Chi Omega, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Xi Omega, Sigma Chi Omega. To some, these titles mean nothing. But to others, they imply loyalty, family-like bonds and lifelong friendships.

Members of Iowa State’s greek community say their institutions stand for community and campus involvement, academic excellence and sister and brotherhood.

However, efforts to shed negative stereotypes that can sometimes accompany membership in the greek community might be a waste of time — if viewers believe what they see on television.

“Sorority Life” is a reality-based MTV series detailing the lives of potential sorority members, or pledges, as they try to become full-fledged sisters in a greek house.

The first season of the program, detailing the lives of members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi sorority at the University of California at Davis, proved successful enough for MTV to film a second season.

The series also spawned a “brother” series, “Fraternity Life.” Both programs premiered Wednesday.

The Daily sat down this week with members of Iowa State’s chapters of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and Chi Omega sorority to watch the first episodes of the new seasons of “Sorority Life” and “Fraternity Life” — to gauge the initial reaction to both series.

Laughter filled the room as the opening credits of “Sorority Life” started and the on-screen sisters judged potential Delta Xi Omega sorority members on their clothes, fashion sense and their overall worthiness of sorority sisterhood.

“There was no portrayal of greek life at all,” says Kyle Schilling, senior in mechanical engineering and member of Phi Delta Theta, 2035 Sunset Drive. “It was about being a personality and looking cute.”

The general agreement of the ISU greeks was that many of the events detailed in the first episode of “Sorority Life” would never even occur at Iowa State.

The show seemed to say women were picked for the sorority based on looks and personality, said Katie Boes, senior in journalism and mass communication and member of Chi Omega, 227 Gray Ave. The television show could build a wall between those involved in the greek system and non-greek college women.

“When we rush girls, we try to figure out their personality, not change it to match ours,” Boes said. “We don’t go around wearing our greek letters like that. This show is just a group of cliquey girls talking about what personality a girl has.”

While the group considered the show a disappointment, agreeing the show reinforced most of the stereotypes of sorority girls in only 20 minutes, members of both ISU greek houses laughed it off.

“The individuals were portrayed in a manner that would prompt high ratings and it’s not at all a true portrayal of involvement in a sorority,” said Ashley Schellpeper, sophomore in communication studies and member of Chi Omega.

Several members of the group said they don’t plan to watch the rest of the season.

“It’s too annoying to watch,” said Brad Becker, senior in marketing and member of Phi Delta Theta.

The first episode of “Fraternity Life” began with a barrage of booze, boar heads and barflies, as Sigma Chi Omega fraternity pledges at the State University of New York at Buffalo met the members of the fraternity, attended a welcome barbecue and hung out at a Hooters restaurant.

Pledges were later interviewed by the Sigma Chi Omega members under a spotlight and waited in suspense to learn of their status as official fraternity brothers.

“Yeah, we like to do the runway walk with a spotlight so we can see what pledges look like,” Becker said sarcastically.

Andy Tu, senior in advertising and member of Phi Delta Theta, said the program’s informal fraternity rush process wasn’t shown in full detail, as five days of the procedure were condensed into just 20 minutes.

“This reminds me of the movie ‘Old School’ — it looks like a hoax,” he said. “Our process of informal [rush] is all summer. We meet their parents. We sit in their living rooms.”

The group conceded that while “Fraternity Life” was more entertaining than “Sorority Life,” they thought the show portrayed many inaccuracies about fraternities.

“Maybe that’s what they do [in Buffalo, N.Y.], but it shows nothing of our greek life here,” said Ryan Frederick, freshman in pre-business and member of Phi Delta Theta.

“I thought [I knew] the typical stereotypes about fraternities here, but [real greek life] wasn’t what I envisioned.”

So while MTV is keeping the ratings up with beer parties and drama, sororities and fraternities at Iowa State may be taking the rap.

The group agreed — what viewers see on television is for the ratings, not reality.

“The only way to get these stereotypes out of your head is to be part of [the greek system],” said Julie Blacksmith, senior in biology and member of Chi Omega. “We don’t hang out in front of our house or go around saying ‘my sister’ all the time.”

Kari Loeffelholz, junior in psychology, is not a member of the greek community, and said watching the last season of “Sorority Life” didn’t show her a positive general image of sororities.

“I know only a portion of their lives were shown on TV,” she said. “But the portion I saw made me fear for sorority girls everywhere.”