I Believe...

I believe in Phi Gamma Delta. Now, I know that I represent the Interfraternity Council and all of its chapters as a member of the IFC Executive Board, but when it comes down to it, I would have never found myself in this place if it wasn't for what Phi Gamma Delta brought to me. But I'll come back to that at the end of this...
I believe that Greek Life is a microcosm of what our larger community looks like... we have every type of individuals, we have those who serve, we have those who talk shit, we have scholars, we have slackers, we have opportunities, we socialize, and we use human emotion to create something larger than life. I believe that Greek Life, as this microcosm of society, also comes with an amazing opportunity for social trial and error. In thinking of what I want to do with my life, and where I want to go, I can implement things through my position as Vice President of Civic Engagement that work towards developing a better community... and if it works, I can use the same ideas of social change in our bigger picture community to create positive change on an even higher level. I believe in Greek Life so much because opportunities like these, opportunities that can put your dreams into action, are found all over the place. If it works in the Greek Community, it is a great stepping stone to who else it can impact.
As I said, I believe in Phi Gamma Delta. I believe, probably more so than I believe in following my dreams, in relationships. I believe in brotherhood, and I believe that friendship is truly the sweetest influence. I believe that the quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life, and the relationships that I have in my fraternity make it feel like home. I know that it sounds cliche', but there really is something indescribable about being in my fraternity that gives me so much pride to be a part of it. This last year in a half in college has been decently tough for me from many aspects, and if it was not for Phi Gamma Delta, I may have turned out to be much more lost today. 

To Haze or Not to Haze?

Hazing is an interesting topic in the Greek Community. While its interesting in our community, I feel like a better word for it from eyes of administrations would be taboo. Administration likes to, in my opinion, pretend that absolutely nothing is happening at times because of how intense the consequences can be for hazing.

Where I personally stand? Its hard for me to say because I was never hazed so I never really got to see if there are any benefits to it happening. What I do know, however, is that I am a brother of Phi Gamma Delta who respects my spot as a brother and earned my spot through what I did during my pledging process. Another thing I do know, is that hazing can distract individuals in our community from many things, including academics, which is a priority of our Greek System. On many occasions I have seen pledges in the community exhausted and having negative feelings about their pledging experience... this is not healthy, and definitely not a good representation of our community. I think its pretty bad that somebody needs to prove themselves worthy of brotherhood by being hazed. At the same time, I don't think things like scavenger hunts and having to clean up after parties should be considered hazing. Scavenger hunts are playful and cleaning up after parties in considerate. I don't think chapters should be in trouble for things like that because they really do not cause any harm. Its the harmful hazing that I really see as being a problem.

I think some pledges weirdly want to be hazed. From the mouth of one of the pledges in my fraternity: "Feel free to haze me!" While this statement confused the hell out of me, I think this shows how fraternity culture has really bred a culture of hazing and an expectation of hazing.

I obviously have a mixed stand on the topic and I don't know if this blog post leads you to a defined answer on what I feel about hazing, but that's what is on my mind.

AFLV. Now what?

"Motion is unstoppable. Action is a choice."

Being back from the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values Conference, I have a new push to do more with my position. I'm not going to lie, it has been a discouraging start to my term, realizing that community service and philanthropy is not necessarily a community value. Communication was tough, and motivation was even tougher. Now, I have a rejuvenated energy and I am ready to get to work... again.

So I'm letting the quote above be the mantra for my term. It is an every day reminder that the issues in our community are still going to exist and the motion of these issues will keep going, unless there in an action we choose to take that makes it better. With that being said, I have already created my facebook groups to stay in contact with the service and philanthropy chairs within IFC to better communication. We are building a bigger and better "Week Without Smack" that will be able to take place in the fall, and I am working on bringing a poverty campaign to campus. I am going to be starting the Chapter of the Month award as well for community service and philanthropy to hopefully add some friendly competition to the greek community. Not to mention, I have already started to improve the way I function within my own fraternity. 

Needless to say, I am going to put all of my efforts into this position, and being the best Vice President of Civic Engagement that I can be. I am going to motivate "the middle" through personal relationship building, and help our community rise to the occasions in front of us.

Anooj

Not too many regrets...

Its funny to think about the person that I am today in my chapter versus who I was during the pledge process. In retrospect, I would have been a lot more outspoken as a pledge brother of Fiji.  Along with my position in IFC today, I am also the Corresponding Secretary for my chapter... I don't think I would have predicted this when I was a pledge just because of how silent I was. HOWEVER, I was really never silent anywhere else, which leads me to think that I simply wanted to make a good impression. I obviously could have made a good impression while talking the amount that I do on normal occasion, which is why this is probably my biggest regret in my first week of my pledging. It would have made me feel a lot closer to all of the brothers a lot earlier in the game.

This is actually a pretty tough blog to do simply because there is not much that I regret in my time in the Greek Community so far. I guess the only other thing I would change is my self consciousness in the Greek Community. None of my friends from home, friends at OSU, or any of my family, expected me to want to join a fraternity. Along with that, I never saw myself as ever going Greek either. With that, I became really conscious of myself in the Greek Community and was usually hesitant to go to events where all Greeks would be attending. Obviously, that has changed as well.

I apologize this blog was not as in depth or thoughtful as my other ones, but I think that simply goes to say that I am very happy with the choices I have made so far as a Fiji.  

