehanna University, we are proud of our ability to connect with others. From the first day of orientation to senior week, we are a part of a tight knit community that knows each other and cares. No matter where you are on campus, you will see a familiar face, but that statement can never be truer than when you are on University Avenue. Susquehanna’s Division III Greek life is, in a way, the beating heart of socialization for a college student on campus. But, when I say that, I don’t mean what you might be assuming. We at Me/Us/You are bringing you this episode to show that our Greek Life means more than partying and an outlet for making mistakes while we’ll young. You’re going to hear from individuals who believe and have seen the good that Greek Life provides. You’ll learn about ways that you can support our organizations and the charity that they spread. And it’s brought to you by members of the Me/Us/U team who always where their letters proudly. We hope you enjoy, and maybe someday you’ll decide to be a part of Susky Rush too.
00:10:08 .
Ainsley: I believe that the answer to why Greek life is important is simple. It’s because the overarching goal is to spread positivity, generosity, and education about charitable causes. The organizations try to help people and form connections with others through their mutual goals. Every Greek fraternity and sorority has a philanthropy that they support and raise money for. Members are taught about the importance of the work that their chapter and organization does towards helping in their specific cause. At Susquehanna University, the Division III Greek organizations put their charitable goals in the forefront of everything they stand for. Each organization has a philanthropy week during each semester where they fundraise and hold events to spread awareness for their cause. These occasions also promote involvement in moral enterprises and a general atmosphere of generosity in our campus community. Through these events, they can find like-minded individuals who care about the same topics as their organization as well. Serving a purpose larger than oneself can stimulate growth in a person in a way that not many other things can. It is selfless, and through human nature, many people have difficulties with finding that strength and goodness in themselves without help. Greek Life is that incentive to give back for many college students. It is a wonderful sight to see when you’re walking down Kurtz Lane on a Sunday morning and there is a fraternity of brothers doing the weekly Clean Sweep. There is dedication that is required when joining a Greek organization that translates over to each specific philanthropy. I spoke to the philanthropy chairs of each specific organization here at Susquehanna University, and there was passion in every word that came out of their mouth, so it seems fitting that I’ll let them tell you themselves about everything that they believe in.
00:15:13
Mandy: Hi, I’m Mandy Reid, and I am the director of philanthropy for Zeta Tau Alpa, Iota Nu here at Susquehanna University. And our philanthropy is breast cancer education and awareness, where we encourage our community to “Think Pink.” Each semester, our philanthropy is called Think Pink Week. Each semester looks slightly different, but each contains an educational component, tabling, selling Think Pink apparel, and ends the week with Carbs For a Cure. In the past, it’s looked like a spaghetti dinner, or this year, we had “Mac ‘n Zs”, which was a make-your-own Mac and Cheese bowl. Our philanthropy is very important to our members and chapter as a whole. Breast cancer, and cancer in general, affects almost everyone, whether you’ve known someone who’s had cancer personally or know someone who has been affected by cancer in one way or another. In the United States, one in eight women will be diagnosed within their lifetime. Zeta is natural partners with Bright Pink, the NFL, and the American Cancer Society. Our goal is to fight until one in eight is none in eight and until pink is just another color.
Jay: Hi, my name is Jay, and I am the philanthropy chair for the Lambda Beta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. We have two main philanthropy projects, Ossian Everett Mills Music Mission and Save the Sound. Our organization raises money to benefit music programs in small schools, making sure all kids have the ability to learn and love music through their local school. To raise money, we do fundraising events, such as bake sales, performances, and competing in campus events for monetary prizes from the school. We also do philanthropies such as singing to people in medical centers and nursing homes to raise their spirits. Our actions are meant to bring joy to others and give them the opportunity to love music as much as we do. We believe every child should have the chance to try out music and see if it is their passion. Music should be for everyone.
