You're Always Wearing Your Letters

The other day during my sorority's (AEPhi) chapter meeting, we were shown a YouTube video. It was made by the AEPhi chapter at BU, who we are actually very close with. The video, called "You're Always Wearing Your Letters," brought tears to my eyes, if we're being honest. It was a truly excellent representation of the sisterhood, connectedness, and pride I feel in our organization, as well as the responsibility. The premise of the video is that once you join AEPhi, not only are you a lifetime member, but that you represent the chapter in everything you do, and in every choice you make. This is something I know, and consider, and have heard before. We all have the power to affect the fragile reputation of sorority women everywhere, but this particular video really got me thinking about how connected we all truly are.

Most colleges with Greek life hold Greek Week around this time of year. Everyone has their own traditions, but they tend to be pretty similar from school to school. One tradition that seems to be everywhere is the Greek god and goddess competition. At Northeastern, we have judges vote, but at UCF part of the determination is how many Facebook "likes" a photo of each chapter's contestant can get. My friends from UCF AEPhi asked me to vote for their candidate... so of course I did! I'm supporting a sister. This is easy for me to wrap my head around, however, it gets a little more complicated when I think about how being late to class one day can affect someone's perceptions of sorority women as a whole. And it can. I've been stereotyped, judged, and commended for being in a sorority. Other people before me have affected how people view me, and I've seen it. It's both scary and empowering to think that I have the power to change in either a good way, or a bad way, the way the world perceives my network of AEPhi sisters.

The idea of this brought me back to the idea of strong ties and weak ties. We tend to think that we have the greatest affect on our strong ties, and that is definitely true here. The way I act most directly affects my strong ties -- my AEPhi sisters at Northeastern. It affects my weak ties as well, but less -- those would be the other sorority women at Northeastern, AEPhi sisters at other universities, as well as alumnae, and eventually sorority women as a whole. The people on the periphery of the sorority network, (people with friends in sororities, parents of sorority women, acquaintances, etc.) are probably affected the least. While it's beneficial to think that you are impacting such a great number of people, the idea that you're impacting a smaller number of people who are close to you probably has a greater impact than anything. I would hate to do anything that would have negative repercussions on my sisters at Northeastern, who are some of the people who are closest to me in the entire world. On the other hand, I would do anything to help them, and would love to portray myself, and thus my sisters, in a strong positive light.

Moral of the story is, the impact we have on our networks is much greater than we often think about. Whether you're in Greek life, the Rugby team, or Chess Club, you affect how people see the other members of your group. It applies to the work place as well, which is why so many organizations are concerned with how their employees express themselves online, etc. This video was a good reminder for me that it's not just me that my choices affect, it's a ton of other people, and that I should carefully consider that before making any big choices.

If you're interested, the link to the video is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJKvWixGWFg