Interviews are essential to this project because they provide perspectives that cannot be captured through archives or published sources alone. While yearbooks, institutional records, and articles from The Pacifican document events and public narratives, interviews reveal the lived experiences behind those records. Speaking with current students, alumni, and even non-Greek-affiliated members of the campus community allows for a more nuanced understanding of how fraternities and sororities are actually perceived and experienced. These conversations can highlight differences between official messaging and personal reality, uncovering how ideas like belonging, reputation, and accountability are interpreted across generations.

They also allow the project to trace change over time in a more human and immediate way. Alumni can reflect on how Greek life functioned in earlier decades, while current students can speak to its present atmosphere, making it possible to compare continuity and transformation directly. On a smaller campus like the University of the Pacific, where community dynamics are especially visible, these firsthand accounts are particularly valuable. Interviews ultimately ground the research in real voices, ensuring that the analysis is not just historical or theoretical, but reflective of the people who have actively shaped and experienced Greek life at Pacific.

Nate Felmlee is a 2nd year member of Beta Theta Pi who currently serves as chorister.

"For me, greek life is really the only thing keeping campus life alive at Pacific. This campus lends itself towards more professional students through its accelerated and co-op programs and greek life in addition to other student organizations gives those students an outlet to work towards something other than their academics while still giving them important skills and connections that build them into a more well rounded person. The Eta Kappa chapter of Beta Theta Pi prides itself on its outstanding professionalism and high standards while maintaining it's feeling of home. In my experiences with other organizations on campus, this holds true of many of the other groups on this campus when compared to similar organizations at other schools. This balance of work and play is really what defines UOP's greek life and enables them to be a centerpiece of campus even to this day."

Zane Appenteng is a 2nd year student and the incumbent president of Phi Alpha Theta. 

 “I have had a very unique experience with Greek life as dispite not being in one as of this reflection, most of my friends I have meet in campus are in or regularly interact with a social fraternity. Due to this I would say that Greek life is at the very least very distinct from the stereotyped idea of Greek Life. I don't know exactly how the campus would if they did not present but I admittedly do think my experience with college would be radically different if it they were not present.”

Chanel Page is a 4th year member and former president of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and a member of the Phi Alpha Delta pre law fraternity

In your experience, how has greek life impacted your time on campus

"It made it a lot more fun and easier to find people to connect with, i’ve gotten more opportunities, job offers, events, meeting people. I have gotten to advocate for myself and it made UOP more like a home because I had people I wanted to come back to"

How does greek life benefit campus as a whole

"They host events that allow for people to connect and also raise money for great philanthropies which allows people to do something for others. They also create volunteer opportunities"

Additional thoughts

"Its a great way to grow personally, professionally and academically. It teaches you how to represent yourself appropriately and gets you used to being part of an organization and a team"

Traveon Jefferson is the current manager of Black Student Services on campus.

How do you think Greek Life has impacted the Pacific Campus? Is that impact positive or negative?

As far as Greek life here on campus, I think it has made a significant difference in student involvement and has allowed students to engage with one another in a way that strengthens their network and sense of belonging. Overall, I think it is important for students to be connected to any type of student organization in efforts to boost their visibility and strengthen their long-term connections beyond college.

How big of an influence would you say Greek Life has on the current community?

Generally speaking, I can only speak from my own personal experience of being part of a Greek life organisation in the National Pan-Hellenic Council, also known as the Divine Nine. My connection to Greek life was established through the alumni network. I joined back in 2019, and being part of Divine Nine Greek life as a postgraduate has allowed me to stay connected to different communities and groups of people. It has also allowed me to continue the work of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, which is the Black Greek letter organisation I am a part of. For me, it has been an added benefit and a way to stay connected to my fraternity brothers and those affiliated with other National Pan-Hellenic organizations.

What your perspective on the campus's relationship with Black Greek letter organisations?

Generally speaking, I can only speak from my own personal experience of being part of a Greek life organisation in the National Pan-Hellenic Council, also known as the Divine Nine. My connection to Greek life was established through the alumni network. I joined back in 2019, and being part of Divine Nine Greek life as a postgraduate has allowed me to stay connected to different communities and groups of people. It has also allowed me to continue the work of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, which is the Black Greek letter organisation I am a part of. For me, it has been an added benefit and a way to stay connected to my fraternity brothers and those affiliated with other National Pan-Hellenic organisations.

Dr. Ken Albala is a professor of history on campus.

How do you think Greek Life has impacted the Pacific Campus? Is that impact positive or negative?

I don’t really have any idea of that. The only thing I can recall is that years ago there was a lot more hazing. People would throw parties, and I remember Arcania, the house in the center, used to have a fire truck with people jumping off the roof into it. All sorts of crazy things would go on there.

The fraternities would also have loud bells and other noises during graduation when it was held on the front lawn. That’s about the extent of my experience, just walking around campus and seeing the chaos that happened. I think it all changed when the campus introduced an alcohol policy, and they could no longer throw keg parties. I don’t really know what goes on now. I see some of my students wearing Tri Delta T-shirts, and once in a while, I’ve been invited to participate in events, but I’ve never had the time. I can definitely see that things have changed compared to 20 years ago.

