Greek Life would not be what it is today without the development and growth of close friendships among members. To cultivate lifelong friendships, organizations participate together in numerous events varying from weekend camping trips to sisterhood sleepovers. Road trips, work out nights, and whitewater rafting trips are also not out of the question! On a typical afternoon in the fall and spring, you can also see many sororities and fraternities gathered together cheering on their members in various intramural games. In addition to these events, each fraternity or sorority holds monthly social events, and one formal a semester.
"When I first came to Union, I joined a fraternity just to have a bunch a friends to hang out with. What I found was that I joined something unique and special. My experience has been one that has shaped me to be who I am today. Most greek systems will offer leadership development, community service, and lifelong friendship, but Union's Greek system has added something special. My brothers have pushed me spiritually and I have seen myself grow as a direct result of being “Greek” at Union. Through accountability partners, private Bible studies, prayer nights, and friends who care enough about me to ask me the hard questions, I have been encourage in my faith through the relationships I have built in my fraternity. While fraternities are not a Bible study or a church, the relationships that are built because of it will stay with me for the rest of my life. I can definitely look back and say that where I am in my faith and as a leader owes a lot to my fraternity and the relationships that I have built there."
"Greek life at Union is much different than the stereotyped sororities at many other universities. It provides an outlet for women to come and make friends, have fun, and participate in the many activities that we plan. These activities foster friendships through community service, social events, intermurals, campus activities and sisterhood gatherings. It embodies a group of girls that genuinly care about each other and what is going on in each other's lives. Through this nurturing of friendships, the body of Christ is shown, and these friendships serve to foster a growing relationship with Christ."
Students involved in Greek Life have numerous opportunities to increase their leadership skills. Each Greek organization allows students to participate on committees, be influential in decision making for the chapter, and serve in various elected leadership positions. Participation in a fraternity or sorority also allows members to mentor and be mentored by others involved in the organization. In addition to Union's leadership training opportunities, fraternities and sororities also allow members to seek additional leadership training through national conferences and workshops. Most importantly, participation in Greek Life at Union will expose you to many students from a variety of backgrounds that will encourage growth and maturity as you build relationships with those around you.
Academic success is extremely important to Greek organizations at Union. Each chapter requires a minimum grade point average in order to seek and maintain membership, as well as hold leadership positions. Typically, each chapter also requires new members to attend group study times in order to develop time management skills as you balance academic and Greek life. In addition, all chapters have a scholastics chair whose job is to encourage accountability in academic success. Each year, the university grants the Greek Scholarship award to both the sorority and fraternity on campus with the highest cumulative GPA. This award has been given out each year for the past 62 years! Each Greek organization at Union holds an average collective GPA of 3.0 or above.
Also important to each chapter is dedication to community service and the national philanthropy in which the Greek organization is affiliated. Each year, all fraternities and sororities participate in various community service activities through the Jackson community, such as food drives or Union's annual Campus & Community Day. Equally important is fundraising for various philanthropies. While each organization has a different national philanthropy, all are dedicated to furthering their cause through fundraising and awareness.
