Greek Life

[Dbrown016]

Anybody here in a Fraternity/sorority? Im a newly initiated Kappa Sigma at the Omicron-Lambda chapter. Just wondering if anyone else here is in Greek Life.

 

[Diadaga]

Nope my college just has 3 crap frats who only do three things, get drunk, smoke weed, and talk sh!t. Although one of the sororities does keep bugging me about being a sweetheart.

 

[BigTim55]

Nope my college just has 3 crap frats who only do three things, get drunk, smoke weed, and talk sh!t. Although one of the sororities does keep bugging me about being a sweetheart.

I thought that was a requirement of a frat?

 

[bottobro]

Tucker (roadwarrior) and myself are in Tau Kappa Epsilon. Myself the Rho Lambda Chapter. And Hey! I mean we dont talk sh!t lol I did it for the college experience. Plus I'm nicknamed Xterra lol

 

[Diadaga]

I thought that was a requirement of a frat?

A good frat in my opinion at least pretends to do things besides that though. These guys do nothing and I literally mean nothing. They aren't nationally affiliated they are just local frats so they have no lineage or anything to make them anything besides some idiots who rent a house. I get the whole brotherhood thing but most of the people who have pledged these frats only did so because "it's cool" or so they don't have to pay the while $1 admission to the party.

 

[TheFauxFox]

Nope my college just has 3 crap frats who only do three things, get drunk, smoke weed, and talk sh!t. Although one of the sororities does keep bugging me about being a sweetheart.

You just summed up 25-50% of my University, while some would argue 100%

 

[Prime]

Would someone who is kindly explain why? Because, honestly, I've never understood it. I went to several colleges over the 7 years it took me to get my stupid degree that I don't use. And every one the frats and sororities were nothing but an excuse to party that took the most demeaning acts on the planet to be a part of.

/no thanks
//serious question tho

 

[Jlb377]

I know frats have the connotation of just drinking and doing drugs but that's not all everyone does. I am a brother of Alpha Delta, Zeta Theta chapter and I spent my weekends doing community service through out Philadelphia. We had our fun but were out nearly every weekend volunteering somewhere. We averaged around 150 hours a year per brother.

 

[Diadaga]

I know frats have the connotation of just drinking and doing drugs but that's not all everyone does. I am a brother of Alpha Delta, Zeta Theta chapter and I spent my weekends doing community service through out Philadelphia. We had our fun but were out nearly every weekend volunteering somewhere. We averaged around 150 hours a year per brother.

See that's the kind of frat I wish we had on campus. The frats here just do some half a$$ed fundraiser or they will go clean the trash out of the creek. The trick to that one is it's all trash from their parties do they aren't really doing anything that they shouldn't do anyway. I'm very anti Ferrum frat if you can't tell. Wasn't rejected from them or anything just seen the easy they act and conduct business and it's not something that the school should be condoning.

 

[TheFauxFox]

I know frats have the connotation of just drinking and doing drugs but that's not all everyone does. I am a brother of Alpha Delta, Zeta Theta chapter and I spent my weekends doing community service through out Philadelphia. We had our fun but were out nearly every weekend volunteering somewhere. We averaged around 150 hours a year per brother.

I can get behind this and I'm 100% positive it happens here in Tusalooska.

However, its those few who stand out that become the poor faces of the Greek System. I have several friends in different frats, everything from the band fraternity to the most recognized (on campus), and while I can stand them, I don't always like to associate myself with them other than acknowledging they're someone I know.

I opted to not join a fraternity despite my family having a lot of heritage (SAE). My dad, for example, wasn't a screw-up, but he didn't have his priorities straight going into college. He joined SAE at Western Kentucky and they turned him around. He enjoyed his time and kept pressing me to pledge my first year or so of college. I didn't see much benefit at the time and I still don't. I know brothers hate this representation, but I saw it as a "paid-friendship" with strict requirements and responsibilities I didn't want to put up with. Moreover, I like to do what I like to do. I shouldn't be required to go to something I'm not particularly interested in, such as large gatherings and such. I like my close-knit group of people that I chose to create. So, I joined another SAE... the Society of Automotive Engineers, lol.

