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Going Greek
Going Greek
Privacy Issues and Fairness Regarding Panhellenic Council and Facebook Monitoring
By Brittney Hatrack and Sara Matthews
This ethnography studies information regarding Virginia Tech’s Greek life, more specifically, the differences in rules governing Panhellenic sororities, Interfraternal Council fraternities and non-Greek students and how these rules are enforced. The recent popularity of the social networking site Facebook has forced some students to alter their profiles according to the guidelines set by the Greek Judicial Board’s standards. Through surveys, interviews and reliable internet sources, we found that Greek women are subject to stricter rules with harsher punishments than IFC Greek men and non-Greek students.
Panhellenic Information
National Panhellenic Conference is an umbrella organization for 26 women’s sororities around the nation. They strive to provide support and guidance to each organization, and to serve as a national voice regarding issues about sorority life. The National Panhellenic Conference at Virginia Tech is represented through Panhellenic Council, usually referred to as PHC. Panhellenic Council’s main objective is to act as the governing body of all thirteen Greek social-sororities at Virginia Tech. This council consists of 13 women, with equal representation from each chapter. PHC actively organizes and assists in events of mutual concern to sorority women, such as Greek Week, Standards of Greek Excellence Awards, and formal sorority recruitment.
PHC also oversees the actions of Virginia Tech’s Greek Judicial Board. According to their website, the Greek Judicial Board focuses on holding students accountable for unacceptable behavior and modifying those behaviors deemed unacceptable by the university. Unfortunately, many Greek women feel as if PHC and the Greek Judicial Board are over-extending their power lately, mainly due to issues regarding the social networking website Facebook.
The immense popularity surrounding Facebook has compelled PHC to create and heavily enforce strict rules about what Greek women at Virginia Tech can allow on their own personal Facebook profiles. We spoke with one of the thirteen women who represent PHC, for an accurate and detailed description of these new rules. Before our interview, she stressed how important it was for people to realize that although PHC is a national organization, these specific rules applied only to the sororities at Virginia Tech.
Panhellenic Council at Virginia Tech – Facebook Guidelines and Rules
(All 13 sororities and their members are subject to these rules)
Surveys
Panhellenic’s Greek Sororities
To further our research, we decided to conduct a survey of random sorority women to see if PHC’s strict rules and mysterious punishments had any impact on what they allow to be visible on their Facebook profiles. We surveyed 50 Greek women from all 13 sororities at Virginia Tech for feedback on the Facebook controversy that PHC has created. Our results indicated that 95% of these women make their profiles private to non-friends. After all, the easiest way to avoid an unwanted and possibly ‘dangerous’ visitor to your profile is to block them before they can see any photos or information about you. When a person’s profile is ‘set to private,’ the only information that is visible to non-friends is name, profile photo, and networks. Eighty-eight percent of the women surveyed admit to monitoring their Facebook profiles for drinking or other inappropriate behavior that could potentially cause them trouble with PHC. Surprisingly, 65% believe that when they see a Solo-cup in a Facebook photo, alcohol is inside the cup. Ironically, the ‘no-solo cup rule’ is one of the most complained about PHC rules. Sorority women feel that it is ridiculous for PHC to automatically assume that there is alcohol in someone’s plastic cup, yet the majority of the same women agree with that assumption. Only 26% of the women surveyed are comfortable posting pictures on Facebook of themselves or their friends drinking alcohol, and 74% will de-tag or delete a photo themselves drinking. Half the women surveyed have been asked by their other members in their sorority to remove or de-tag a potentially harmful photo.
When asked how they felt about PHC having the ‘ultimate say’ in what the standards of appropriate behavior for sorority women are, the majority of the responses were negative. Those surveyed felt that PHC’s rules were unfair to Greek women, a violation of privacy, and an over-extension of power. One woman responded with, “I wish Facebook wouldn’t be taken so seriously and used against us as students. This is in no way promoting unity by allowing a picture to go as far as putting someone on social probation. Facebook should be left to the students.” On the other hand, one woman responded with words of support for the regulations PHC imposes by saying, “I think that it is good to regulate on a consistent basis for everybody because not everyone has the same morals or ideas of what is right versus what is wrong.”
