Derby Days exploits women’s time and money in competition

Every year at college campuses across the country, Sigma Chi chapters sponsor their fraternity philanthropy event, Derby Days. Most chapters donate the money raised to the Children’s Miracle Network, a network of hospitals that treat 17 million children each year.

But over time, Derby Days has become less about fraternity philanthropy and more about cutthroat competition among female participants.

Hillsdale has been no exception.

Every fall, Derby Days requires donations of both time and money of the women of each campus sorority and of the women of a GDI (“Gosh Darn Independent”) team and then pits them against each other in a series of competitive events.

The time commitment required of team members is considerable. The week begins with Banner Painting, for which the women are required to provide their own supplies, and the Dress-A-Sig auction, where teams fork over sometimes as much as $55 to purchase a fraternity brother to dress up in ridiculous clothing for a day. Throughout the week, the women devote hours to events like Dodgeball, Family Feud, and Field Day.

The week ends with Mock Rock, where the women perform the dance routines they have been choreographing and practicing for weeks. Afterward, the winners are announced and awarded a trophy.

The money that women devote to the event is also significant. The women are encouraged to buy T-shirts and pizzas for the philanthropy. They are also asked to pay to sign up their peers for Jail’n’Bail, an event in which Sigma Chis capture students and imprison them at their house until they pay another fee to be released. The women also empty their pockets of extra change to ensure that their team’s Derby Dolly has the most money in her bucket.

And all this is done in the name of what? Raising money for an organization that treats children in need of medical aid?

No. It’s about beating the other team, the rival sorority.

The Sigma Chi Derby Days manual directly addresses this problem, which has arisen on many campuses: “The events are no longer conducive to philanthropy and more rooted in winning and losing. … There have been countless accounts of fights and ‘bad blood’ that can be directly attributed to the events.”

At Hillsdale, if women cannot attend the events or do not donate enough money, they are reprimanded by their team or sorority and their Sigma Chi coaches for not having enough spirit. They are urged to band together to defeat the other sororities.

Amidst all this female competition, it is overlooked that the Sigma Chis are not required to donate nearly as much time or money for their own philanthropy as Greek and GDI women are.

Although Sigma Chi members are each required to buy a T-shirt and to attend as many events as possible, only a handful of them are truly involved—the Derby Daddy, who organizes the week of events, plus three coaches per team.

And more troubling, the brothers’ behavior in some of the events, like Jail’n’Bail, has become out of control: When these women are devoting excessive time and money for your philanthropy, it is deplorable to physically push them around and call them bitches in their own house.

In view of what Derby Days is supposed to be about, change is needed to bring the event back to its intended purpose. Many of the Derby Days events don’t even raise money—they exist solely for the sake of competition, which is a waste of time for all involved and doesn’t serve the philanthropy in any way.

Derby Days is supposed to connect our college community in a fundraising effort for a worthy organization. It is not supposed to divide the women on campus and exploit their money and time.