Reputation v. Reality: How Much Do Hazing Stories Affect Bid Decisions?
Greek life at Elon is a staple of the social scene and nightlife. Every fall, 100+ men take on rush week with hopes of joining a new brotherhood. However, within every fraternity there are always rumors of hazing.
Two anonymous social platforms are major proponents of keeping the fraternity reputation stories alive: GreekRank and YikYak.
GreekRank is a website that is designed to provide information on the fraternities and sororities at different colleges across the country. Once arriving on the site, there is a search bar where one can input the school of their choice. Then, each school’s page has six subsections: overview, discussion, news, school reviews, fraternities, and sororities. When clicking on the fraternity or sorority sections, a drop down appears of ratings and comments left by anonymous users. Each review starts off with a numerical rating that aligns with “top tier,” “middle tier,” or “bottom tier.” This alone has enough power to alter someone’s understanding of the reputation of an organization. Below the ratings are written reviews to correspond with the “tier” ratings.
With every online platform, users are more confident in what they say behind a screen. These reviews are commonly twisted. This has the power to greatly influence a potential new member, and can unfairly alter their decision.
“I read a few of the reviews on GreekRank before rush started,” says a current anonymous on-campus pledge. “Even though I knew they weren’t true, it was hard to not let the rumors change my opinions on different frat.”
Another social media platform that has recently made a comeback is YikYak. YikYak is an app that allows users to post any typed text that they choose under 200 characters into a completely anonymous feed of users within a mile radius.
YikYak has already raised many mental health concerns, as people in the Elon area continue to target individual students. This has been a major source of cyberbullying, but it doesn’t end with individual students, entire organizations are feeling the cyber-heat too.
The start of fall rush and pledge season has opened up an entire new world of YikYak comments. Each time the app is refreshed, there is an entire new set of hazing rumors. Similarly to GreekRank, YikYak has introduced an entirely new influence among potential new fraternity members.
These platforms and others like these cause many to wonder: how fair is the rush process as a whole?
Reputations are inevitable, but they may be hurting the different organizations entirely. Fraternities are losing potential members who may fit in great due to social media and word of mouth.
Another anonymous current on-campus pledge says, “Knowing the reputation of a frat as a whole may be indicative of their hazing. I knew I wasn’t going to attend certain fraternities’ events during rush week, because the reputations that I had heard along the way told me alot about how I thought I’d get along with them.”
There is no easy fix to this issue. Simply the best way to try and alter the path of Greek rush processes is to keep an open mind about all potential organizations.
Hazing is a dangerous issue that has bulldozed its way through college campuses across the nation. If ever in need, the national hazing prevention hotline is 1-888-668-4293.
Cover photo by Štefan Štefančík on Unsplash.