A frat wedding is a unique and unconventional event that combines elements of traditional wedding ceremonies with the traditions and customs of fraternity culture. It is typically organized and attended by members of a fraternity, their friends, and alumni. The concept originated in the United States and has gained popularity among fraternity members.
A frat wedding is a celebration that combines the formalities of a traditional wedding with the fun and camaraderie of a fraternity. It is typically held on a college campus or another venue connected to a fraternity or sorority. The characteristics that make a wedding a frat wedding can vary, but they often include themes, decorations, and a shared spirit.
A frat wedding is a celebration that draws inspiration from fraternity culture, embracing a more relaxed and casual atmosphere compared to traditional weddings. The characteristics that make a wedding a frat wedding can vary, but they often include themes, decorations, and a shared spirit.
In recent weeks, Greek houses across campus have been gathering for a classic Dartmouth tradition: wedding tails. The basic premise is that a sorority and fraternity pair up, and one person from each house acts as a bride and groom, respectively. The two houses then host a faux wedding for their chosen couple.
To make your wedding unforgettable, consider incorporating something unique from your sorority and your husband’s fraternity into the reception. Incorporating the frat vibe into your special day can create memories and create unforgettable memories for both the couple and their guests.
📹 Why colleges tolerate fraternities
Frats are… fratty. Why do colleges keep them around? Follow Overrated on Facebook Watch: …
What is frat party meaning?
The frat party is the most stereotypical college party. A fraternity party is filled with alcohol, kegs, students, and silliness. Fraternities are different at each college. Some are academic, some are not.
What is frat style?
Frat boy style has certain requirements. Let’s start with the basics. Frat boys wear chinos, polo shirts, and button-downs. The color is important. Frat boys like colored shorts in pastel or bright colors. Dress like a frat boy with color and mix and match. Wear pink shorts with a blue or green shirt.
Make sure you have the right accessories before you leave. Boat shoes are a must for frat boys. White sneakers are also a good choice, especially because they go with many things. Complete the outfit with a belt and sunglasses. Make your own dress shoes to complete your outfit. For a more dressed-up look, switch the polo shirt for a button-down shirt and the boat shoes for leather loafers. You can wear shorts or chinos. For the ultimate frat boy country club style, wear a cardigan. If you’re wearing a white button-down shirt, you can also wear a blazer, tie, or bow tie.
What defines a Greek wedding?
The Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony unites a man and a woman in love and faith. The marriage ceremony uses symbols to show the basic parts of marriage. Love, respect, equality, and sacrifice. The traditions have special meanings. These actions are repeated three times to show belief in the Holy Trinity, with God as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Orthodox wedding ceremony has two parts. The first is the Engagement ceremony, during which the rings are exchanged. The second is the Service of Marriage, during which prayers are offered for the couple, the crowns of marriage are placed on their heads, the common cup is shared, and the ceremonial walk takes place around the table.
What is a frat girlfriend called?
Fraternities and sororities use the term “sweetheart” to reward the most dedicated members. A fraternity sweetheart is a sorority woman chosen by the chapter to represent their fraternity. Becoming a fraternity sweetheart is a big deal at many schools. It’s a big commitment. Fraternity sweethearts participate in a lot of the fraternity’s events. There are no rules for becoming a fraternity sweetheart, but you have to be dedicated to the fraternity. A true fraternity sweetheart enjoys the brotherhood of that fraternity. Also, a fraternity sweetheart is outgoing, kind, and involved on campus. For many fraternities, choosing a sweetheart with a good reputation shows other students that the fraternity is more than just a social group. If the fraternity has a well-rounded and sociable sweetheart, it has a better reputation.
What is a frat bride?
In recent weeks, Greek houses on campus have been gathering for a Dartmouth tradition: wedding tails. The idea is simple. A sorority and fraternity pair up and one person from each house acts as a bride and groom. The two houses then host a wedding for their chosen couple. Every house has its own version of the ceremony, but where did this tradition come from? The practice was inspired by a real wedding between Gwyn Prentice ’96 and Andy Atterbury ’96. Prentice and Atterbury got married during their sophomore summer. “We were shocked, but we supported them and made it memorable,” Stineman said.
What is a sorority marriage?
Sororate marriage is when a husband has sex with his wife’s sister. This usually happens after his wife dies or if she can’t have kids. The opposite is levirate marriage. This type of marriage strengthens ties between groups and preserves the contract between them. The Inuit (formerly known as Eskimos) of northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland follow this custom. The Chiricahua group of the Western Apache also follow this custom. They speak the Athabaskan language.
What is a frat for girls?
Sororities are informal for women’s fraternities. A member who has been initiated into a fraternity or sorority and participates in chapter activities at the college level.