Autumn: Hi! I’m Autumn Decosmo, and I’m the Vice President of Philanthropic Service for the Sigma Kappa Epsilon Delta chapter at Susquehanna University. Sigma Kappa sorority was founded in 1874 and strives to foster a lifelong connection in sisterhood while being true to our founding as an intellectual and social women’s sorority. Our five philanthropic initiatives, the Sigma Kappa Foundation, Inherit the Earth, Maine Seacoast Mission, Gerontology, and Alzheimer’s Association shape our core values of friendship, loyalty, personal growth, and service. The Alzheimer’s Association is our national philanthropic initiative. Alzheimer’s is the nation’s sixth leading cause of death and fifth highest in those 65 and older. Sigma Kappa is committed to putting an end to Alzheimer’s and all other dementias by creating a major funding stream to the National Alzheimer’s Association for Research to find a cure or method of prevention. In September 2023, our chapter participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Bloomsburg, PA, where we joined with members of the local community and other Sigma Kappa chapters to raise advocacy and celebrate our commitment to ending the disease. We are proud to have raised over $4,000 for Alzheimer’s research and continue to serve as leaders in the fight to end this disease. Our initiatives to Gerontology support the elderly population in our local community. Our members donate their time each week with visits to Brookdale Grayson View. Some events that we host with the residential community include game nights, crafts, and companionship. Each semester, we host our Dove Days Philanthropy Week, where each day of the week is dedicated to one of our five philanthropies, where we raise awareness, education, and funds. We host one large event at the end of the week that supports the Sigma Kappa Foundation. This past spring, we hosted SigKapp Sundaes, and this fall we will host a Sigma Kappa Friendsgiving. In all that we do, Sigma Kappa promises to lead by our values and live “one heart, one way for life”.
Madeline: Hi, I’m Madeline Gorski. I’m the recording secretary and head of service for Sigma Alpha Iota Sigma Omega here at Susquehanna. Our philanthropy is SAI Incorporated. It directly works with people in memory care with music educators and helps further music all over the world. Most recently, we’re hosting an instrument petting zoo, which was started by our sisters down in Towson, Maryland. It’s an opportunity for kids of any age to come and actually get to see and play with instruments at the local library and to help encourage them to try new things. Coming this holiday season, we’re also working with memory care up at Grayson View, and we’re going to be singing along with a lot of the people in the residence there and to help them feel better and celebrate the holiday season. We’re also hosting a Thank-a-Professor table for Thanksgiving break to help raise money to support our music educators this week.
Jack Lane: Hello, my name is Jack Lane, and I currently serve as the Philanthropy Co-chair for Phi Mu Delta. Our philanthropy is an organization called Transitions of PA. Transitions provides resources for victims and survivors of violence and abuse. Some of their services include a 24/7 crisis hotline and emergency safe house and counseling support groups for victims and much more. We raise money and awareness by holding various events on campus, such as our Philanthropy Week and our haunted house. Phi Mu Delta goes back nearly 100 years on this campus, and service has been a constant throughout that entire time. We would not be here if it weren’t for the ongoing support of the community, university and the student body, so we think it’s important to give back in any way we can and as much as we can.
Josie: I’m Josie Kwan, and I’m the Alpha Phi Omega Vice President of Membership and was previously the New Member Educator for APO. APO is different because we don’t have a philanthropy, but some common service projects that we do are Ashburn’s Animals, where we take care of animals, including cows, ducks, horses, goats, anything. And we take care of their stalls, we feed them, we walk them. Another common big service project that we do is Mostly Muttz, where we get to walk some dogs. Another one we do is the Live Stake, where we get to plant some trees in Lewisburg. We also do the Living Collection at SU, where we get to feed animals, typically in the science center. And we do Hawk Stuff every Monday where we teracycle things that typically get thrown out into the garbage, but they can’t be recycled, so we teracycle them instead. And to fundraise on campus we do bake sales, and for raising awareness we had Meet the Greeks at the beginning of the semester, as well as the activities fair. And this matters because our three values are leadership, friendship, and service, so service is a big part of APO.
Jenna: Alright, so I’m Jenna Delmar and I’m part of Alpha Delta Pi and our philanthropy in ADPi is the Ronald McDonald House charities. So, we already spend a lot of time there just donating our time and our resources to cook them dinner, help them clean. But overall, the Ronald McDonald House, charities provide shelter and kinds of emotional and mental support for families who have a loved one in the hospital, since that can be emotionally and physically draining. And they just may need some extra help and a warm bed to sleep in close to their loved one because they’re, the Ronald McDonald houses are always located near a hospital. So besides, just, like, donating our time physically there, we also raise awareness and fundraise by collecting pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, because that’s something that they do on their own, but we also are on a big college campus, so we’re able to collect a lot of them. And then, besides that, we’ll table for money along with hosting some fun events during our philanthropy week. We tend to do different things each time, but the typical one is we’ll charge people like a dollar to pie an ADPi in the face because that’s catchy and its fun, so we try to do that a lot. Yeah.
