Different Lifestyle’s Around Rowan
Posted by koloj33 on December 9, 2008
Alright, the end of the semester has finally come, which means final projects as well. It took me a little while to think of a topic, but I’ve decided to compare different types of lifestyles of the Rowan University student body. Although I am not a member of a fraternity, I interviewed members of the Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority and the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. I also talked to many Rowan students who are not in fraternities or sororites, and I will also be using personal insight to explain what it’s like to be like the majority of the student body, and how the lifestyle at Rowan differs from those in fraternities and sororities.
First, we’ll start with the Phi Sigma Sigma (Phi Sig for short) sorority. This is a sorority of about 30 active “members”. They have a sorority house, which is located on 127 State street. This is a very good location for a sorority house, if you are 21 years of age, because it is literally directly across the street from The Landmark, which is the main restaurant/bar that Rowan students go to on the weekends. Unfortunately for the sorority, they had their charter taken away last school year, meaning that they are no longer a nationally recognized chapter of their sorority. However, until their charter was taken away from them, they did a ton of fundraising/community service events including bake sales, suicide prevention walks, candy gram sales, and worked at the annual Q102 Jingle Ball, where all of their earnings were donated to the National Kidney Foundation. Also, before they lost their charter, they took place in many events as well, such as various homecoming events, Greek Week, weekly meetings, holiday parties, date parties, and a ton of fundraisers. Although their charter was taken away from them, though, the sisters still all hang out and take part in many of these activities, even though they are not a nationally recognized chapter. Regardless of the circumstances, they still all make a huge effort to still remain active as a sorority, and also all consider eachother to be their sisters.
Next, we’ll move onto the Delta Kappa Epsilon (Deek for short) fraternity. Their fraternity house is located on 68 North Main Street, but it is currently being renovated. They take part in certain community service events that they feel are for good causes (but are definately not saying that the other community service events aren’t). Recently, they took place in Glassboro Day, and a Gloucester County walk for autism. For fundraisers, they actually work for a fellow alumni (who also owns the fraternity house), who owns a company known as Cheertech, which runs cheerleading competitions. The frat brothers work the competitions and run security. Though they have not been hosting too many parties this semester, due to the fact that their house is being renovated, the brothers still all make an effort to hang out with eachother more than any of their other friends around campus. Everyone in the frat absolutely loves it, as well.
Alright, now to the regular life around campus, not being in a fraternity or sorority. The only main difference between not being in a sorority or a fraternity and living regularly at Rowan is that there are not nearly as many fundraisers. Although there are many different fundraisers that students to put together, and many that students attend, it still does not compare to the effort and dedication that sororities and fraternities take part in. Also, most of the students around campus who are not in sororities and fraternities have a smaller group of close friends, ranging from about 5-15 really close friends around campus. However, in sororities and fraternities, they generally have more to about 25-35 really close friends. All in all, I was surprised to find that Greek life around Rowan really isn’t that much different than normal life. I hope that this helps to give people who are debating joining a fraternity or sorority a little bit more insight about the differences between Greek life, and normal life around Rowan’s campus.
Here is a map that I made showing where the fraternity and sorority houses are that I interviewed. Also, it shows you the Campus Crossings/Beau Apartments area where the majority of the non-Greek students live off campus.
View Larger Map