Fraternity or sorority members who have graduated from college.
An invitation to join a fraternity or sorority.
What happens in frats?
New members attend activities to meet other members, learn about the organization’s history and values, and develop leadership skills. Each chapter has weekly meetings, fundraising events, community service projects, educational programs, and other events. These events are planned in advance to allow members time for other activities. Attending chapter events is the best way to get the most out of the organization.
Whether it is planning a social event, a community service project, or regular weekly meetings, fraternity and sorority members have learned to balance their time with other commitments. Commuting students find a home away from home at Ball State. Ask about time commitments during recruitment.
What is a frat ceremony?
Formal Initiation. Once you’ve pledged, you’ll take part in formal initiation ceremonies. Each fraternity has its own rituals for new members. Most involve swearing an oath of secrecy and loyalty. The formal initiation ceremony is not about alcohol or hazing. It is important to each chapter’s national fraternity.
What is being a frat?
The word “frat” is short for “fraternity.” Both words mean a group of men with similar interests, from the Latin root “fraternitatem,” or “brotherhood.” A frat has its own house and a name made up of two or three Greek letters. A frat is a close-knit group of young men who live, work, and volunteer in the community together. Some frats are exclusionary and haze new members.
What do frat boys do?
Fraternity boys are busy, often partying. Going out with one can be tiring. They may pressure you to keep up. They may be competitive and expect you to compete.
📹 What ACTUALLY Happens At Frat Parties?
Name 5 brothers right now. huge shoutout to all the brothers at KDR JMU for having me DM me on Instagram …
Frats can be vary quite a lot. In my town, there’s this frat that helps in tree planting activities, cleaning up public parks, and they even do feeding programs for the homeless once or twice a month. But then there’s this other one that hazed two kids to death… and another one that’s basically just a group of drunkards. So yeah, frats can vary by a fuckton.
A fraternity, like any organization, is only as good as its members and its culture. Some “frats” are comprised of toxic men that binge drink and haze, others are comprised of student leaders. I had a really positive experience in my college fraternity, but I understand that’s not the case for everyone. Like most issues, there is a lot of nuance that can’t be covered in 10 minutes.
I’m in a fraternity, but we’re one of the more diverse fraternities, and we don’t act like the typical movie frat boys. They definitely exist, don’t get me wrong, but there are some that aren’t like that. My fraternity is heavily involved in community service, and it has helped me network and get a high reward internship in the finance world
I was a president of a fraternity when I was in college. When I joined my fraternity, we only had 7 members. We were basically a group of guys that drank beer and played article games. I made it my mission to build our fraternity into an example for other fraternities. I was tired of the reputation that shitty fraternities were giving to the greek community as a whole. I was able to grow the fraternity to 44 men who were devoted to being philanthropic, gentlemen to people on campus, and treating women with respect. I would always ruffle feathers when attending greek presidents meetings with the other fraternities, but that was my goal. I want to see douchebag, sexual assault haven fraternities destroyed and respectable fraternities brought back. I never understood the desire to join a frat just to be a drunken ignorant buffoon for your college years. While we certainly had big parties, we made damn sure to have sober brothers perusal out for everyone’s safety and good time. I just hope that more fraternities learn from these bad examples that are being spotlighted.
I live in a college town and I’m all for frats and the like as long as they keep to themselves but every start of the semester it’s like a war zone in town with the frats and sororities. Garbage, broken beer bottles strewn across the streets, hoards of ppl that just walk in the middle of a busy road because they can’t be bothered to wait for cars to pass or cross at at crosswalk, etc. You get the idea. Usually things calm down after a few weeks once classes get started but you can party and have fun w/o acting like a bunch of animals. Edit: because apparently some people can’t read and this needs clarification. I literally don’t care what you do on your own house/apartment/property. Go hog wild, I’m all for a good party. But I’ve never been to a party that was so wild that we’ve thrown the literal trash from our party, into the main road next to our house. That’s not ‘having a good time’ or ‘partying hard’, that’s you being a jackass. I’m pretty sure everyone at any party would agree. Welcome to reality. Facts don’t care about your ‘feelings’ and I was just pointing out the obvious. But by all means, brag about your self-aggrandize idiocy.
i asked a “frat bro” while i was in college about why he’s in a fraternity and if it’s only for partying and drinking. He said it’s for networking and introduces opportunities. He dropped out later that year, another drank too much and skipped class and fell behind. Moral of the story: you don’t need to be forced to drink a whole bottle of tequila(true story) in one night to have “opportunities”.
My old babysitter’s son was attacked in a hazing. He went from being on the soccer team, being a good student, and other things like that, to someone who has a harder time with most tasks, and faces some mental difficulties. The frat members weren’t investigated by the police because his friend wanted to forget it all and an attacker’s dad was a police officer.
