Geek to Greek: A Pledging Story.

My last blog described the common challenges first year students face at the start of their college careers.  This week I watched a couple of episodes of ABC's GREEK series, and I noticed that many of the challenges my RA mapped out for me during our interview were some of the struggles the show's protagonist faced.  It was interesting to see how the show really captured college students difficulties, mixing it with humor and a little bit a drama, and portrayed in sorority and fraternity setting.
 
One of the challenges my RA and I discussed was balancing school work with socializing.  The show really did a great job capturing this struggle through its main character, Rusty Cortwright.  He enrolls in the same college as his older sister, who ignores his phone calls, cries for help, and all around denies his existence (Can you say sibling rivalry, or what?!).  As a freshman looking for a sense of identity and community, Rusty decides to rush for a fraternity.  After receiving and accepting his bid, Rusty is swept up into the demanding and time consuming process of pledging.  It was said during the show that the first week is always the hardest since the amount of classwork is low, which is what we call "Syllabus Week" here at Rutgers.  However, Rusty's situation is different; he's a polymer science major, with incredibly hard prerequisite classes that will prepare him for his engineering classes later on. A 90 question packet is assigned to him, and he must complete it in order to stay in his physics class.  Objectively speaking, Rusty's dilemma really isn't a big one- he should finish the packet instead of reporting to the frat house each night.  His major depends on it!  But he wants to belong, make friends, and form that brotherly bond that will create that community and support he is seeking.

The show initially portrays Rusty as a lanky, smart 'geek' who will not be successful at going Greek. Many people, including his sister, tell him he would never get through rush because he didn't fit fraternity criteria.  Rusty ignores these negative remarks, and is even more determined to go out and get what he wants. And that is what college is about- going out there and making something of yourself.  I like to think of college as a game, except there are no dice included.  There is no white square with black dotes telling you how many spots you MUST move on the board.  There is no one telling you you MUST read this chapter or you MUST do these calc problems.  Most importantly, there is no one stopping you from doing the things you desire.  Sure, someone can tell you "no you can't do that," but does that really mean anything?  Words impede nothing.  And once you realize this, you can make it past go and collect that $200 as many times as you want.  Rusty caught on to the game's rules very quickly.

At each fraternity house he visits, nerves get the best of him and he ends up saying something to make the other brothers uninterested, insulted, or indifferent towards him.  Rusty's friend, Calvin, suggests that he 'exaggerate his accomplishments and play himself up the best he can in order to get the brothers to like him.' But Rusty doesn't take his friend's advice, and upon meeting the president of Omega Chi, he answers the question of why he's pledging honestly, with elements of this morals, aspirations, and personality traits intertwined in his response.  The presidents reaction?

"That is the best response I have heard all night." 

I loved how ABC promoted the idea of just being yourself.  College students can easily be turned into chameleons, altering their 'color'-a geniusly created metaphor for one's values and opinions if I do say so myself- to better connect with the people who surround them.  By doing this, its very easy for a student to loose himself, and his aspired goal of  finding his identity is made ten times harder.  Rusty didn't fall into this trap, and he won his bid from just being himself and pursuing his desires.  Rusty just passed go for the first time.

But a bid doesn't automatically establish that sense of brotherly community GREEK's protagonist desires; its simply an invitation.  Rusty has to prove himself worthy of admittance, which is done through the grueling process of pledging.  Which brings us back to his dilemma of the physics packet and the Brotherly Pact (It's not so easy to choose which thing to prioritize, now is it? Social Life vs. Future Life).  He chooses social life, leaving him to hand in an incomplete packet. 

Although GREEK's writers decided to throw Rusty a bone, and have his physics professor not grade the packet after all, reality usually isn't that kind to real students.  Often times too much socializing is detrimental to academics, and its a huge challenge and takes practice to find that balance.  In later episodes, audiences see Rusty continue to struggle with social moderation.  He fails a quiz and doesn't do so hot on a lab report because of Greek activities.  His desire to belong to something is way too strong for him to rethink his priorities.
 
Through the first couple of episodes, audiences also see changes in Rusty's relationship with his sister.  Every college student experiences relationship changes.  Many times high school friendships loose their strength because of distance, growth, and new found maturity, or parental relationships become stronger because you're allowed to breathe a little.  In Rusty's case, his sister goes from being an unhelpful and indifferent older sibling, to caring and protective one. The struggle here isn't adjusting to the change itself, but initiating and maintaining the relationship proved difficult for Rusty.