Greek Life 101

I never thought that I would ever go Greek. In high school, I knew that I always wanted to be just involved involved in college as I was then, but was not sure in which form that would take shape. I never really thought of Greek Life as a leadership development experience until I became an actual brother of my fraternity. So why did I go Greek? I still am not fully sure of my original intent, haha, but I will share my simple Greek story to give a little bit of insight for assumption. Before coming to Ohio State, the only people in the Greek system that I knew were Fiji's... namely my best friend's older brother, and her sister's boyfriend. I did the Leadership Collaborative the week before my first year started and met a few more Fijis there, including Tre Wiley who ultimately recruited me for my chapter. When school started, I went to chapter dinners for Phi Gamma Delta, and then when winter quarter rolled around, I decided to check out a few other fraternities just so that I could know what else is out there. Still, I did not think I wanted to go Greek, but I decided that Phi Gamma Delta was where I needed to be if I was to do it. The following weeks were a series of lunches and dinners with brothers asking me where I was at with Greek Life and trying to gauge my interest. Needless to say, I probably confused the hell out of all of them. I was going back and forth between a yes and a no and a maybe and an "I don't think its for me" and a "let me talk to my parents" and who knows what else. Eventually, I received a bid from Fiji and accepted on the spot completely out of intuition. Completely. Out. Of. Intuition.  I am involved with ALL sorts of things across campus that I associate a lot of meaning with and its interesting to think that simply out of intuition, I jumped into something that I was not able to associate meaning with yet.

As for my satisfaction with my decision, I really think that Fiji is the only chapter on this campus for me. In fact, I know that Fiji is the only chapter on this campus for me. When it comes to regrets, I don't think I ever regretted going Fiji, but I definitely regretted going Greek. When I first became a brother I was kind of in lala land, thinking that Greek Life was the best thing in the entire world and then you could only understand how amazing it was if you were involved with it. There was a point where I realized how much back talking went on in the community, and I hated how everybody was automatically associated with the stereotype attached to their chapter. I was also stressed for money at this time, and coming out of a summer of passionately and happily working Freshman Orientations. This combination of happenings made me, for a very short period, not want to be a part of the Greek Community. However, my brothers have become my best friends on campus, and I have now retained my feelings from before of this being a phenomenal community. I am now Corresponding Secretary of Fiji, as well having my position in IFC, and I love everything that I am doing in this community, including working towards positive change.

The only reasons not to go Greek? I already said them... it can be frustrating to be associated all the time with the assumptions people have of your chapter, and the money brings a really big burden on me. However, stereotypes are nothing when you have amazing people around you in ALL chapters, proving them wrong.

Why go Greek? Because it is a fantastic community exclusive to the college experience. Its really hard to describe but I sometimes feel like Greek Life is more of a feeling than something you can verbalize. It is a way to hold yourself to higher standards, it is an outlet to improve something you are passionate about whether that is social stuff, academics, philanthropy, service, chapter leadership, etc. It is something you can easily balance with other co curricular activities, and  the brotherhood/sisterhood is amazing. Its awesome having an overwhelming day of work, meetings, and class, and then going home knowing I can just hang out with my brothers. Greek Life, as Ohio State says, is a way to lead, learn, and serve.

I wonder if Gandhi would have gone Greek...

The good feeling an individual gets from doing service in genetic. Humans are wired to feel good about themselves in their positive actions towards others, and as leaders in the Greek Community, this is something that we have been able to experience time after time as we give a piece of ourselves to our chapters and other Greeks at our University. If I could be the change that I want to see in my council, and in my chapter, service and philanthropy would be a higher value for all of us, not only as a way to create a better world, but to create a better sense of unity between us as brothers, sisters, and chapters. A way that I usually set goals for myself is by thinking of the ways in which I am currently being a "bystander." By that, I mean that I take a moment to think about the issues in my community that I see and do absolutely nothing about. This leads me to another change that I want to make in the Greek Community. I want encourage others to stop the back talking that constantly occurs between chapters. If we want to pride ourselves on our community, we need to live up to the expectation we are setting for ourselves.

If I had no boundaries, I would do a lot. Specifically to the ideal goals I just laid out, I would create a system that would allow anybody from any chapter to log their chapter onto a database of service opportunities and be able to reserve a service opportunity that fits their specific interest. I would also work to get other fraternities involved with the same opportunities so that chapters can serve together. I have this idea floating in my mind called "A Week Without Smack" which is essentially a week where each chapter on our campus would pledge to give up back talking. In all honesty I would love to push this as a national Greek movement and get many schools and organizations around the country... but hey, I'll settle on just having it here at Ohio State for the first year. 


I believe in peace, and I believe in our shared humanity, and these personal values are reflected in these ideals and ideas that I have and share. I wanted to be Vice President of Civic Engagement so that I would be able to take an active part in tackling the ways that I have been a bystander in order to make a community that I have grown to care about a lot better. Its funny to think about where I was a year ago because I never imagined myself in a fraternity... its been quite the journey so far and I am continually eager to inspire others and find productive ways to create positive change. I recently went on a trip to India and saw a sign that said, "Sustain your heritage, and feel glorious." These values of peace are in my roots, and something I am certainly living for. If Gandhi would have gone Greek, who knows, maybe he would have had similar goals. 


-Anooj