Does this guy actually know anything about real fraternities? You’re literally pointing to decades-old satire of Greek life and asking inane questions like “You see scenes like these and wonder why deans keep fraternities around.” Mate you’re showing a scene from animal house where they’re bringing a horse into the dean’s office. That’s just as unreal now as it was in 1978. You spent about 45 seconds on the real problems that modern fraternities face and zero seconds on the real benefits that modern fraternities lead to. Clips from Animal House are not substantive criticism of frats and the words “lifelong friendships” and some primarily critical mentions of alumni donations are not a complete list of the benefits provided by fraternities.
Fraternity/Sorority life depends on the university and what you make of it! You can spend 4+ years getting drunk or you can utilize greek life on campus to network with other people and surround yourself with potentially good people. There are tons of people i know that use fraternities/ sororities to help them get a fast track into a career/politics while there are others that use the orgs as a drinking club.
One of the best decisions of my life to join, met so many more people than I ever could without it, still good friends to this day. It’s been 30 years since finishing school and perusal this made me realize in the last 48 hours I’ve texted with 6 college friends and I’m skiing with 5 life long friends next month. Lots more to say but friends sums it up best
It’s amazing how Vox continuously pushes out articles that aim to explain current issues to people, and I’m like “what, what’s that?” and then I realise these are mostly US-only things and I’ve never seen similar systems elsewhere so I’ve also been spared from their problems. (Non-functional doors, fraternities/sororities in university, voter registration…) :S
Here in the UK I had an American flatmate ask me to look at her CV and see why she wasn’t getting interviews. I noticed she had put down that she had been a secretary for a sorority. She was shocked when I told her to take it off – a leadership role in a good sorority? But all people here think of is hazing, bigotry and alcoholism. She took it out and got the jobs she’d been applying to.
Of all those commenting, who’s actually been in a fraternity? After I joined, my GPA went up because we had to improve every semester or were put on academic probation. I also took leadership roles in non related organizations because of the ethic I gained from my fraternity. Like he said, all fraternities from campus to campus are different. So don’t put them all down if you don’t know what you’re really talking about.
I joined Pi Kap my first semester on an actual college campus. Arguably the best decision of my life; we have an actual philanthropy that we cater to, have had the highest GPA on campus at 3.1 (2.7 is the minimum for PKP), and I was never hazed going through the initiation process. Don’t hate something you don’t understand.
I never really understood fraternities and sororities. It’s really an american thing. I’m in college and people are just normal friends, like there are the closest friends, friends and colleagues. There’s no institution or rules. You can befriend or unfriend whoever you want whenever you want. You can go out with everyone or anyone from college and people will treat you normally.
I was in a fraternity in school. Every frat has its bad eggs but there were so many guys in my house who took their studies very seriously and pursued leadership roles in our university. Most of these guys were upperclassmen so the fraternity was a great way to connect incoming freshmen with these upperclassmen who had their priorities straight and could mentor them. Also, my fraternity is a big national one. The national fraternity has a minimum gpa requirement but we had our own higher one in our chapter. We also had mandatory study halls for underclassmen. Believe or not, there are actually people out there who leverage the fraternity model and network in a positive way. The real challenge for fraternities is making sure they admit quality men into their organizations and not these bad eggs who contribute nothing.
Nobody talks about fraternities being some of the first places that many guys are able to truly open themselves up to other guys, showing their vulnerabilities. And really having a group of guys that have your back and are there for you when you are down. Especially in a world where many see it as weak of a man to show emotions, that is the true meaning of brotherhood
I transferred after freshmen year from a college with greek life to a college that was vehemently anti greek life, frats and sororities were strictly forbidden. I honestly really appreciated it, there was still a party vibe and culture but the relationships I formed felt much more organic across the board with classmates
This article didn’t explicitly mention that frats and sororities are clubs for the wealthy and connected. Essentially, the reason why they are able to donate so much while creating a lot of problems for the school. Wealthy connected kids usually know that if they do anything wrong they will have safety nets of protection and are usually not disciplined because they are raised by nannies and maids.
I was in a sorority at a small college. No hazing whatsoever. In fact, it was vital to my development in college. Required study time with sisters helped me maintain a good GPA. In fact, all of Greek life kept a higher GPA than that of the general student population. Greeks are still leaders on my campus to this day.
