Greek life is a popular hobby amongst SSU students; nearly 10% of Seawolves are involved with Greek life. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, SSU used to have one of the largest Greek life systems out of all the Cal States. SSU currently has 19 active chapters. Some of the most prominent greek life chapters at our school include: Pi Kappa Phi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Sigma Pi Alpha, Phi Sigma Sigma and Nu Alpha Kappa. There are three governing councils within the system known as the Interfraternity council, the Multicultural sorority & fraternity council, and the Panhellenic council.

The most important part about Greek life is philanthropy, each chapter organizes fundraisers in order to help a nonprofit. Gamma Phi Betas’ philanthropy is called “Girls on the Run (GOTR)” which is a nonprofit running program for elementary and middle school girls. Throughout the year they raise money for them by helping coach running teams and volunteer at the GOTR 5k each semester. Pi Kappa Phi’s philanthropy is known as “Ability Experience”. They hold an event every year called War of Roses which is a two day event where all Pi Kapps ride stationary bikes for 24 hours in order to  raise money for their philanthropy. Alpha Sigma Psi has five philanthropies but their biggest one is RAINN which is the nation’s largest network for sexual assault victims/prevention. They hold a RAINN week every fall and have raised over $2,000 in five days. 

Fraternities and sororities look a little bit different here than other schools. SSU sororities and fraternities do not live by the traditional housing known as, “greek row”. At a typical University, the majority of the chapters live on the same street creating a community of greek life members. Joey Boutta, who is currently the treasurer for Alpha Sigma Psi, says that he feels like they lose out by not all being in one house and not having a greek row. Boutta does try to make it work by living off campus with his four brothers from the fraternity. Kiele Costello, who is the Membership Vice President for Gamma Phi Beta also says she feels like she is missing out on traditional greek life.  Nick Loudermilk, who is the chapter president for Pi Kappa Phi says that SSU could benefit if chapter houses were built in Rohnert Park. The main reason most students join greek life is to find community and it may be a bit hard to do that when chapters are not living together. However, they do a good job at doing what they can to overcome these obstacles. Several fraternities and sororities are renting houses off campus neighborhoods with a few other members. 

This past week on campus you may have probably seen representatives from each chapter tabling in Seawolf Plaza. This is because most chapters within the past two weeks were holding informal recruitment, known as Continuous Open Bidding (COB). During formal recruitment, the days are already planned out for you and all of the sororities or fraternities to participate. The week of COB, each chapter gets to decide which days they want to hold informal recruitment and not every chapter holds it. 

Each day you visit the house of the chapter you are interested in, the events usually laid back, and talk to the members. If it seems like a good fit from both parties then the potential new member will receive a bid from the house. 

From the loud music to the herds of people around the tables in Seawolf Plaza, Greek life may seem very intimidating to most people, but it shouldn’t be. Greek life can be a way of  networking with fellow Seawolves and a way to discover what communities SSU has to offer. Kiele Costello says, “Have fun and be yourself.” Nick Loudermilk recommends that you, “Go with your heart and find the people that will boost your greek life experience.” Overall, greek life is a great way to meet people and build community here at SSU.