During their college careers, people will be faced with numerous challenges and find themselves having to make difficult choices about their future. With about 6,000 incoming students each year, the University can be an overwhelming place. Finding an organization whose members share similar values and goals is imperative to handling the difficult and exciting years to come. The Greek community provides an immediate support system and a way to make a large university feel smaller, friendlier and more like home.

Theresa Kennelly's column yesterday (Rushing into trouble, 09/18/07) presented a rather narrow view of the Greek community here. While everyone is entitled to express their opinions and personal beliefs, when these statements are misleading and na've, it is necessary to correct them. While the statement made in the column that recruitment numbers have increased over the past few years is true, the reasons mentioned are not. Hard work and dedication to the community exhibited by the executive board members of the four councils and the members of the nearly 60 chapters is a large factor, as is everything these commitments have allowed our community to offer.

Being Greek is more than wearing letters and participating in social and philanthropic events. Joining a fraternity or a sorority is ultimately about finding people with whom you can relate and with whom you can share the next four years the rest of your lives. It is about being embraced for individuality while at the same time being a part of a brother- or sisterhood with others who share common interests and ambitions.

While each Greek chapter represents something different, they are all connected by the perpetual bond of friendship. Within each chapter, friendship and a mutual commitment to the chapter's values are the principle foundations that tie the chapter together. It is these unique aspects of Greek life that offer the greatest reward to members. Perhaps this is the reason that the Greek community's recruitment numbers have increased over the past several years - not the "heightened exclusivity" that Kennelly mentions.

It is rare that you will find members of fraternities or sororities who did not positively enhance their college experience by going Greek. Joining a fraternity or sorority does not narrow opportunities, but it instead assists in the development of student leaders across all corners of our university. During recruitment, our goal is to share our own positive experiences and allow potential new members to choose for themselves if they want to become part of our community. We believe the increase in members of Greek life is a result of more people realizing the unique opportunities a fraternity or sorority offers.

The Greek community is the largest student organization both nationally and at the University. Currently, 16 percent of students at this University are members, which translates into about 4,000 students. The Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association, Multi-Cultural Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council work to support and grow our member chapters by sponsoring recruitment activities, offering scholarships, promoting healthy habits, ensuring safety at sponsored social events and supporting the greater student body. The activities of the councils are orchestrated by elected representatives of every chapter and work toward our goal of delivering a meaningful and safe experience to all of our members.

The leadership bodies have been quite effective in curtailing negative activities like unsafe social events and hazing - as evidenced by our swift actions to punish chapters who do not represent the ideals of our organizations. That said, we are college students and this is and will always be an ongoing endeavor. Additionally, a national research project conducted recently concluded that at the University, first-year students who join the Greek community earn statistically significant higher GPAs than non-Greek students. They also exhibited a higher potential for academic performance, thus showing that fraternities and sororities provide resources to support academic achievement at this rigorous university.