Sororities And Fraternities

[zunshynn]

A friend of mine, one I don't know real well just joined a sorority apparently... and literally for the past month, every facebook status she's made has been "Go Greek!" or "I love my [name of sorority] sisters!" "[sorority name] is the best!" and "DEEP IN MY HEART I LOVE MY [SORORITY NAME]!!!" It just struck me as really weird, to say the least, and I almost had to wonder if she was serious or if she was trying to prove her loyalty or something...

I looked up her sorority... seems innocent enough. They name ethics and values and social responsibility as part of their mission... but it just seems so... brainwashy. I looked at facebook group she belonged to supporting sororities in general, and they seemed kind of obsessed with getting high school students to "Go Greek", and finding ways to get around not being allowed to actively recruit at high schools.

Is that typical of sororities? Does that seem off to anyone else? What's your opinion of them?

[aalpha1989]

The Greek system is just high school continued. It's not a good environment to mature in or a good way to spend the first few years away from mom and pop. For guys it makes them arrogant and over protective, because they need to have really really thick skins to survive in that environment, and idk about girls because my friends didn't really join sororities. Anyway, the Greek system makes me really angry. . All it does is stoke the vice of pride; pride of self, pride of an arbitrary group.

[peach_cube]

I always felt that the whole greek system was counter to what I was going to school for. People seemed way too focused on the workings of their new group when the focus should be on their schooling. I also found it a bit isolationist in a university setting. The reason being, most universities have a wide range of peoples and personalities, whereas when I saw any "greek" group it seemed to be a collection of people with similar backgrounds and personalities. It seemed kind of boring to me and a massive waste of time.

Edited September 13, 2009 by peach_cube

[MIKolbe]

I was in a fraternity in college.

a few observations about the comments

- maybe your friend does love her sorority and her friends in said sorority? I few days ago, my status was 'i love phatmass'..certainly i have no loyalty to prove, do i? maybe i just love phatmass....

- college as a whole is high school continued in many ways...The greek system offers an opportunity to grow together with others. JFK said 1/2 a person's education in college comes from his books, the other half from their social experiences. I think your blanket statement of pride is a misplaced, but very common generalization formed from minimal facts and interactions, coupled with unreasonable closemindedness.

One of the reasons I joined my fraternity was because of their philanthropy. After jumping back and forth between philanthropies, they created their own. They found many of the other charities carrying too high an admin cost and thus LESS of the dollars donated went TO the charity. I thought that was ingenius and generous. I can give you more facts if you wish; but to say fraternities is about stoking vices is a superficial, at best, analysis.


- yes, college is about schooling. Absolutely. It is about learning. I would argue that any college club (fraternity/sorority included) can help teach you from a social perspective. I see the greek system, and student life in gerenal as a complement to 'classroom learning'; not in opposition to it.


- To say when you see greeks they all seem the same is ..well..interesting.... Firstly, would you say the same about the Chinese students group? the Islam students group? La Raza? Members of Omega Psi Phi? (wiki the last one if you need to)

Conversely, most fraternities at between 50-100 active members. Have you seen them all at once to form this opinion? or do you see the same few in the lunch hall and extrapolate from there? FWIW, my fraternity had last names of Shih, Corsetti, Hirschman, Ma, DeLa Torre, Alnasem, Martinez, Baugh, Valencia, Nakakihara, and Anderson. Trust me when I say it looked more like a delegation from the UN. LOL


Those things said...

Fraternities, and some sororities have truly dropped the ball and have done disservices to their college, their fraternity, and to their members by all these stupid, idiotic and dangerous stunts SOME of them pull off. There are many things that have been done that are dispicable. To deny this would be willful blindness.

[dominicansoul]

i think sororities and fraternities are needed, in that, many students are away from home and family and friends for the first times in their lives, and it is nice to have a "community" to belong to in order to help ease the transition into college life.

I am a big supporter of the Catholic fraternity and sorority here on campus. I love their t-shirts...they say, "Don't go Greek, GO ROMAN...Catholic!"

These kids are great! They really do form a bond and become like family to one another. What's even better about a religious sorority/fraternity, they help each other live their Faith on campus, which isn't always easy to do. I love to watch them pray together in the chapel, and attend Mass together. They are an awesome bunch, and I don't see anything weird or strange about their loyalty and love for one another.

Now, I'm sure there are plenty of fraternities/sororities that are superficial, but not all of them are. Many members enjoy a wholesome, positive experience in their college years.

[MissyP89]

Two of my housemates are considering rushing for a popular sorority just because their display looked the nicest. There are good and bad reasons to join, but my opinion is neutral. The sorority girls I know I am not particularly fond of. As for me, I'll stick to the Newman house.

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='dominicansoul' date='15 September 2009 - 01:17 PM' timestamp='1253035074' post='1966860']
...
I am a big supporter of the Catholic fraternity and sorority here on campus. I love their t-shirts...they say, "Don't go Greek, GO ROMAN...Catholic!"
...[/quote]
There are a couple of Frat Houses beside the Opus Dei centre in Toronto. The students that live there should get some of those shirts

[cmotherofpirl]

Universities are supposed to be liberating, stimulating, enriching, and lead to a broadening of one's horizon. I fail to see how sors and frats contribute to that. They are simply continuations of the popularity game from high school, with a bit of community service thrown in to make it look good. They reinforce the "we are special" mentality and reinforce the "old boys" network to the detriment of the rest of the student body. Organizations that are strictly service and are open to everyone, are a different breed of cat.

