One of the most telling characteristics of the Whitman student body revealed itself a couple months ago when this paper ran a column concerning the greek system. The particular column alleged that the greek system promotes conformity and ran counter to the goals of the College for churning out creative and independent minded students.

Now, whether or not you agreed with the column doesn’t matter. The controversy over the column and subsequent ones (greek shirts?) published in this paper exemplify how we easily fall into a habit of defining ourselves on the basis of what we are not rather than what we are.

Let’s think about it this way. We went to college to find ourselves, especially because we chose Whitman. There’s no vocational program here; everybody does different things, from ultimate frisbee to keg lock-ins. The campus is so small it’s easy to find and then keep a circle of friends after our first year. This, along with Facebook and gossip, leads to the phenomenon of people only knowing of each other and not really knowing each other.

Now, with stereotypes, pretending to know other people becomes even easier. After all, a stereotype already gives you a lens to look through. No point in figuring someone else out if you can label them a Kappa (and all the subsequent stereotypes) and be done with it. She’s boring now because you already think you know everything there is to know about her.   Similarly, there’s no point to finding your own self if you’ve already initiated and can assume the mantle of Beta brotherhood.

Put that stereotype into print and everyone gets a little offended or emboldened.   Unintentionally, writing about the greek system is a sure-fire way to generate tons of letters to the editor!

It’s not how bad the economy is, nor how Whitman’s facing budget challenges, or anything about climate change that can make people take ten minutes out of their day to pen a letter to the editor: it’s the greek system.   It’s a way to write “At Least I’m Not A” and then fill in the blank.

Why does the greek system, as a relic from an era of reckless drunken rioting or an integral part of Whitman’s community, mean so much to those in it and outside of it?   It’s just an easy way to label someone and save yourself the trouble of checking out their Facebook, much less talking to them.   And for those of us within the system, they’re identities and patterns of behavior already laid out for us to try.   How easy.

I can’t speak for you but I can’t sit down and write my autobiography just yet.

The first step to that process of finding yourself is to figure out what you’re not.   So, this whole college experience is a constant struggle to find out what you like, who you like to be around and what kind of person you are, and part of that is figuring out what you don’t like.

The trick to finding yourself is to know the balance between defining yourself positively as, let’s say, a student activist rather than negatively as an independent, or a non-greek.

The first four definitions from dictionary.com for the word “independent” all start with “not influenced,” “not subject,” “not dependent” and “not relying.” Well then, what exactly does an independent stand for?

Is that even the right way to think about Whitman students first and foremost in terms of the greek system? Doesn’t thinking about whether or not you are a member of the greek system first makes the greek system more relevant than some want it to be?
You see, the real trouble with defining yourself in terms of what you’re not is that it creates the illusion that you are somehow closer to figuring out who you are. Instead, thinking about your identity only by process of elimination prematurely closes off some experiences that may actually get you closer to yourself.