 

[Dbrown016]

I go to a smaller school and our chapter also does a lot of community. service as well. Yes we do do your fair share of drinking, but we have a strict no drugs policy in our by-laws. But being at a smaller school, and it being a school with all engineering majors, most of us are pretty smart as to when its time for school work, and when its play time. Most of my brothers are Mechanical Engineering majors or Computer Engineering or Computer Science majors. not too many stupid things go on, except for us always trying to build something cool out of wood. And we always ahve a dirtbike or go kart in our backyard being worked on. (Literally all the time). I think our fraternity experience has a lot to do with what fraternity you try to join, and how old the chapter is, as well as how big the school is. Some understand fraternities, others dont. But im super happy with he choice i made knowing that these men all have my back for anything i might get myself into.

 

[TJTJ]

Historically, the purpose was to network, so after you graduate, your frat mate's Dad could get you a job, etc.

The secret pledges and initiation rites were to weed out those that they didn't trust...and make it more exclusive.


Because the pledging, etc, got out of hand over time (meaning it was always a problem but was given a blind eye), many schools banned them.

When in Princeton in the 1970's, frats were big....and the parties were amazing. (My first date with my wife, before we were married, was at a frat party there) Now a days, they don't allow them, and instead they have "eating clubs"...so you join an eating club, and that's where you gather for meals. To be fair, the chefs at these are actually top notch....but, its not a drunken orgy scenario.

 

[Diadaga]

I'm just very jaded against the frats at my middle of nowhere college. They are not a representation of what I always expected a frat would or should be. Then again Ferrum College isn't actually a good representation of what a college should be either.

 

[robcarync]

There are a wide range of fraternities and sororities that have different goals and organization...at least as far as they are set up in NC.

The stereotypical "frat" is what most people think of...big parties, hazing, news stories, etc. These are called "social fraternities" here, and basically make up the traditional "Greek" system.

We also have a wide range of "professional", "service", and "academic" fraternities. For example...Theta Tau being the engineering fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi being a business fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega being a community service oriented group, Kappa Psi being a pharmacy major fraternity, Alpha Omega Epsilon was an engineering sorority, and Phi Sigma Pi is a national academic honor fraternity. Other majors and departments had similar set ups. I think these are not really considered "Greek" (not sure who comes up with the official designation...) but still fraternities...so whatever.

Some of these smaller fraternities are even co-ed, and some of them don't even have a house on campus. I was a member of Phi Sigma Pi which was the national honor fraternity. We had a GPA requirement of 3.2 ("Academic Honor" part of the title), though it was loosely enforced once joined. It was co-ed and we didn't have a house. We had the option of having one, but we preferred to have smaller dues than dealing with the paperwork of buying a house, having it designated as a campus organization, etc. Our fraternity was based on the ideals of leadership, fellowship, and scholarship. Each semester we organized different social events (PARTYYY!!!!!), educational opportunities, and community service events. We still had a semester long pledge process which was similar to what I had heard from other friends in social fraternities (though not as abusive).

Is it paying for friends? ehhh...maybe...If you pay a cover charge to get into a crowded club, are you paying for the people on the inside to be your friends, or are you paying for the atmosphere and environment that the overall crowd creates? Our dues didn't go to being friends with these people...it went towards our events that we would not have been able to put together otherwise.

I joined PhiSig purely for fun. The people were pretty cool, the events were pretty cool, and I thought the group had a good balance of fun and academics (no, we weren't all nerds). I think a lot of people joined these things for resume builders, networking, etc... and it was always interesting watching people hash out and fight about policy or Robert's Rules of order as if the debates actually meant something in real life.

I actually became somewhat of a legendary member...I was an active brother for 9 semesters (longer than most people were in college), and I never once held an exec board position, committee head, or any kind of leadership role in the organization. Took nothing from it seriously, recognizing it was just a fun extra curricular...and pissed a lot of people off in the process by not doing everything by the book and maybe having too much fun. Even got brought up on "charges" and they tried to kick me out...but they still couldn't get the votes....suckas!

 

[01XterraPhilly]

im part of Alpha Sigma Phi with the Epsilon Kappa chapter...it was a good time, lots of good people and experiences you cant necessarily get without being in a fraternity.