Being in Greek life is on many people’s college bucket lists and Pacific offers that option too! Here’s everything you need to know about the different Greek organizations at Pacific and why you should consider joining.
What’s the difference between professional and social Greek life?
At Pacific, we offer professional and social Greek life. Professional Greek life is based on your academic goals, while social Greek life is based on what group you feel represents you.
Professional Greek organizations
Being in professional Greek life provides opportunities to network with young professionals who may work in the industries I want to pursue in the future. Many of the professional fraternities on campus require their members to be a major in a certain field. For example, as a business administration marketing student, I am in the professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi.
Professional fraternities also provide academic and social support while on campus. My fraternity holds brotherhood events, including retreats and Wednesday pick-up basketball games. Even if you come in knowing just two people, you will graduate knowing everyone personally.
As Delta Sigma Pi’s vice president of professional activities, it’s my job to hold four events a semester. One is risk management related, another focuses on diversity equity and inclusion, and the last two are based on the group’s professional interests or needs.
For the DEI event last semester, we had the opportunity to host the assistant dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion and associate professor of marketing in the business school, Professor Sacha Joseph-Mathews, to educate us on issues surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
Social Greek life
Social Greek life is what probably comes to mind when you think of sororities and fraternities. Many of these organizations have a house on campus and hold social events all year.
Pacific has seven social Greek organizations and four multicultural Greek organizations on campus. Everyone has a philanthropy they support, recruitment events, social events and fundraising. If decide to join Greek life, you will never be bored. There is always something to do and memories to share.
My sorority is Kappa Alpha Theta. Our philanthropy is Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which supports foster youth. It’s a national organization, but we work directly with our closest CASA in San Joaquin County.
Our annual philanthropy event is CASA Carnival where we raise money to donate to CASA of San Joaquin County. The most popular part of the event is the pies and buckets of water that guests can purchase to throw at a Theta. It gets a little messy, but it’s so much fun. As we like to say, “It’s for the kids!”
Why should you join Greek Life?
Joining Greek life is like joining a family. The group should match your energy, be there when you’re down, be ready for that food run or just to sit on each other’s floor to rant about classes. There’s never a dull day being around your Greek family. There’s no pressure to go Greek, but I recommend giving it a try!