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Ainsley: We reached out to the rest of the organizations on campus, but they were not able to comment at this time. We feel as if it is important that their causes be recognized though. Kappa Delta works with the Girl Scouts. Phi Beta Sigma is connected to Impact One. Pi Kappa Phi runs the Ability Experience. Tau Kappa Epsilon works with Saint Jude’s Children’s Center, and Theta Chi supports the United Service Organization.
00:23:51
Jake: OK. Hi, Frank. So, if you want, just introduce yourself, your position here at Susquehanna, and anything else that’s, you want to say about yourself?
Frank: Sure. Hey buddy, how are you?
Jake: I’m awesome.
Frank: Good. I’m Frank Crofchick. I’m the Director of Leadership and Engagement. I’ve been at Susquehanna University for one year. I don’t know if you want me to say the things I oversee or just that.
Jake: I know it’s a lot.
Frank: That’s it. We only have a short podcast, I think, so I’ll just say, yeah, I’ve only been here for a year, and I work in Leadership and Engagement.
Jake: Yeah, I think that you kind of have, like expressed different areas in which your vision of Greek life has kind of come alive or where we’re taking the initiative as our own respective organizations. But if there’s like one thing, one overarching vision for Greek life here that you would like to see, what would that be?
Frank: One overarching? Um, honestly, I mean that the whole togetherness, if it was one thing, togetherness is one huge thing. I think that we are stronger in numbers. I think pride is a huge thing as well too. And that goes there’s a lot of different facets with when it comes to that whole pride idea that I’m thinking with this vision. You all have your individual chapters. You all have your individual mission, vision, philanthropies, all the other stuff. Fantastic. Having pride for your specific chapter, then there should be a pride for fraternity, sorority life, Greek life as a whole. Like holy crap, look what this chapter is actually doing. Promoting each other, having pride for the other chapters as well too. Even though you have your pride for specific chapter, pride for that, then branching out even more under this big umbrella. Pride for Susquehanna University as a whole, giving you guys opportunities to grow as a leader within your chapter, within Greek life as a whole, within Susquehanna as a whole and in in, in the Community as well too, so. I think pride would be one of the biggest things, and that togetherness that we’re all in this together, we want to support each other and at the end of the day, again, like I said before, be better than we were the day before. There’s a bigger picture than us and we can do a lot of good. You guys are agents of change, I think that’s one way I love to put it. You guys have some of the biggest influences on this campus. So yeah, I think pride would be the big overarching umbrella.
Jake: Yeah, I think it’s interesting that you say that because something that I noticed even in a year, is, our Greek week, like when we did Airband, Airband my first year, no one supported each other. At least it felt that way. It was like, OK, we are not going to give them the clap. Like it doesn’t matter, you are not getting the audience support from us. But this past year, like I think every organization was almost compelled to cheer the other one on and I think in since that time still like we’ve gotten even closer as organizations and obviously that, like, we all have our differences and we all do things that are unique to us, but the way that we have come together in such a short time is super, super interesting. And I kind of have this other question that stemmed from a conversation that I had with one of my brothers personally, where we talked about how Greek Life as an idea is such an old concept like fraternity, sorority, like this idea of brotherhood in the sense that we use it is kind of old and a little bit some might say outdated. And, like, to me being so introthed in it, I don’t see it that way. I could totally understand how people do and we talked about like our concerns for where Greek Greek life is going to go. So, like 50 years from now, do you think, personally, that like Greek life will still be around?
Frank: So, and that and that’s a concern to actually when I’ve been looking up some things from NASPA for the national, like student affairs publications and stuff like that. And even right down the road, Bucknell or I’m sorry. Not Bucknell. Bloomsburg. Yeah, all of that. They don’t have Fraternity and Sorority life now. For, so what I personally think, I don’t think don’t quote me on this, but I think smaller private institutions I think are going to thrive in fraternity and sorority life. And I think interesting thing that you said earlier that when your alumni come would come back and kind of, I don’t think a culture change or a culture shock, confusion of some changes that that your chapter has done. Maybe your diversity advocate or your diversity chair. That’s, I think the really exciting and cool thing about this, this campus and this the chapters on this game specifically. But I think for fraternity and sorority life as a whole, the good colleges with good, strong territory life are going to succeed. And it seems like those chapters with the changing of times and in 50 years, you’re saying there are going to be a ton.
