The Dilemma Facing the Fraternal Movement

The Dilemma Facing the Fraternal Movement

In advance I apologize if I get heated or start to rant during this blog. One of the assumptions we made as a class was that the fraternal movement is at a crossroads and is in danger of losing relevance on college campuses. Unlike a simplified thermodynamics problem, the assumptions we’ve made are true in real life. The fact of the matter is that Greek Life wouldn’t just be better if it were changed, it must change.

The biggest dilemma facing the Fraternal Movement right now is ignorance: ignorance of rules, ignorance of others, ignorance of the effect that the poor actions of just one group can have on the whole. This ignorance is the result of several factors. The first is stereotypes. We’re all aware of the stereotypes about Greek organizations. The sad fact is that these stereotypes build an expectation in the minds of new college students that actions like hazing, out of control drinking, and raging parties don’t just occur, but are the norm. The second factor is history. Too many people in this community look back to the 80s and 90s  - a time dominated by reports of chapters just like ours engaging in too many illicit activities to count. The thing that gets glazed over by this absurd nostalgia is the fact that those activities took some lives and adversely affected many others.  The issues facing us as a community today aren’t in spite of those of that time, they are a result of them. The third factor is the failure to realize that our community’s existence is solely dependent upon our ability to work with our host universities. We didn’t exist before colleges, colleges weren’t founded from us. If our actions are contrary to the goal of our host colleges, then we are worthless and expendable. Too many Greek organizations have the attitude that the university and other governing bodies are out to get them. They would rather work towards gaining positions of power in these governing bodies as a means of shielding their chapters from their poor actions than abandon those activities. As a result of these factors, individual Greek organizations are ignorant. Even those organizations who are working toward the positive are ignorant, in that they fail to see that if they don’t work together with other organizations to promote the positive, they’ll be gotten rid of along with the organizations who are causing problems.

It is frustrating being a part of such a community, when I talk to people who aren’t Greek and they immediately start making assumptions based on stereotypes. We talk about how FIJI is a fraternity, not a frat, and I get really offended when people make a stupid remark about me, my brothers, or my fraternity based on some idiotic scene they saw in a movie or on tv. I hate how I immediately get a reputation with some people just because I’m involved in Greek life. Let me paint you a picture. Suppose you’re walking around off campus and you’re in front of the house of one of those “Frats”. Across the street is a house party of people, none of whom are in the Greek community. At the “Frat” house are a bunch of guys doing keg stands and bonging beers, blaring music and acting “Fratty”. Across the street, the partiers are doing the same thing. Yet the ‘Frat’ guys will point across the street and laugh at how “uncool” their neighbors are, and the neighbors will point back and talk to their friends about how douchey the ‘Frat’ guys are. It’s the same crap. The popular notion of college being sold to high school students is that college is a place to party. Why do you think freshmen’s GPAs are traditionally low? Parents who say their kids, “had a rough time adjusting” are ignoring the fact that their kids spent too much time partying and not enough studying. People have forgotten what college is about. College is first and foremost about education. It is about preparing young men and women to solve problems in the real world. Likewise, the purpose of Greek Life is to provide further opportunities for college students to develop the skills they’ll need in the real world. In fact, Greek Life is unique in that it has the potential to produce better human beings than any other college organization can. But that will never happen if leaders in Greek Life continue to be so ignorant and short sighted about their place in the college community. We need to stop living party to party and start living our values.

In many ways, even though many people are working hard in our community for progress, everyone still treats that progress as a big joke. Truth is, the joke is on us.