Greek life is a fundamentally broken system, made for white people and designed to propagate White Supremacy. While reforms have been enacted to improve inclusivity and tolerance, Greek life was never meant to be equitable for all groups. Whiteness, cisgenderism, heteropatriarchy, and classism are at the system’s very core. Today, this has created a de-facto segregation in Duke social life and culture. Interfraternity Council fraternities and Panhellenic sororities must be abolished.
To be sure, our goal is not to abolish historically Black National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) nor multicultural fraternities and sororities at Duke. We recognize these groups were founded to create a space for BIPOC when they were barred from joining white Greek organizations, and today they are a source of pride and empowerment for many individuals with marginalized identities.
We also recognize that SLGs at Duke are capable of exhibiting similar toxic behaviors as Greek organizations. However, historically, traditionally, and structurally Greek organizations are not capable of completely reforming the toxic behaviors. We hope that SLGs are able to recognize and start conversations about the aspects of their own groups that contribute to the toxicity of social exclusivity before it ever gets to a point where it can no longer be reformed, as we see with Greek organizations.
This form is intended to be a voice for any Duke student who wishes to anonymously share their experiences with Greek Life. These responses will be posted on the @abolishdukeifcandpanhellenic Instagram page to show the necessity of abolition, by exposing the racist nature of IFC fraternities and Panhellenic sororities. Our goal is to amplify the voices of groups traditionally silenced and harmed by IFC fraternities and Panhellenic sororities, especially POC and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We invite Duke students who are not and have never been affiliated with Greek Life to share how the system and culture has impacted you, and how affiliated students remained complicit. We also invite current or former Greek-affiliated students to share their experiences in these orgs. Please feel free to share as little or as much as you wish, and answer both or only one of the questions.
This movement to abolish Greek life at Duke was inspired by the work of Washington University and Vanderbilt University students with the same mission. This form is modeled off the one created by Abolish Vandy IFC & Panhel. We have attached links to their pages below, feel free to browse through them and read others’ experiences/educate yourselves.
https://instagram.com/abolishvandyifcandpanhellenic?igshid=949idmjeynohhttps://instagram.com/abolishwashuwpaandifc?igshid=jho7xx9zpaqc 