The Interfraternal Council’s Greek fraternities
We took a survey of 50 men who are members of Interfraternal Council’s (IFC) Greek Fraternities at Virginia Tech. There are 43 IFC frats, all of different sizes with varied opinions from their diverse members. The IFC follows similar guidelines (although they make amendments for the differences between male and female) to PHC in that they adhere to the same judicial codes. The Greek Judicial Board requires both sororities and fraternities to follow the same code of conduct. However, the fraternities at Virginia Tech all participate in drinking in letters, lesser degrees of Facebook monitoring and hazing – all of which are a serious matters for sorority members.
Over 90% of the surveyed fraternity members said that they agreed that Greek women were held to higher standards then Greek men. When asked what the reasons were, one member said, “Guys are allowed to be sloppy and goofy and everything that would be wrong with a sorority girl. We’re all the same, girls are just judged for it.” Another 80% said that they don’t monitor their Facebook pictures at all for various reasons. Some men don’t have many pictures taken of them (rule of thumb: guys don’t take pictures of other guys), others don’t care what is on their Facebook and a small minority even said that they like the inappropriate pictures that are posted. Finally, when they were asked about hazing rituals (something that deserves harsh punishment according to the Greek Judicial Board) half said that there was no hazing at all, and the other half admitted to pretty serious hazing.
All Greek students seem to be breaking rules, whether it be pictures or hazing, and it’s just about their ability to cover it up. The IFC just has different standards; one member who is very involved in his organization revealed that, “We are allowed to have parties because we pay ridiculous amounts of insurance to VT..we have to file an official report, have a cop present at the door for parties, an official guest list and ID everyone.” So they are allowed to drink, but they pay for it. Girls are allowed to have unacceptable Facebook pictures, but they will pay for it in the end. The trend with Greek life seems to be one of risk management for rules that can be bent, but not broken.
Non-Greek Students and Scholastic Fraternity/Sorority
The feedback from this 20 person survey was slimmer then those of the Greek community. The non-Greek students didn’t seem to place much importance on the monitoring of their Facebooks, simply because they don’t need to do it. Over 50% of those surveyed as non-Greeks said that they’d feel upset about someone telling them that their Facebook pictures were inappropriate. One open-ended answer stated, “I know what pictures to untag…someone telling me to untag a picture offends me because they’re questioning my morals.” It seemed as if the non-Greek students would feel similar to Greek women if they were in the same position.
This small survey was limited to our friends within Virginia Tech’s honor fraternity and business fraternities. Their feelings on Facebook monitoring were strong, they felt that being in an “honor” or “business” fraternity meant that they needed to hold themselves in a higher regard. One student said, “We’re not a social fraternity, we’re an honor fraternity and that means we’re supposed to keep our Facebooks proper.” Just about 65% of the subjects surveyed reported that they felt they were required to keep their Facebooks just as “clean” as sorority women. However, 75% said that the rules governing PHC sororities and the idea of Greek women turning each other in doesn’t cross their mind within their own or brother fraternities. Overall, monitoring is present within this segment of the Greek community; however, the rules aren’t as demanding, the fraternities have a sense of devotion to their cause and Facebook isn’t something that they will use to hurt others.
The Dual-Enrollment
Subject: A 21 year-old senior who is a member of a PHC sorority and a National Honor Fraternity on the Virginia Tech campus. She has been a member of both for three years.
