Pitt greeks offer leadership, fund raising, mentoring, fun

Have you ever seen “Animal House”-the movie where John Belushi, an overweight slob, is a… Have you ever seen “Animal House”-the movie where John Belushi, an overweight slob, is a member of a failing fraternity? He gives a rallying speech to his frat brothers about fighting the dean so they don’t get kicked out of school.

Never saw it? Well, maybe you’ve seen “Old School.” The movie features three middle-aged men who start their own fraternity because they want to re-live their college days. Will Ferrell drinks too much and ends up “streaking the quad” all by himself.

These movies may be classic “frat films,” but they definitely aren’t accurate portrayals of greek life at Pitt.

Chris Meaner, Pitt’s Sorority and Fraternity Life Coordinator, shows snippets of films like these to freshmen interested in fraternities and sororities to dispel the misconceptions about greek life.

“We show these movies, then we talk to students about how these are myths, and what actually happens instead of what happens in the movies,” Meaner said.

Meaner shows the films during Pitt’s Meet the Greeks Week, held during the first week of the school year. At the event, Pitt’s 38 greek organizations each set up information booths for curious students.

The organizations each belong to one of three main councils. The Interfraternity Council consists of 18 fraternities, seven on campus and 11 off campus; the Pan-Hellenic Council consists of 11 sororities, 10 on campus and one off; and the National Pan-Hellenic Council consists of eight historically black fraternities and sororities, all off campus.

If students are unsure about which organization to join, many of Pitt’s greeks have websites that are listed on the university’s greek page, www.gogreek.pitt.edu.

There isn’t any pressure to join immediately, either. Pitt’s greeks recruit year round. “They are extremely open,” Meaner said.

During the 2006-2007 school year, 390 freshmen joined greek organizations, accompanying the 9.5 percent of Pitt undergrads who are already greek. And, according to Meaner, the number of freshmen joining increases every year.

You’ll be in good company if you join a greek organization (48 percent of U.S. presidents have been greek) and you’ll make many friends. You’ll have a place to study and people to study with. Older students often become mentors to inexperienced freshmen, which promotes an easy transition into college.

And since fraternities and sororities have hundreds of alumni, they’re great networking tools — something you’ll appreciate later on in your college career.

Fraternities and sororities are also places for developing leadership skills. If students stick to an organization, the likelihood of their taking on a leadership role increases.

The greeks also give back to the community through fund raising.

All 38 organizations raise money for cancer research during Greek Week. The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the Pitt greeks have an agreement that if the latter raise $500,000 altogether, the institute will name a cancer research lab in honor of Pitt greek life.

These are the parts of greek life that the movies don’t show you. If you want the real story about fraternity and sorority life instead of Hollywood’s exaggerated image, then check out Meet the Greeks during the first week of school.