Yeah it seems and it’s in my experience and working at schools and institutions that fraternity and sororities are more apt to be able to change with the times more fluently and get behind certain changes and maybe social constructs or social concerns that’s something I’ve seen that they get behind a little bit stronger than other areas yeah because it maybe it’s because they have that very strong brotherhood and they want to protect their brothers they want to protect the fraternities/sororities as a whole I see personally a strengthening of sororities in the years to come, but I think some campuses might be seeing fraternities and sororities on campus yeah they might be going a different route I confident as Susquehanna right now; I think with if we keep going this direction trajectory that we’re going I see it’s only getting bigger, yeah I see enrollment looking at projected enrollments for the next five years you know we could have 2,500 students on this campus, which would be awesome. And in turn that would grow our fraternities and sororities on campus too so yeah I see positive things in the future for us specifically but for fraternities and sororities.
28:43
Jake: Yeah like something that we talk about a lot especially when it comes to like recruitment season is that fraternity and sorority life interest kind of comes and goes with each sort of generation. But we can put that like in college terms, like each four-year generation it comes in waves of whether or not people want to do it. Because I remember when I rushed, there were nine people in my rush class, and then the following semester there were two. And then in the fall, because we are a university where first years can’t rush in the fall, it’s usually lower numbers, but we had ten this semester. Which, right, it’s insane to think about and super super lucky.
Frank: You had a lot of you had a lot of transfer or not students that transferred right so they were technically somewhat they were allowed to rush they were technically first year students I believe but they came from our institution and carried over 12 credits or something?
Jake: Yeah, we had a few that came in with like 24 something credits.
Frank: That’s awesome! I haven’t seen that other place which is really cool, so I commend you guys for that. That’s pretty awesome.
Jake: How we found them, I don’t know, but they’re great, we love them. But yeah, like this is such a big year for us, and, but it also comes with this like little bit of nervousness for the future. Like the very near future of oh what is to come? Because now I’ve been here long enough that I’ve seen this kind of like come and go wave of, oh like this year’s a really good year, this year is going to be really bad, and it’s hard to avoid that. So, what do you think is like a good way to try and, not avoid it because whether or not we’re in control of that is not up to us, but you know kind of combat that in the best way that we can.
Frank: So, I think, and I 100% agree with you, this year was kind of odd. So, it’s my first year of going through an orientation on the campus, and I love our first-year class. They are different– what I’m hearing is they were different, they’re different from past classes. Some people are like, “oh they’re a little bit out there,” and, “they’re a little bit…” I’m trying to think of the best way to put it during some of the orientation stuff “they were very loud.”
Jake: Yeah, they’re an eccentric group.
Frank: That’s we’ll say that very eccentric group. The semester starting when we did meet the Greeks, we had the largest, I’ll say for the sororities, so they had the interest meetings for Panhel. In years past, during the start of the fall semester when we would do an interest tabling and stuff like that, I think the most ever has like 30 people that would sign up that they’re interested in sorority life. This year 98 umm signed up during Meet the Greeks and during the other event that we did the club org fair. That’s insanity.
Yeah so I’m like OK, is that just going to be a sporadic random thing during class homecoming/class voting and stuff like that? The first-year class, I think 40% just voted randomly. First off that’s insanity; other classes were like 2% right 3%. So, I don’t know, maybe this is, the first class I believe, because post pandemic, I believe, right would this that be they were still dealing with the pandemic in high school? So, I don’t know if that if that is a culture change and that they want to get more involved.
Jake: I don’t know they would have been freshman in high school when COVID started because I was a junior, so they kind of went through all it
Frank: So maybe this is like we’re free. Like I don’t know yeah it’s… I’m optimistic. I think we’re going to keep seeing that this younger generation that has gone through that COVID thing, college might be a different better, more positive, light experience than other people might have experienced. I don’t know so I would say I’m always optimistic; I mean if I’m on fire I’m gonna say like at least I’m not cold. So, I’m right I’m gonna say I am truly optimistic though and hopefully we ride that wave, but that doesn’t answer your question though. I think that what we need to do is keep which we have been doing–all of our fraternities and sororities together and our first students all of our students were not Greek affiliated are seeing us all together. I think that showing that culture of us to that togetherness, and showing that we’re proud, we’re proud of what we do, and we care about people; us continuing to do that every semester, twice a semester, three times a semester is key.Yeah I think that that’s one thing we got to keep doing.
Jake: Yeah no I definitely agree that was like that just this year’s interest is complete insanity yeah to me and I also like I get to hear all the perspectives from all the different classes. Kind of like the seniors are the class where it’s like super involved, they are running the show, now they kind of have been for a few years, but now they like all have those titles. My class kind of does not get the same rap, they talk about us in not the most positive light; we’re not the most involved, but we definitely have, there’s no in between, it’s either we’re all very involved or not at all. OK and then the sophomores, they kind of do like, they’re like starters, go getters, yeah start their clubs.
Then these first years, no one knows what’s going on with them, but they’re great. Yeah they’re amazing so it is really fun to see, but again I think that that like kind of plays into the idea that they’re allowed to be individuals, and they’re recognized as individuals because we are a smaller campus. Yeah and even our organizations are smaller, which is kind of a selling point, I think, during recruitment saying like it’s not, you’re not joining an organization of 100 people where the president doesn’t know you or doesn’t care about you because we do. And that is a like for me at least being a recruiter like, that’s a big selling point that everybody has this like genuine connection. And luckily we have a house where there’s like 40 of us that can live in it but which also very much helps, but I guess kind of comparing that to, I, maybe even cuts down with how many students they have.That’s probably a big difference, a big shift in how Greek life is treated. Like I bet that their organizations are much larger than ours, and whether or not they are able to form those personal connections might be up in the air.
Frank: See and this was so when I was a kid sound again this is, 2000s, I’m gonna date myself now, which stinks. So I was that could down in the 2000s as an undergrad from 2004 to 2008, and that’s when we I think we had some of the highest enrollment at that institution in a long time, again it was 16,000 students.
I went back to do, I was a keynote speaker a few months ago umm and I was really asking people “I’m like oh how it’s crazy you guys have 16,000, like my school is so small,” and people start laughing at me. I’m like the heck are they laughing for—yeah, they have like 8,000 students now.
Jake: Oh really?
Frank: They dropped in half.
Jake: Wow.
Frank: I mean that’s 16, 17, OK I feel so old right now, yeah it was 17 years ago, but they dropped in half, so I did ask cause the people like your priorities as organizations that 13 chapters had over 100 and some members are maybe down to like, probably equal to you guys 30 to 40 people.
Jake: Right.
Frank: So they’re still trying to combat, as well as to these large where they had a large alumni base, but then these really small chapters now, so I think they’re getting eaten alive by their alumni presence. Because they’re so small, you have to get bigger. There’s not enough students to get bigger right here–we’ve always had this 2000 ish students. Yeah so we’re kind of coasting and I think stronger because of that so yeah. It sounds like unfortunately, because of their loss of it’s enrollment it’s affecting obviously their chapters.
Jake: Yeah, yeah. It is super interesting because even a little bit with us, like if you walk in and look at the composites from 80s, 90s, you can see how large the group was.
Frank: Yeah
Jake: And it’s like, oh, my God, how did you manage that? And to me, I think it’s large, but it’s probably like maybe 60 to 70 people.
Frank: Okay. Is that when you guys were kind of your max? Like 60? 70?
Jake: I would say so, yeah. But even like before that. But there was like such a huge chunk of time where that was just the consistent number. And now that’s kind of like almost our expectation.
Frank: Yeah.
Jake: And that’s just not it anymore, and whether, and it’s just, you know, it’s not the same. It’s 40, 30 years ago. That’s not something that is really inclined in us.
Frank: Do you get pressure from your nationals to have more? Are they happy with your numbers?
Jake: I would say that our nationals gives us goals and then they…
Frank: Okay.
Jake: I think that our nationals shoots higher knowing that, like, we probably can’t achieve it but knowing that we want to get there.
Frank: Yeah.
Jake: So then, like this semester, having ten people is an insane feat for us, but not what they wanted in particular.
Frank: They wanted more, even though it was the fall semester?
Jake: Yeah.
Frank: Knowing you had two last year though, right?
Jake: Yeah.
Frank: Okay.
Jake: Even still, our national holds our chapter in a very high esteem, and that’s something that’s pretty common with most chapters on this campus. Like didn’t TKE just win, like, the best chapter award for all of TKE?
Frank: Yeah, nationally too.
Jake: Yeah, and they’ve done it like 12 times. Like, that’s insane.
Frank: Insanity
Jake: And so, like, as a smaller school, it is, like, super fun to kind of see us all succeed in that way. But we do feel the pressure from our national, which I think is something else that kind of goes unnoticed, is that we have these feats that we want to achieve to please people that aren’t just on our campus.
Frank: Yeah.