[Sojourner]

I think a lot depends on the culture of the individual sorority. Jason obviously had a great experience with a great group of guys, and I've known other people who have joined fraternities or sororities that really brought out the best in them. That's awesome, and can be a real help in assisting a college-age person to feel at home and to develop more fully as a person.

But, if you end up with a group of people that are more focused on partying or social standing or whatever ... not so great. I think fraternities and sororities get a bad rap because of these sorts of groups, which may well be justified to a certain extent. I am not sure whether overall they are a good or bad phenomenon, but I think they definitely CAN be a bad place for some kids to end up. They can also be a great place for some kids to end up.

[MIKolbe]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='16 September 2009 - 07:11 AM' timestamp='1253106713' post='1967476']
Universities are supposed to be liberating, stimulating, enriching, and lead to a broadening of one's horizon. I fail to see how sors and frats contribute to that. [/quote]

Well, I think they CAN be, and many (if not all) aim to be.

Here are some of my experiences:

My fraternity does not haze (and actually they are not supposed to, but thst is another story). We make our associate members study and learn the history of our fraternity. ALOT of memorizing: dates, places, people, chapters, founding chapter members (of which my chapter had 42). They purchased for us some memory aid books as this would not only help us with this specific task; but would most likely prove helpful in class as well.

We were required to carry a datebook and schedule our classes, events, etc. There were regular grade checks to make sure we were above the min GPA; and had scholarships offered by the chapter Alumni for public service, most improved GPA and the like.

We where given a list of commities within the chapter to join, and lists that we didn't want to join. We were then placed in 2 committees; one we did 'like' and one that we did not. The rationale was not to be cruel; but to move out of our comfort zone..to try something new. I ended up being on the philanthropy committee and the rush committee. (i hated rush..to just go up and talk to a stranger about the possiblity of greek life, espeically with all the generalizations about it was something i wanted to do)

So to say that greek life is not [i]"liberating, stimulating, enriching, and lead to a broadening of one's horizon"[/i] is simply unfair. Yes, my fraternity was great; but you know what, alot of fraternities and sororities are great and enrich the college experience and try to impart social and life skills in an environment of friendship and comeraderie.

I urge you to look at the websites of the 'national' fraternities/sororities to see the standard which is laid forth before these young men and women.

[url="http://www.pikapp.org/"]http://www.pikapp.org/[/url]

[url="http://www.phikappatau.org/"]http://www.phikappatau.org/[/url]

[url="http://www.alphachiomega.org/"]http://www.alphachiomega.org/[/url]

[url="http://www.deltazeta.org/AM/ContentManagerNet/HTMLDisplay.aspx?ContentID=7895&Section=Home"]http://www.deltazeta.org/[/url]

All these were at my college. Mine is the first, and the best btw. LOL

[rachael]

you were a pi kappa phi?

[MIKolbe]

yes

[rachael]

[peach_cube]

[quote name='MIkolbe' date='13 September 2009 - 12:14 PM' timestamp='1252854869' post='1965759']
I was in a fraternity in college.

a few observations about the comments

- maybe your friend does love her sorority and her friends in said sorority? I few days ago, my status was 'i love phatmass'..certainly i have no loyalty to prove, do i? maybe i just love phatmass....

- college as a whole is high school continued in many ways...The greek system offers an opportunity to grow together with others. JFK said 1/2 a person's education in college comes from his books, the other half from their social experiences. I think your blanket statement of pride is a misplaced, but very common generalization formed from minimal facts and interactions, coupled with unreasonable closemindedness.

One of the reasons I joined my fraternity was because of their philanthropy. After jumping back and forth between philanthropies, they created their own. They found many of the other charities carrying too high an admin cost and thus LESS of the dollars donated went TO the charity. I thought that was ingenius and generous. I can give you more facts if you wish; but to say fraternities is about stoking vices is a superficial, at best, analysis.


- yes, college is about schooling. Absolutely. It is about learning. I would argue that any college club (fraternity/sorority included) can help teach you from a social perspective. I see the greek system, and student life in gerenal as a complement to 'classroom learning'; not in opposition to it.


- To say when you see greeks they all seem the same is ..well..interesting.... Firstly, would you say the same about the Chinese students group? the Islam students group? La Raza? Members of Omega Psi Phi? (wiki the last one if you need to)

Conversely, most fraternities at between 50-100 active members. Have you seen them all at once to form this opinion? or do you see the same few in the lunch hall and extrapolate from there? FWIW, my fraternity had last names of Shih, Corsetti, Hirschman, Ma, DeLa Torre, Alnasem, Martinez, Baugh, Valencia, Nakakihara, and Anderson. Trust me when I say it looked more like a delegation from the UN. LOL


Those things said...

Fraternities, and some sororities have truly dropped the ball and have done disservices to their college, their fraternity, and to their members by all these stupid, idiotic and dangerous stunts SOME of them pull off. There are many things that have been done that are dispicable. To deny this would be willful blindness.
[/quote]
Fair enough, perhaps it was just the bad seeds that made the most lasting impression.

[rachael]

[quote name='peach_cube' date='16 September 2009 - 02:23 PM' timestamp='1253125402' post='1967588']
Fair enough, perhaps it was just the bad seeds that made the most lasting impression.
[/quote]
It is. I have a friend who was in a sorority throughout college and she managed to raise a child as well. She didn't go crazy, though others may have. My ex-boyfriend and many of his friends were a part of a fraternity and the dumbest stuff they did was go to the pub occasionally after meetings. They did fundraisers for local charities....