This is an unusual issue considering she is subject to the diverse requirements of both a sorority and an honor fraternity. When we asked her questions regarding her two organizations, she seemed to have bitter sentiments concerning the monitoring her sorority does, but only good comments about her honor fraternity. Also, the enforcement of general rules within the two groups coincides with the Facebook rules. The sorority has more requirements, while the honor fraternity is pretty lenient. Also, the honor fraternity doesn’t have a form of judicial board or “standards” like all sororities have, making monitoring and getting in trouble seem less likely. When asked if both organizations had rules regard Facebook monitoring, she responded with, “No, ironically only my sorority does. They monitor my Facebook account, every week, maybe even more. My sorority has system in place in order to let girls know if a picture is appropriate or not.” Her fraternity gives her more freedom with Facebook, but it’s an interesting point to make that her honor frat also has male membership which seems to be the main difference between rules governing Facebook. The honor frat seems to place the ideals of the traditional male fraternity on their members, giving freedom to girls who aren’t really used to it. When the subject was asked why she thought one was monitored and the other wasn’t, the answer was interesting. She said, “Facebook pictures unfortunately carry a lot of meaning for those in the Greek world. Other sororities will purposely stalk certain sororities and turn them in for “cups” anywhere in their pictures. My honor fraternity is the only one on campus; therefore, doesn’t have as much competition and doesn’t care about the attention drawn to its members.” Her motive is that since sororities are in constant competition, they are placing the extreme rules on themselves. However, even with the picture rules in place, the subject doesn’t feel much pressure to take pictures down since she’s 21 years old. Most of her worries look forward to the professional job market, rather then her sorority’s ideals. Although, the pressure is off, the constant monitoring and worrying frustrates the subject in terms of younger girls in her sorority. She feels it’s unfair that a cup can get someone in trouble, and likens the fact to all sororities living up to their stereotype and pushing each other into these required rules that (very obviously) other organizations don’t have.
The Non-Greek
Subject: A 21 year-old non-Greek student that was a member of a sports team at Virginia Tech. Although this subject isn’t part of a Greek organization, she’s had experience with a varsity sports team at Virginia Tech which can also have many rules governing Facebook appropriate pictures.
The subject made it very clear that she is no longer part of the team and therefore, doesn’t really monitor her Facebook pictures anymore. She tries to keep her profile “clean,” but doesn’t worry about getting in trouble or de-tagging unnecessary pictures. However, when asked about comparing the two lifestyles, the sports team on the opposite end of the spectrum and was very strict about drinking 24 hours before game times and in-season. Their Facebook was required to be completely void of drinking, but she said that “the teams knew they’d be in trouble for drinking, so they never took pictures.” Now, as a god damn independent (GDI, as Greeks like to call non-Greek students) she feels that she’s able to “express anything I feel like without backlash from a random source.” In essence, she’s free from the judgment and trouble that girls can get from being in a serious organization. When the subject was asked about how she felt about Panhellenic’s rules for sorority members, her main emotion was pity. She said, “I feel bad that simple things like cups and drinks in the background can get someone in trouble. There’s times when I go out and don’t drink and it’s unfair to assume that the person in the picture is drinking—when they’re not.” This non-Greek student thought she made the right choice about not subjecting herself to the regulations of the Greek community; however, she does miss being a part of a team (similar, maybe to a sorority?) and says, “I wish I could still be on the team.” For non-Greeks, it’s easy to post whatever they want and not worry about it. But for someone who’s been a part of a big organization before, maybe the un-tagging is worth it.
Conclusion
The conclusive evidence is that PHC sororities are subject to much harsher consequences for similar actions to IFC fraternities and non-Greek students. The overwhelming majority of Greek women feel that they are discriminated against because of overextension of power through social networking sites like Facebook. The use of Facebook as a way to enforce the rules is disconcerting to women because of privacy issues, innocent convictions and the ability for PHC to constantly “stalk” Greek women.
Resources
National Panhellenic Conference. "About NPC." 21 Oct. 2008. <http://www.npcwomen.org>.
Panhellenic Executive Council at Virginia Tech. "Greek Judicial Board." 20 Oct. 2008. <http://www.vtphc.com>.
Virginia Tech Interfraternity Council. "IFC." 20 Oct. 2008. <http://www.vtifc.com>.
Privacy Issues and Fairness Regarding Panhellenic Council and Facebook Monitoring
By Brittney Hatrack and Sara Matthews
This ethnography studies information regarding Virginia Tech’s Greek life, more specifically, the differences in rules governing Panhellenic sororities, Interfraternal Council fraternities and non-Greek students and how these rules are enforced. The recent popularity of the social networking site Facebook has forced some students to alter their profiles according to the guidelines set by the Greek Judicial Board’s standards. Through surveys, interviews and reliable internet sources, we found that Greek women are subject to stricter rules with harsher punishments than IFC Greek men and non-Greek students.
