Any of you guys in a fraternity or soroity?
Sat Feb 10, 2007 3:43 pm
Any of you guys in a frat or sorority or know of friends in them? Are they like boarding houses ... or what? There's none in Australia so I was wondering what exactly they were?
Sat Feb 10, 2007 3:45 pm
Sort of! haha. Im a member of the UGHA! So I can go to the fraternity associated with it and sleep there when it snows bad or I can't get home from York!
GO TEAM UNDERGRADUATE HISTORY ASSOCIATION POWERS! ACTIVATE!!
GO TEAM UNDERGRADUATE HISTORY ASSOCIATION POWERS! ACTIVATE!!
Sat Feb 10, 2007 6:34 pm
No, I'm a lowly high school student. 
My mom was part of a sorority when she was in college though. Can't remember which.
My mom was part of a sorority when she was in college though. Can't remember which.
Sat Feb 10, 2007 6:42 pm
Nah. Not interested in ever being in one, either, after I read that one book on Ted Bundy...
Sat Feb 10, 2007 7:05 pm
I would join a Frat. Especially If it's ANYTHING like Delta Nu, I'm so joining XD
Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:05 pm
I find them incredibly stupid and cult-like. Many, not all, have you do weird things before you are an official member. I'm sorry, you can't treat me like crap for a month then declare that you're my "sister". I find the "bonding" experience to be even more cheapened by the fact that you have to pay to be part of the group.
Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:44 pm
I was never a part of a sorority. Most of the sorority girls at my school were airheads and I wanted nothing to do with them. Like Spira said, most organizations like that have stupid hazing rituals. The rugby club at my college actually was arrested by the town police for what they did during initiations. Most of my male friends were all members of one fraternity and the advantage of being good friends with them is that I got into parties for free!
Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:03 pm
I'm not. I'd rather not have to do things like swallow a goldfish/get hit by a paddle just to get into an organization that is hammered 6 out of 7 days of the week.
Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:23 pm
(This is going to be a really long post. I've been reading up on them as a sociological phenomenon lately.)
I specifically sought out colleges that have no Greek organizations (other than honor societies--I'll qualify as an Alpha Chi Sigma next semester). From here on out, I'm going to be talking about college social fraternities. There are other kinds, like community service and professional ones, but they're probably not what you were asking about.
My great-grandmother founded one of the national sororities, and no, I'm not saying which one. My grandmother founded and was president of a local chapter of the same sorority. My mom, sister, and female cousins all express the same distaste for Greek life that I have.
Since you asked, fraternities and sororities are student-run clubs. Most of them answer to some sort of national governance board, but some local ones do not. During Rush Week (usually around the end of the fall semester/beginning of spring semester), all the national sororities/fraternities start looking for new members. Students can go to various events held by the group and decide which they'd like to join.
If the sorority/frat likes that student, they get a bid. That means that they get to become a pledge. Yes, I think that this is as stupid as it sounds. Between when a student is pledged to join and when they get their pin (are inducted as a full member), they used to have to go through some hazing. However, the National Panhellenic Conference (yes, this exists. It's the overseeing body for all national Greek organizations) banned hazing a few years ago. It still exists, but it's more underground now.
After that, the new member can move into the fraternity/sorority house, if they so choose and if the organization has one. There's a lot of parties, many of which are broken up by the campus police--who usually monitor the Greek organizations on campus more closely than other groups.
Sororities and fraternities are blamed for basically every ill that society has. Eating disorders, binge drinking, violence against women--you name it. There is a degree of truth to this, but there are some sororities and fraternities that do lots of good in their communities. I see a lot of sorority sisters and fraternity brothers when I do community service these days. On the other hand, a lot of them were being public nuisances the night before, so there you are.
