Tonight, the Season 3 premiere of ABC Family’s ‘Greek’ will unleash the drama that viewers have been waiting for all summer. With the ‘Ikkis’ gone and Ashleigh as the president of ZBZ, a new sorority will be on the prowl for the top spot at Cyprus Rhodes. Dilshad Vadsaria plays the boyfriend-stealing, sexually adventurous senator’s daughter, Rebecca. She dished the inside scoop on the show and how she got to where she is today.

On how ‘Greek’ portrays the relationship between homosexuality and acceptance:

Dilshad Vadsaria: They try to make it very realistic, and I think it plays true now as opposed to 10 years ago when people probably would not have been as open to being gay. Now you go into high schools and there are students who are openly accepted for being gay. It’s not as big of a deal where as this really wasn’t the case just a few years back. Calvin, who’s played by Paul James, comes across some things that he may bring across himself, but also things he experiences in his fraternity house. Depending on what part of the world you are in, it may not be as big a stigma as it is if you were in a smaller town. I think they do a really good job of being able to relate to people that may relate to something that would be the same, and having questions and what not, so I think they do a really good job of that.

On her involvement with Greek life at the University of Delaware:

DV: I did rush, but I didn’t end up actually pursuing it to the full effect of being in a sorority. You have dues to pay, which I didn’t think about. With two jobs and paying for my own education and taking out loans, that wouldn’t have been the smartest move for me. So that played a big factor for me but rush was a lot of fun and it was a great experience and something I was really glad I did because there is no other experience like that out there.

On her perception of Greek life while rushing and throughout college:

DV: A lot of parties for the Greeks. But also I remember one of the sororities that really spoke to me. There was this really strong bond of sisterhood because they’d been through a lot, and that made the sorority so appealing to a lot of people I know. You just knew they had this unspoken bond. So I knew that was there, but you always have the bad in regards to hierarchy and class and money and all of those things also played true. So you have everything and it’s up to you what you decide to focus on, and I think everyone has a bit of that experience through Greek life. You have the ups and downs, but there are definitely great experiences that come along with it.

On whether ZBZ will regain their glory this year now that the ‘Ikkis’ are gone:

DV: This season it will be rocky for ZBZ. We have lost our No. 1 stance, and we are really fighting to get it back. It’s a big deal to the girls, obviously, and there is another sorority that is going to come into the picture. They are going to try and take the ‘Ikkis’ place. We didn’t expect it, so it hit us. We have new leadership under Ashleigh, so it creates some internal drama with her trying to be a president, but with the girl’s trying to gain the No. 1 spot again, and the pledges saying, ‘this is not what we signed up for,’ there will definitely be a lot going on.

Catch ‘Greek’ on ABC Family Monday nights at 9 p.m. and read the full interview with Dilshad Vadsaria on dailyorange.com.

rltoback@syr.edu

Published on August 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm