Since summer 2021, Fraternity & Sorority Life has been impacted by the students’ experience going viral, with the focus on “RushTok.” While this has gained positive exposure in some ways to what the joining process is like, it is slowly creating another beast: sponsorships.
Working with my campus as Panhellenic advisor through the rise and continued growth of “RushTok,” I’ve started to notice the growing disparities along with concerns when it comes to sponsorships and Fraternity and Sorority life. Social media presence is everything for Gen Z and our collegiate members continue to find new ways to portray themselves and market their experience. Our Greek-lettered organizations are trendsetters and this makes it appealing for brands to identify their target markets. Companies reach out to do collaborations, offer free products or experiences, all in the name of being with the groups they find the trendiest on campus.
The concern that I have is that this continues to create a gap in not only the membership experience, but also how people may perceive relevancy of certain chapters on campus and their decisions on which group to join. We often highlight Greek life as a networking opportunity for career growth. One of the top desired careers for Gen Z is to be an influencer or content creator. Is it wrong for potential members to only focus on joining organizations that would lead to these opportunities?
Over the past few formal recruitment cycles, I have witnessed new members for Panhellenic chapters get influencer opportunities starting at bid day or their first new member meeting. Getting the opportunity to model and participate in chapter sponsorship posts for Love Shack Fancy, Edikted, Princess Polly, etc as they’ve joined their sorority shows stark differences of new member experiences within the community along with what their fellow sisters are having across the country. It brings in this unforeseen competitive edge for Panhellenic organizations to try to get larger recognition and more sponsorship opportunities because you stand out and feel the invisible pressure if you don’t.
The sad part is, there are also groups that will never receive any sponsorships as they’re not appealing enough in comparison to the other chapters in the same community. Companies do not see them as worth investing or giving similar perks to, so they start to stand out for not having anything. These are small things that continue to impact campus Greek culture and reputation, from an outside entity.
Another problem with this growing sponsorship trend is that so much of the promotion and collaboration focus on Panhellenic organizations or select National Pan-Hellenic Sororities. But there many who are missing from this opportunity with companies. Where are the opportunities for Men’s organizations? Where are the opportunities for all of our Culturally based Greek Lettered Organizations? For one of our “Welcome to FSL” events my campus hosts, I was actively looking for vendors that would be willing to collaborate with men’s organization. Minus energy drink companies, there are not a lot of the same opportunities for our fraternity men as there are for sorority women.
Aside from the gifts and visibility, are the organizations actually getting a profit from these collaborations? I had recently experienced a parent who raised a concern about their daughter’s participation with a company and feeling that they were not fairly compensated for it. While their daughter was one of 200+ members participating in this sponsorship collaboration, it does raise a good question of what compensation should look like. Aside from the company getting cheap marketing, how does the organization and its members profit from it? Do they just get products or sponsored events or do they also get an associated dollar amount that goes into their chapter budget or a donation towards their organization’s philanthropy?
Fraternity and Sorority Life has always had local partnerships with community vendors and small businesses. This has always been a part of a normal town and gown relationship that exists. I think at large campus based professionals, organizational headquarters, and governing councils should be partnering together to find ways to shift some of this impact that is continuing to spread.
About the Author
Bridgette Wynn is the Coordinator, Fraternity & Sorority Life at Arizona State University and a co-coordinator of AFA’s Professionals Across the Black Diaspora Community Collective.