Panhellenic Information
National Panhellenic Conference is an umbrella organization for 26 women’s sororities around the nation. They strive to provide support and guidance to each organization, and to serve as a national voice regarding issues about sorority life. The National Panhellenic Conference at Virginia Tech is represented through Panhellenic Council, usually referred to as PHC. Panhellenic Council’s main objective is to act as the governing body of all thirteen Greek social-sororities at Virginia Tech. This council consists of 13 women, with equal representation from each chapter. PHC actively organizes and assists in events of mutual concern to sorority women, such as Greek Week, Standards of Greek Excellence Awards, and formal sorority recruitment.
PHC also oversees the actions of Virginia Tech’s Greek Judicial Board. According to their website, the Greek Judicial Board focuses on holding students accountable for unacceptable behavior and modifying those behaviors deemed unacceptable by the university. Unfortunately, many Greek women feel as if PHC and the Greek Judicial Board are over-extending their power lately, mainly due to issues regarding the social networking website Facebook.
The immense popularity surrounding Facebook has compelled PHC to create and heavily enforce strict rules about what Greek women at Virginia Tech can allow on their own personal Facebook profiles. We spoke with one of the thirteen women who represent PHC, for an accurate and detailed description of these new rules. Before our interview, she stressed how important it was for people to realize that although PHC is a national organization, these specific rules applied only to the sororities at Virginia Tech.
Panhellenic Council at Virginia Tech – Facebook Guidelines and Rules
(All 13 sororities and their members are subject to these rules)
- Absolutely no consumption of alcohol while wearing any sorority-related paraphernalia, regardless of age
- Absolutely no consumption of alcohol in the sorority houses on Oak Lane, regardless of age
- If you are at least 21 years of age, you can have alcohol in your pictures, but no underage Greek women may be present
- If you are under 21 years of age, you may not have any pictures that contain Solo-cups, beer cans/bottles, or liquor bottles (regardless of whether you are actually holding these objects or if they are just in the background). You can not even have pictures of you in a foreign country drinking, nor may you have pictures of you drinking with your family
- A group of six or more women of the same sorority is considered a ‘party.’ These pictures are acceptable if no one is drinking or appears to be drinking. However, if there is any sign of alcohol in the picture, then the sorority is breaking a rule. For example, if six women from the same sorority are at a restaurant enjoying a glass of wine, it is considered an illegal ‘party’ – even though they are all 21.
Surveys
Panhellenic’s Greek Sororities
To further our research, we decided to conduct a survey of random sorority women to see if PHC’s strict rules and mysterious punishments had any impact on what they allow to be visible on their Facebook profiles. We surveyed 50 Greek women from all 13 sororities at Virginia Tech for feedback on the Facebook controversy that PHC has created. Our results indicated that 95% of these women make their profiles private to non-friends. After all, the easiest way to avoid an unwanted and possibly ‘dangerous’ visitor to your profile is to block them before they can see any photos or information about you. When a person’s profile is ‘set to private,’ the only information that is visible to non-friends is name, profile photo, and networks. Eighty-eight percent of the women surveyed admit to monitoring their Facebook profiles for drinking or other inappropriate behavior that could potentially cause them trouble with PHC. Surprisingly, 65% believe that when they see a Solo-cup in a Facebook photo, alcohol is inside the cup. Ironically, the ‘no-solo cup rule’ is one of the most complained about PHC rules. Sorority women feel that it is ridiculous for PHC to automatically assume that there is alcohol in someone’s plastic cup, yet the majority of the same women agree with that assumption. Only 26% of the women surveyed are comfortable posting pictures on Facebook of themselves or their friends drinking alcohol, and 74% will de-tag or delete a photo themselves drinking. Half the women surveyed have been asked by their other members in their sorority to remove or de-tag a potentially harmful photo.