Jake: So that definitely becomes a bit of a struggle. And sometimes evening that out and finding a way to balance academics, being on our campus, involved in our campus, and then, you know, pleasing our national and getting to a point where we are still held in such an esteem by them can definitely become a little bit of a stress, but at least they have expectations of us because they know that we can do it and I think that that’s the right way to look at it. And if we didn’t, we’d probably like crumble, which is not the goal. But I kind of like, I don’t want to do this whole thing where I compare completely like how Greek Life works just from a Division III scale to a Division I scale. But it is kind of hard to do, hard to not do. Because something that is so difficult, like for me, my parents didn’t go to college, explaining to them what I was joining was difficult.
Frank: Yeah, yeah.
Jake: Because they only know what they see on TV, or in the news, which is horrible parties, like hazing, all these disgusting things, that kind of, that can go on at different universities. Obviously that doesn’t happen here.
Frank: Yeah.
Jake: So what do you think? And we can probably close off on this question ‘cause I think this is like the largest question of it. Like, what do you think is the biggest difference between our Greek life here and Greek life at other universities, especially bigger universities.
Frank: I think that and because and I feel for you guys because you guys are so active and involved in so many other things on campus. My opinion, this is just my opinion, that when the larger DI schools are larger, 20, 30-thousand-person schools, when they are a part of maybe a fraternity or sorority, that is the sole thing that they do. That’s their life. Nothing else matters, that is it. The cool thing and the amazing thing that I see within small institutions, but specifically Susquehanna, that because you guys have your hands in so many other things and you guys are passionate about so many other things, you roll it all together. Even though you take pride in all those separate little things. When I think of you, I’m not just thinking of Phi Mu Delta, right? I’m thinking of you and SAC. I’m thinking about you and the Vice President and all of the other amazing things that you do, I’m seeing all of that. And I think, like, when I look at e-mail signatures of you guys, it’s like a, it’s like a friggin resume. It’s sometimes your e-mail signatures are longer than the actual e-mail that you guys send, which is awesome.
Jake: That’s really funny that you say that because we kind of go through, like we do, like, professional development sometimes. And we talk about what is important for our e-mail signature because if they’re mile long, who cares to read it.
Frank: You guys take pride in it, which is great. When I first got here, I was like, “what the heck is going on?” This is insanity. So I think that is a huge difference in the larger schools to this school is because you guys have, like, we’ll start this, I think it’s a perfect way to wrap this up. You talked to the beginning that with the small school you have those connections with professional staff, people know you, you’re involved in so many other things. You can create new things at a smaller school that you might not in a larger school.
Jake: Yeah.
Frank: You have that personal touch, care, connection that you might not have. So I think because you guys are passionate and so involved in other things on campus that truly inspire or that truly strengthens our Greek Life because you’re learning. So say from a large school, if you are just drowning yourself in just your chapter and that’s it, what other growth is there? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but what growth is that? You being a part of SAC, you being a part of other chapter clubs and organizations on campus, you’re bringing all of what you’ve learned and that leadership that you learned back to your chapter. So I think that’s why we are stronger than most because we have that passion and the students who are, I’ll call them insane. They are insane and amazing way in how involved they want to be.
Jake: Yeah, yeah. No, I totally agree. Alright. Well, thank you. I really appreciate you doing this.
Frank: It was fun. It’s my first podcast I ever did. This is awesome.
Jake: Okay, cool. I mean, it’s like one of my first too, so we’re learning together.
Frank: Sweet.
Jake: I really do appreciate you coming in and answering my questions, so thank you very much.
Frank: Thank you, my friend.
Transition music fades in.
Jenna: The Susky Rush team consists of Jake Lanning, Jenna Delmar, and Ainsley Segedy. We’d like to say thank you to our wonderful guests: Mandy Reid, Jay Schofield, Autumn Decosmo, Madeline Gorski, Jake Lane, Josie Kwan, and Frank Crofchick. Our theme song is “Night Owl” by Broke for Free from the Free Music Archive. We also used “Short Clip of Music for Intros” by deleted_user_10817772, we also used “Background Music 130bpm” by Johnnie_Holiday, and finally, “Low Key Background Music Fragment” by Clacksburg. We used all music in this episode under a CC-BY Creative Commons License. We would like to sincerely thank our professor and mentor in creating this, Dr. Lang, for all of their support and guidance. Me/Us/U is licensed under Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND. You can find the rest of the episodes in Season 3 of Me/Us/You and extra exclusive content at our website, me-us-you.org. Thanks for listening!