I wouldn't join one, but they're apparently fairly useful for making new friends and getting into established social networks. (Have you seen the scenes in the Legally Blonde movies where Elle gets other Delta Nus involved? That's not far from the truth. My grandma could change the world with one or two phone calls to her old sisters.) They're less of a big deal than they used to be, and most American college students are not members of any Greek organization.
Anything else you want to know about them?
I specifically sought out colleges that have no Greek organizations (other than honor societies--I'll qualify as an Alpha Chi Sigma next semester). From here on out, I'm going to be talking about college social fraternities. There are other kinds, like community service and professional ones, but they're probably not what you were asking about.
My great-grandmother founded one of the national sororities, and no, I'm not saying which one. My grandmother founded and was president of a local chapter of the same sorority. My mom, sister, and female cousins all express the same distaste for Greek life that I have.
Since you asked, fraternities and sororities are student-run clubs. Most of them answer to some sort of national governance board, but some local ones do not. During Rush Week (usually around the end of the fall semester/beginning of spring semester), all the national sororities/fraternities start looking for new members. Students can go to various events held by the group and decide which they'd like to join.
If the sorority/frat likes that student, they get a bid. That means that they get to become a pledge. Yes, I think that this is as stupid as it sounds. Between when a student is pledged to join and when they get their pin (are inducted as a full member), they used to have to go through some hazing. However, the National Panhellenic Conference (yes, this exists. It's the overseeing body for all national Greek organizations) banned hazing a few years ago. It still exists, but it's more underground now.
After that, the new member can move into the fraternity/sorority house, if they so choose and if the organization has one. There's a lot of parties, many of which are broken up by the campus police--who usually monitor the Greek organizations on campus more closely than other groups.
Sororities and fraternities are blamed for basically every ill that society has. Eating disorders, binge drinking, violence against women--you name it. There is a degree of truth to this, but there are some sororities and fraternities that do lots of good in their communities. I see a lot of sorority sisters and fraternity brothers when I do community service these days. On the other hand, a lot of them were being public nuisances the night before, so there you are.
I wouldn't join one, but they're apparently fairly useful for making new friends and getting into established social networks. (Have you seen the scenes in the Legally Blonde movies where Elle gets other Delta Nus involved? That's not far from the truth. My grandma could change the world with one or two phone calls to her old sisters.) They're less of a big deal than they used to be, and most American college students are not members of any Greek organization.
Anything else you want to know about them?
Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:32 pm
*Wonders how these evils spread to the UK as there don't seem to be any here*
Or, in other words it's just something to blame because no one is ready to realise we are genocidal apes and not fallen angels?
Or, in other words it's just something to blame because no one is ready to realise we are genocidal apes and not fallen angels?
Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:59 pm
Hazings have been banned? I still see them going on all the time. Again, I'd rather make friends the normal way than pay for some random ones.
Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:32 pm
I hear about hazings here all the time as well..they are openly talked about and its no big secret.
Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:58 pm
Thanks Pudding, that was really informative! I really didn't know much about them, except for what I've since in some movies and TV shows.
I was wondering, do they actually have much to do with Greeks/Greece, other than their names being taken from the Greek alphabet? It seems it could give actual Greek groups a bad name!
PuddingofEvil wrote:...They're less of a big deal than they used to be, and most American college students are not members of any Greek organization.
Anything else you want to know about them?
I was wondering, do they actually have much to do with Greeks/Greece, other than their names being taken from the Greek alphabet? It seems it could give actual Greek groups a bad name!
Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:01 am
At a complete guess (Although mildly educated) I would hazard a guess that it's either A: Of Greek origin and has been assimilated into modern(ish) culture, or is a superiority complex (Like Latin tends to be for example, and French was in England until (Again, relatively) recently).
Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:11 am
Yeah, I thought that the names probably came from Greek because they sounded kinda mysterious and cool 
I hadn't heard to fraternities and sororities referred to as "greek organisations" before though, so that sparked my interest.
I hadn't heard to fraternities and sororities referred to as "greek organisations" before though, so that sparked my interest.