When asked how they felt about PHC having the ‘ultimate say’ in what the standards of appropriate behavior for sorority women are, the majority of the responses were negative. Those surveyed felt that PHC’s rules were unfair to Greek women, a violation of privacy, and an over-extension of power. One woman responded with, “I wish Facebook wouldn’t be taken so seriously and used against us as students. This is in no way promoting unity by allowing a picture to go as far as putting someone on social probation. Facebook should be left to the students.” On the other hand, one woman responded with words of support for the regulations PHC imposes by saying, “I think that it is good to regulate on a consistent basis for everybody because not everyone has the same morals or ideas of what is right versus what is wrong.”
The Interfraternal Council’s Greek fraternities
We took a survey of 50 men who are members of Interfraternal Council’s (IFC) Greek Fraternities at Virginia Tech. There are 43 IFC frats, all of different sizes with varied opinions from their diverse members. The IFC follows similar guidelines (although they make amendments for the differences between male and female) to PHC in that they adhere to the same judicial codes. The Greek Judicial Board requires both sororities and fraternities to follow the same code of conduct. However, the fraternities at Virginia Tech all participate in drinking in letters, lesser degrees of Facebook monitoring and hazing – all of which are a serious matters for sorority members.
Over 90% of the surveyed fraternity members said that they agreed that Greek women were held to higher standards then Greek men. When asked what the reasons were, one member said, “Guys are allowed to be sloppy and goofy and everything that would be wrong with a sorority girl. We’re all the same, girls are just judged for it.” Another 80% said that they don’t monitor their Facebook pictures at all for various reasons. Some men don’t have many pictures taken of them (rule of thumb: guys don’t take pictures of other guys), others don’t care what is on their Facebook and a small minority even said that they like the inappropriate pictures that are posted. Finally, when they were asked about hazing rituals (something that deserves harsh punishment according to the Greek Judicial Board) half said that there was no hazing at all, and the other half admitted to pretty serious hazing.
All Greek students seem to be breaking rules, whether it be pictures or hazing, and it’s just about their ability to cover it up. The IFC just has different standards; one member who is very involved in his organization revealed that, “We are allowed to have parties because we pay ridiculous amounts of insurance to VT..we have to file an official report, have a cop present at the door for parties, an official guest list and ID everyone.” So they are allowed to drink, but they pay for it. Girls are allowed to have unacceptable Facebook pictures, but they will pay for it in the end. The trend with Greek life seems to be one of risk management for rules that can be bent, but not broken.
Non-Greek Students and Scholastic Fraternity/Sorority
The feedback from this 20 person survey was slimmer then those of the Greek community. The non-Greek students didn’t seem to place much importance on the monitoring of their Facebooks, simply because they don’t need to do it. Over 50% of those surveyed as non-Greeks said that they’d feel upset about someone telling them that their Facebook pictures were inappropriate. One open-ended answer stated, “I know what pictures to untag…someone telling me to untag a picture offends me because they’re questioning my morals.” It seemed as if the non-Greek students would feel similar to Greek women if they were in the same position.
This small survey was limited to our friends within Virginia Tech’s honor fraternity and business fraternities. Their feelings on Facebook monitoring were strong, they felt that being in an “honor” or “business” fraternity meant that they needed to hold themselves in a higher regard. One student said, “We’re not a social fraternity, we’re an honor fraternity and that means we’re supposed to keep our Facebooks proper.” Just about 65% of the subjects surveyed reported that they felt they were required to keep their Facebooks just as “clean” as sorority women. However, 75% said that the rules governing PHC sororities and the idea of Greek women turning each other in doesn’t cross their mind within their own or brother fraternities. Overall, monitoring is present within this segment of the Greek community; however, the rules aren’t as demanding, the fraternities have a sense of devotion to their cause and Facebook isn’t something that they will use to hurt others.
Case Studies
The Dual-Enrollment
Subject: A 21 year-old senior who is a member of a PHC sorority and a National Honor Fraternity on the Virginia Tech campus. She has been a member of both for three years.
