It is apparent (through texts, IMs and whiny drunken calls from friends, including my editor) that I’ve been a bit absent, lately. No, not on campus, where I’ve been flitting around from meeting to class to meeting as usual. It seems that my presence has been missed at the bars. I was considering titling this column “Why I Haven’t Been to the Bars Lately,” but I figured that two columns that start off with direct references to drinking (see: “Inebriation Nation,” published Oct. 16), and somebody’s bound to call me a lush.
Believe it or not, I’ve been choosing Greek life over the social activities in Collegetown. You see, Greek life at Cornell has provided me with countless opportunities to saturate my schedule, or at least to fill any spare moment. I have certainly dabbled in other activities at Cornell, from a brief stint on the cheerleading team freshman year to my current position on Student Assembly. Yet, the fraternity and sorority scene at Cornell has fulfilled all of my needs in college: philanthropy, service, spirit, leadership, sisterhood and a vibrant social scene.
I know that $3 Long Island Iced Teas at Dunbar’s make Thursdays quite the happening night, but in October, I traded several Thursdays out on the town to help out with the behind-the-scenes preparation for my sorority’s big philanthropy event: Ivy Man, a male beauty pageant. After all, why grind up against strangers in Johnny O’s when I could watch my little sister, Avery Miller, teach all of our Ivy Men (that’d be some of the most charismatic, entertaining and damn good-looking undergrads) how to do spirit fingers, gyrate and hip thrust in sync with one another to the lively tune of “It’s Raining Men”? (Pete Rodway, you shake it like no other.) The dance was perfect, and we raised over $2,800 for cardiac research.
Every once in a while, particularly on those otherwise-lazy weekend mornings, Cornellians feel the need to escape the Cornell bubble and explore the rest of Ithaca. It is through the Greek system that I have routinely fulfilled this odd yearning to be, well, good. All-Greek community service events, such as the annual Day of Demeter, literally take Cornellians and place them where they are most needed. It seems that last year, my team of Alpha Phis was most needed in the bottom of the gorge to collect trash. Luckily for all those involved, there were plenty of sterile gloves to go around.
If you’re more into the idea of letting out some steam after class during the weekdays, Greek Week is right up your alley. You can revisit the childhood days of after school activities, and partake in the weeklong series of three-legged races and basketball tournaments. Although I merely cheered on my team from the sidelines — or “supervised,” as I like to call it — I was nevertheless thrilled to see my team bring home the first-place trophy, a feat that we hadn’t accomplished since my sophomore year. Sick of people complaining about an absence of school spirit at Cornell? There’s certainly no spirit lacking in the Greek system.
If you have a craving to be a leader on campus — and what over-achieving Cornellian doesn’t? — then I’d advise you to run for an office (and there are numerous ones open) in your chapter. As the Vice-President of Recruitment for Alpha Phi, I certainly didn’t expect there to be this much to accomplish in the fall: recruitment is only a week in January, after all. Yet there are tables to be rented, skits to be written, hot chocolate recipes to be perfected, Panhellenic meetings to attend and so much more.
I could have caught up on episodes of Girls Next Door (quality television programming) on one Sunday evening. In the name of sisterhood and unity, however, I went to the Panhellenic Executive Board elections. The room was flooded with sisters from every chapter, there to support their own chapter members in the race and friends in other sororities. I was overjoyed to see my little sister, Nicole Mangiere, win a spot on the board. The victory became even sweeter when I learned that she would be following in the footsteps of my former roommate, Rachel Goldfarb, the current VP of University and Community Relations.
Most journalists who chronicle the positive aspects of Greek life deliberately evade the question of partying in an effort to avoid any stereotypes. But this is a grave journalistic mistake, indeed. I refuse to shy away from the topic of social life, because, quite simply, Greeks throw down. Fraternity and sorority members alike consistently come up with the most creative party themes. I’ve dressed as a Rubik’s cube at SAE and relived senior prom with Sigma Phi. I’ve even taunted those cruel Ithacan weather gods by attending an indoor “Ski Pros and Snow Bunnies” party at Sigma Chi. There’s nothing quite like seeing men trying to flirt while dressed in a head-to-toe spandex race suit. You simply can’t take them seriously at moments like that, but you love them all the more for it.
Similarly, I heard that last Saturday was a real ripper in Collegetown. Yet I was taking a much-needed nap; the afternoon’s activities had exhausted me. While I certainly enjoy the relaxed ambience and casual dress code of those fine C-town drinking establishments, I chose instead to laugh at any inherent elitism that comes with being an Ivy League student by playing a game of croquet inside the mansion of Alpha Delta Phi. Although my team relegated me to the sidelines, a rollicking good time was had by all. In defense of my choice of frat parties over the bar scene, I see it as such: we have the rest of our lives to go to bars, but only these four precious years to dance the night away at fraternity parties.
So, if you don’t see me at the bars these upcoming weeks, fret not: I have not fallen off the face of the earth, nor have I merely gotten lost with all of the detours due to campus construction. I’m probably just hanging out with my Phis and other members of the Greek system. After all, we’ve only got four years to get our Greek on.
Carrie Bodner is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at cjb56@cornell.edu. In My (Kate Spade) Shoes appears alternate Mondays.