By Marisa Young | Reporter
If anyone believes that Baylor has mastered Greek life “in a Christian way,” they have clearly never been on YikYak during recruitment season.
The judgment people feel entitled to during that period is uniquely vicious, with both potential new members and active members at fault. And while I admittedly enjoy some creative comments people post, I’ve come across other remarks which genuinely leave me floored. The part that really grieves me isn’t the comments themselves, though — it’s the fact that the majority of people who make up these organizations identify as followers of Christ.
While Baylor likes to advertise our Greek system as more morally upstanding than secular schools, they are only right to a degree. Yes, we have Phi Chi singing hymns during Sing. It’s a sweet sentiment, but we as a system have bigger fish to fry.
As both a practicing Christian and a member of Greek life at Baylor, I’ve found myself having this conversation a lot recently. While I agree there can certainly be complexities in reconciling the recruitment system with Christian ideology, in my experience, it is very doable. I think every Christian individual participating in Greek life is capable of upholding their faith and Christian calling at the same time.
The biggest complaint against recruitment at a Baptist university is the inevitable element of selection. Usually these conversations start with someone saying something like: “Don’t you guys just recruit based on looks and tax brackets?”
While I can’t speak for every organization, I personally have never recruited someone based on either of those things. Particularly at a Baptist university, I think it is important that sororities and fraternities establish character-based criteria to avoid members making judgment calls on any other factor.
As far as the selection itself, I don’t believe there is anything inherently wrong with selecting people through good character traits. We all do this in our day-to-day interactions — for example, when we choose our friends, peers and mentors. The Bible advises us in 2 Corinthians 6:14 to not be “unequally yoked” with unbelievers, which, in a broader sense, meant people who would cause Christians to compromise their faith or morals.
In the same way, I would argue organizations have a right to protect their group’s standard of character during the recruitment selection process. The discrepancy with Christianity isn’t recruitment itself but when judgment is made by shallow or inadequate criteria.
Another important thing to note is that people will recruit people who are like them. Whether consciously or not, it is human nature to be drawn to similarity, and this applies to recruitment. This is the reason why oftentimes, the stereotypes are largely accurate. I would guess that 85% of some orgs are from California, and that’s not a coincidence. From a Christian perspective, I think we must be mindful of this tendency to avoid bias. For example, just because someone is from a different ethnic background than the majority of your organization, it doesn’t mean their mission and values won’t align with yours.
I would encourage my fellow believers who are in Greek life to become aware of what areas they may be making judgment calls that are not character-based. During recruitment season and always, challenge yourself to live up to that Bible verse in your bio. I’ve seen recruitment done right, but we have a long way to go.