This is an unusual issue considering she is subject to the diverse requirements of both a sorority and an honor fraternity. When we asked her questions regarding her two organizations, she seemed to have bitter sentiments concerning the monitoring her sorority does, but only good comments about her honor fraternity. Also, the enforcement of general rules within the two groups coincides with the Facebook rules. The sorority has more requirements, while the honor fraternity is pretty lenient. Also, the honor fraternity doesn’t have a form of judicial board or “standards” like all sororities have, making monitoring and getting in trouble seem less likely. When asked if both organizations had rules regard Facebook monitoring, she responded with, “No, ironically only my sorority does. They monitor my Facebook account, every week, maybe even more. My sorority has system in place in order to let girls know if a picture is appropriate or not.” Her fraternity gives her more freedom with Facebook, but it’s an interesting point to make that her honor frat also has male membership which seems to be the main difference between rules governing Facebook. The honor frat seems to place the ideals of the traditional male fraternity on their members, giving freedom to girls who aren’t really used to it. When the subject was asked why she thought one was monitored and the other wasn’t, the answer was interesting. She said, “Facebook pictures unfortunately carry a lot of meaning for those in the Greek world. Other sororities will purposely stalk certain sororities and turn them in for “cups” anywhere in their pictures. My honor fraternity is the only one on campus; therefore, doesn’t have as much competition and doesn’t care about the attention drawn to its members.” Her motive is that since sororities are in constant competition, they are placing the extreme rules on themselves. However, even with the picture rules in place, the subject doesn’t feel much pressure to take pictures down since she’s 21 years old. Most of her worries look forward to the professional job market, rather then her sorority’s ideals. Although, the pressure is off, the constant monitoring and worrying frustrates the subject in terms of younger girls in her sorority. She feels it’s unfair that a cup can get someone in trouble, and likens the fact to all sororities living up to their stereotype and pushing each other into these required rules that (very obviously) other organizations don’t have.
The Non-Greek
Subject: A 21 year-old non-Greek student that was a member of a sports team at Virginia Tech. Although this subject isn’t part of a Greek organization, she’s had experience with a varsity sports team at Virginia Tech which can also have many rules governing Facebook appropriate pictures.
The subject made it very clear that she is no longer part of the team and therefore, doesn’t really monitor her Facebook pictures anymore. She tries to keep her profile “clean,” but doesn’t worry about getting in trouble or de-tagging unnecessary pictures. However, when asked about comparing the two lifestyles, the sports team on the opposite end of the spectrum and was very strict about drinking 24 hours before game times and in-season. Their Facebook was required to be completely void of drinking, but she said that “the teams knew they’d be in trouble for drinking, so they never took pictures.” Now, as a god damn independent (GDI, as Greeks like to call non-Greek students) she feels that she’s able to “express anything I feel like without backlash from a random source.” In essence, she’s free from the judgment and trouble that girls can get from being in a serious organization. When the subject was asked about how she felt about Panhellenic’s rules for sorority members, her main emotion was pity. She said, “I feel bad that simple things like cups and drinks in the background can get someone in trouble. There’s times when I go out and don’t drink and it’s unfair to assume that the person in the picture is drinking—when they’re not.” This non-Greek student thought she made the right choice about not subjecting herself to the regulations of the Greek community; however, she does miss being a part of a team (similar, maybe to a sorority?) and says, “I wish I could still be on the team.” For non-Greeks, it’s easy to post whatever they want and not worry about it. But for someone who’s been a part of a big organization before, maybe the un-tagging is worth it.
Conclusion
The conclusive evidence is that PHC sororities are subject to much harsher consequences for similar actions to IFC fraternities and non-Greek students. The overwhelming majority of Greek women feel that they are discriminated against because of overextension of power through social networking sites like Facebook. The use of Facebook as a way to enforce the rules is disconcerting to women because of privacy issues, innocent convictions and the ability for PHC to constantly “stalk” Greek women.
Resources
National Panhellenic Conference. "About NPC." 21 Oct. 2008. <http://www.npcwomen.org>.
Panhellenic Executive Council at Virginia Tech. "Greek Judicial Board." 20 Oct. 2008. <http://www.vtphc.com>.
Virginia Tech Interfraternity Council. "IFC." 20 Oct. 2008. <http://www.vtifc.com>.
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