By Katy Mae Turner | Photographer

There are countless ways to get plugged into a college community. Through your major, residence hall or clubs, you can find amazing people. When I came to college and was looking for a way to meet people and get connected, I knew Greek Life had a special connection to Baylor University.

At Baylor, there are over 4,400 people in Greek Life stretched across 41 different chapters — around 30% of the total undergraduate population. In its long history, Baylor has created some beloved traditions for students past, present and future. Many of these traditions are reliant on the Greek organizations on campus and their hours of hard work.

Every year, Baylor hosts the homecoming parade to welcome alumni back home. Fraternities and sororities spend hours every week to create floats with various themes and compete to win. It’s a tradition many Baylor students have participated in, and having the chance to uphold that is something lots of organizations look forward to.

One newer homecoming tradition is the Royal and Pure Homecoming Stroll-Off. The Barfield Drawing Room was overflowing with people after Phi Beta Sigma hosted the event for the sixth year. This is an event that students, faculty and staff are excited to see grow and become a more solidified part of Baylor’s history.

Christmas on Fifth is a holiday tradition to help celebrate the holidays. While the event is spread throughout campus, a large part of the event is lighting the Christmas tree that is placed in the middle of the Quadrangle. Kappa Omega Tau is a large contributor in providing the tree, which features its letters across the front.

This spring, Baylor will celebrate its 70th year of All-University Sing. A few years after Sing started, Pigskin was established and built a larger incentive for organizations to participate. Last year, 16 of the 17 acts in Sing and all acts in Pigskin were Greek organizations. In years past, thousands of people have come to see the acts that students have poured their time into.

All of these events shape Baylor and its culture. These events are what make Baylor the amazing university that it is for so many people. The involvement of Greek Life is what makes these traditions possible and helps Baylor sustain its student environment.

Why are all of these important?

Universities around the country are facing a shrinking presence of Greek Life on their campuses due to the Abolish Greek Life movement. Some advocates believe the Greek system should be reformed, while others believe fraternities and sororities should disappear entirely.

Baylor’s statistics show fewer younger students are involved in Greek Life, with almost half as many freshmen as seniors involved. While on-campus involvement is a large part of Greek Life, there is a lot happening off campus as well. Fraternities and sororities raised over $500,000 and contributed 24,000 hours of community service to various organizations last year alone.

Greek Life impacts a lot of Baylor activities, and for Greek Life to continue to have a place, it’s important to be held accountable. Being open to change and being able to recognize your mistakes, create measurable action plans and implement them is one way Baylor has been working to maintain current Greek Life and look toward improvement in the future.