“Animal House” isn’t all that accurate: Greek Life at UMD

Members of Alpha Sigma Tau collecting toys for kids, at UMD. Photo by Sarah Brown

Type the words “Greek Life” into your search bar, and the top results are stories highlighting sexual assault, drug use and currently a story by The Boston Globe with the headline, “It’s baffling that they exist…”

Ever since the founding of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776, fraternities and sororities have sprung up and spread out across the nation. 

Organizations that began as student meetings to elicit discussion have, for quite some time, developed an image more akin to the movie “Animal House.”

I spoke with members of the fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon and the sorority Alpha Sigma Tau to hear what Greek Life really looks like at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

While waiting in a squishy armchair at the Kirby Student Center for the first “frat guy” to arrive, I nervously pictured some version of Zac Efron from the movie Neighbors. Red solo cup-holding, sunglasses-wearing, guy who says “bro” at the start of every sentence.

Andy Hooper was not holding a red solo cup as he walked through the hallway — he had a school backpack.

“It’s one of the best decisions that I made,” Hooper said in regards to being in a fraternity.

“Once I joined, I had all of these people around me that were willing to help me with anything I needed,” Hooper said. 

Hooper and his fellow Tau Kappa Epsilon member, Micah Hjelle, believe that their fraternity does not fit the stereotype Hollywood makes it out to be.

While the movies have us believing that fraternities are all about Jell-O shots and rolling joints, Hooper disagrees. 

“Obviously, we’re in college,” Hooper said. “The goal is to graduate — it’s not to be here and mess around and waste four years of your life.” 

Tau Kappa Epsilon is a social fraternity whose mission is on “ building better men who, in turn, will build a better world,” according to the Tau Kappa Epsilon website.

Their relationship with St. Jude has provided them with the ability to make a sizable impact within the Duluth community, as they recently succeeded in raising over $40,000 for St. Jude.

Micah Hjelle, Vice President of Tau Kappa Epsilon, explained that it took a semester to plan the St. Jude dinner. On Nov. 13, around 235 people dined on an Italian buffet at the Greysolon Ballroom in downtown Duluth, participating in a silent auction via cellphone bidding.

The fraternity approached around 160 Duluth businesses to seek out items for the silent auction, according to Hjelle. 

This is their fourth year hosting a St.Jude dinner, Hjelle hopes that this year's efforts will set a precedent for the future vice presidents of his fraternity.

“Our St. Jude dinner has become kind of a staple of our fundraising… it obviously takes a lot of time; it took my whole semester to plan that,” Hjelle explained. “I think that the vice president of a chapter like ours should be able to be organized and plan stuff like that.”

The success and impact of Greek Life’s philanthropic efforts are, sadly, not as newsworthy as #BamaRush TikTok, which took over everyone’s For You page this summer. 

TIME’s story, RushTok Is a Mesmerizing Viral Trend. It Also Amplifies Sororities’ Problems With Racism, states that the obsession with Alabama Rush, “serves as a cogent reminder of the longtime critiques of the racism, elitism and sexism embedded in many Greek life organizations.”

Madison Hadrava, President of UMD’s Alpha Sigma Tau chapter, provided her thoughts on the matter. 

“I never thought I would join a sorority,” Hadrava said. I saw the stereotypes and thought ‘that’s not for me.’” 

Hadrava, like every member of Greek Life I spoke with, decided to join because people and friends she knew wanted to check it out. Those that stayed did so because they found a community. 

“As soon as I joined, the older members in the organization recognized my potential and empowered me to get there,” said Hadrava. 

Empowerment and sisterhood seem to be the key words of the day. As an outsider, it felt a little suspicious— Alabama was getting the blame for every negative connotation.

“The media portrays Greek Life in such a negative light… our Greek life is a little different than that in Alabama,” said Lauren Dale, Vice President of Community Relations. 

Hadrava went so far as to say, “We are not like that at all.” 

But perhaps there’s a reason why UMD’s organizations are so different, compared to most other schools. 

“We don’t have housing, so we come to campus to see each other and hang out,” explained Mikayla Multer, Vice President of Finance.

Hjelle of Tau Kappa Epsilon seemed happy to say that the “uncomfortable culture of being at a frat house” is not found at UMD, or specifically, in his chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon.

Without the big, notorious party houses lining block after block, it’s no wonder UMD’s Greek Life seems so much more approachable and less a part of the negative culture it can represent. 

The sizes of fraternities and sororities at UMD are also much smaller than those across the country. Alpha Sigma Tau currently has 38 members and Tau Kappa Epsilon has 43. At bigger schools, these numbers are likely doubled.

A key issue among these groups has been the lack of diversity they represent. Alpha Sigma Tau has recently implemented a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee within their UMD chapter.

It should be noted that 84% of UMD students this year are caucasian, according to Hadrava. This may prove difficult for groups looking for new potential members. 

In the meantime, it’s comforting to know that those who choose to be in Greek Life at UMD are making efforts to raise money and combat negativity.

 “We’re all one big happy family,” Dale said — I think without any irony?

 It was a sentiment echoed across the board and something I certainly didn’t think could be true when I first sat down, expecting all the stereotypes to be true.