How big of an influence would you say Greek Life has on the current community?

Not a clue. I have no idea whatsoever. I’m sure it’s nice for people to live in a common space and do activities together, but I don’t know if it helps or hurts their academic performance.

My only knowledge of fraternities comes from when I was a freshman. I had a group of friends who decided to join Kappa Sigma and asked if I wanted to join too, but I said no. They did, though, and I would go to their parties occasionally. The place always smelled like beer and vomit. I remember one party where I lay down on the front lawn, fell asleep, and woke up in the middle of the night. My watch was gone, but otherwise I was fine.

That experience pretty much explains why I’ve had nothing to do with fraternities since then. So honestly, I don’t know much about them.

Dr. Gregory Rohlf is a professor of history on campus.

How do you think Greek Life has impacted the Pacific Campus? Is that impact positive or negative?

"I would say over the last 20 to 25 years, since I've been here at UOP, I think Greek life has changed quite a bit."

I think at the beginning of this period, around the year 2000, the university still had somewhat of a reputation as a party school, where there would be a lot of drinking and partying going on at night, including in the fraternity houses and in the sorority houses. That was also a different time in the United States when it was kind of understood that sororities and fraternities did flout campus rules. And they did that with a somewhat tacit approval of university student life officials, as they recognised that most people considered it part of campus life.

Over this period of history, customs, attitudes, and beliefs about consuming alcohol on campus, including excessive drinking and partying by underage people, have changed. Over this period of history, customs, attitudes, and beliefs about consuming alcohol on campus, including excessive drinking and partying by underage people, have changed. Over this period of history, customs, attitudes, and beliefs about consuming alcohol on campus, including excessive drinking and partying by underage people, have changed.

And so now, over the last period of history, I think it's observable that fraternity life and sorority life have changed, that these groups have become more service-oriented and less party-oriented, and they have developed codes of conduct and expectations for behaviour that are less oriented toward partying.

I think the principles of brotherhood and kind of fraternal relations—eating together, having events together, building common activities, and doing fundraisers—those things are continuities, and they have continued. More or less, they are positive contributions to the campus community.

Just to give you an example, there used to be a fundraiser that was put on called the Hit of Reality, where fraternity students would sleep outside in a cardboard box to raise money and awareness for homelessness. Although this activity was critiqued by some as being kind of patronising toward the real issue of homelessness, it was an effort by students to show that they cared. So those and other philanthropic efforts, I think, make a positive contribution to campus life."

How big of an influence would you say Greek Life has on the current community?

My sense is that UOP is not a very strong Greek life campus, that there are other campuses I can think of where, um, fraternities and sororities are a bigger part of campus life. I think our university is more academic and professional in orientation, that a lot of young people have specific career goals, and when they come to UOP, they work hard and, party less, that they wanna try to get into graduate school or professional school to, um, get career training, not just the kinda general college education in which it was understood that partying was part of it. So I would say overall, the influence of Greek life is rather low on the whole university compared to other schools of our size.

Nick Zorio is the current Vice President of Communications for Beta Theta Pi. 

How do you think Greek Life has impacted the Pacific Campus? Is that impact positive or negative?

I think it's given people another way to find a sense of community and to make friends and meet new people with whom they get along. Well, in college, I know for me, it definitely helped me find a group of people that I get along really well with that I'm going to probably remain friends with for a long time, and I think overall, it's been a positive. It's definitely been a positive change for me, but I can't speak for everyone, obviously, but I think overall it's been a positive thing.

How big of an influence would you say Greek Life has on the current community?

The college community at large feels like you randomly find out that people you know are in either social or professional organisations. I don’t think it changes things too much at a smaller scale. You might walk into the DUC and see a table for a sorority or fraternity where you can buy things and support them. At that level, it doesn’t really have much impact; it’s there if you want to approach it. But if you do, there’s a whole other world that can really change your experience once you open it up.

Greek life has a rich history on this campus. How would you say your organisation has contributed to that history?

From my recollection, I’m from Beta Theta Pi. We joined the campus in 2014, so we haven’t been here very long. The house we live in has hosted fraternities for a long time. There aren’t a ton of people in Beta, but the members are spread across all majors and many different clubs. I run into them in most of my classes, and the organisation has spread its roots across campus, even if it hasn’t taken a strong hold yet. I think people recognise the name Beta Theta Pi. People who live in Grace Covell probably hear us yelling every Sunday and don’t like that too much. We haven't had too much time to fully impact campus yet, I don't think. Personally, I don't know as much of the history of it as some others do. 

Brianna Chase is a 2nd year senior pre pharmacy major, she is a member of the Delta Gamma sorority and served as their VP of finance. additionally she served as the VP of scholorship for UOP's panhellenic council

In your experience, how has greek life impacted your time on campus

"Without greek life I would not have gotten to experience all that Pacific has to offer outside of schoolwork including events, fundraisers, and just the day-to-day stuff that comes from living in a house with your friends"

How does greek life benefit campus as a whole

"I think greek life overall has a positive impact on campus both giving students a supportive environment to express themselves, make friends, participate in philanthropy events and build community outside of the classroom"