The following piece, written by the editorial editors, reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.
With echoes of Bid Day chants ringing in our ears and a fresh round of Greek-lingo taking over our news feeds, we're starting to play the "what if" game.
So, what if things were a bit different around here? Like, what if there were no snap-second judgments based on letters on T-shirts? What if first-years didn't feel the pressure to put on an act to be liked? And what if life-long bonds weren't formed with artificial methods? What if binge-drinking wasn't seen as sport? What if treating women badly wasn't seen as sport? What if there wasn't another measuring stick used to divide people?
These "what-ifs" wouldn't be so far off without a widely-accepted system that amplified and rallied around these behaviors.
Ahem. Without the Greek system. That's a big what-if. But to The Editorial Board, a college without Greek life sounds like a better campus.
Miami would be better off without Greek life. Miami would be better off without drawing meaningless lines between our student body and without tallying up all the heinous acts college kids will do in the name of brotherhood.
Four of our board members are in sororities, and in the middle of complaints about girl-drama, long recruitment hours and boring chapter meetings, they agree.
When describing the college era in a young person's life, a long list of metaphors come to mind. To us, college is most akin to an open-ended invitation.
These finite years at Miami act as an invitation to strip away the labels the world gives you, the ones you fought for the first 18 years of your life.
You finally have the option to pinpoint your own identity; you can be a blend of labels, a messy concoction of every stereotype in every bad young-person movie. You can take any direction that you fancy.
The allure of college is the freedom, the clean slate, the "I can be anyone I want to be" mantra that plays in the background on move-in day.
If this is the purpose and appeal of college, then why are students so eager to pick those labels back up with Greek life?
As soon as rush begins, it's like everyone is RSVP-ing to this invitation with a big, chant-filled no. The clean slate is crushed.
After a few months of genuine freedom, students are suddenly ushered into a selection process based on looks, first impressions, brief five-minute conversations and lists of approved adjectives.
Rush is stressful, people complain and lose their voices and can't remember whose face goes with what names. Fast-forward to a few days later and oh-my-goodness everyone is totally best friends forever and ever.
Isn't this a little messed up? How can we call this real?
Since so many students (literally) buy into the Greek system and seem to relish everything about it, we understand why this stance is unpopular. Greek life is all around. Around 30 percent of students are involved at Miami, a statistic we all remember seeing in campus brochures and quickly filing away.
And, for many inside those exclusive walls, there are positive experiences, real friendships formed and perhaps even a genuine tone when talking about sisterhood. We're not here to call all of that a lie.
Greek life isn't the root of all college wrongdoing; it's not to blame for every shameful headline attached to this university or for every bad thing college kids do.
However, it brings out the worst in students and in colleges and builds a party-hard reputation for all of us.
Can't you have those same friends, same parties, same meaningful bonds without the ridiculousness and facades and structured meetings?
There are so many hours of effort, dollars and energy being poured into these sororities and fraternities. And those seemingly unbreakable bonds of sisterhood and brotherhood surely require a bit of charisma, right?
So, what if students put their enthusiasm and loyalty toward a goal more tangible - you know, used their powers for good?
We could find other methods of being social, other ways to organize party schedules, other ways to narrow down this big campus as first-years. We could have college without Greek life and it would be better, safer, more inclusive, unified.
If everyone else didn't join in, wouldn't the pressure be off? Couldn't we float? Maybe we'd be able to come to college and find our own sense of identity and make the most out of open invitations. Maybe it would be better.