I think this article misses the entire point of fraternities and generalizes all fraternities by a classic stereotype. It’s a great way to get involved in your school, volunteer, and meet people on campus. It isn’t people telling you who your friends should be because you join a house that you fit in with and you can find a group of people within the fraternity that you hang out with more. A lot of the things they describe in this article are extremely old and archaic. Many hazing rituals have been phased out, and new member programs now involve learning the history of the fraternity as a national organization and chapter. Vox should definitely have done more research on the subject before putting together a article with extremely inaccurate footage from Animal House, an exaggerated comedy movie from 1978.
Many fraternities in my school aren’t like the ones in movies. Sure we have the usual party goers and undeclared beer-pongers, but many of our frats are generally diverse, inclusive, and beneficial. Business frats are known to host parties for the sake of networking, such as connecting students to Big 4 companies, internships, etc. Others are heavily involved in community service, philanthrophy, and genuinely care about their community. I would say the beneficial fraternities are the major-themed ones. But the greek-themed ones, well I guess they have their place in school. Just not in academics.
I’m openly gay, asian, and nerdy, and I belong to a fraternity. (Bring on the haters) And believe me, I’m not just an outlier. If it weren’t for my fraternity, I would not have continued with school. My fraternity brothers were the ones who actually gave me the strength to come out to my parents. Fraternities are not overrated, I learned that by joining one and it changed my perception of them completely. I went in with an open mind, but it also took me 2 years to finally join. Greek life on our campus has the highest GPAs for student organizations, the highest ratio of diversity, and better hiring rates than those students who aren’t in a fraternity. The list goes on, but Vox won’t tell you that. For Vox to only highlight stereotypes and biased data goes to show that Vox really doesn’t actually have an understanding of greek life and does not have the credibility to call fraternities overrated.
At the uni campus I grew up on there was a very problematic fraternity. People were severely injured because of their party antics and one woman fell out of a second story window and broke lots of bones and was nearly paralyzed. I know lots of people with positive frat experiences but they’ve always had a bad rep to me…
There’s a lot that this article is missing. For one, hazing came as a result of young men returning from WW1 and WW2. Hazing was never a part of the Greek system. If you went through boot camp, you were likely hazed. If you came back from the war and were looking for a community of men with the same values as you, a fraternity was the perfect fit. Those men then brought in those same traditions and it spiraled out of control to what we see today. I was a part of a group in college trying to thwart those useless traditions. Hazing is commonly confused with ritual for those who haven’t been a part of it. Ritual is just the initiation ceremony that welcomes members into the fraternity. To go through a ritual is to be taken through a series of actions using metaphorical items. None of my friends in other organizations have EVER been harmed going through rituals. From their foundation, Fraternities were meant to enhance the college experience. We just took it too far and have some work to do.
I went to a school where a sizable percentage of the students were in a fraternity or sorority. I honestly felt like their only purpose was to enhance the college experience for a select few, while the students who didn’t want to join or couldn’t afford to join were completely left behind. The frat parties were the stereotypical binge-drinking, throwing stuff into the lake, destroying property fests. I found the fact that we needed a special separate fraternity/sorority just for people of color to be included to be completely disheartening, and as someone who couldn’t afford to pay the membership fees, I felt like it was just one more way for people with money to have an advantage at getting ahead in school and the job market (and it was). The school also built some really nice sorority party houses (literally all they were going to be used for) while I was there. I’m not sure if the sororities funded them or if the school did, but again, as someone who was just barely getting by financially, I was frustrated that the school put so much effort into supporting Greek life while I had to practically beg to be included in ANY opportunities for networking and to have access to more than the basic resources; and this was from a private school that continuously advertised that they had more opportunities for students than a public college. It was a complete joke.
Mentioning multicultural and ehtnic fraternities and sororities is very important. For students of color at traditionally white institutions, Greek life is often very intimidating or outright unwelcoming. And this extends to the university as a whole. But these specific fraternities offer students of color the opportunity to find their own group on campus, network, and gives them a reason to stay. Which the administrations like because it makes them seem more diverse and keeps money on campus.
People who are defending Greek Life are funny. There really isn’t anything you can do in a fraternity that you couldn’t do when not involved. If it were so great, community service, gpa, friendships etc. then why make such groups exclusive lmao. You would hence get rid of money requirements, exclusive recruiting or bids, and the divide among different groups. By nature you normally wouldn’t associate much with other fraternities because you are suppose to be loyal to a certain group. People who are getting butt hurt defending probably are in them and feel offended that we are telling the truth about your buy a friend organization or it could also be your parents and previous generations were in these groups and you feel obligated/ inspired to follow suit.
I’m currently attending the college from animal house that’s depicted in a lot of this article. I feel like they could have discussed a lot more of the unfortunate effects of fraternities and the weight of the post college money power of fraternity alumni. We see not only elevated occurrences of rape and sexual assault in these organizations but also rampant somewhat unapologetic homophobia and misogyny, STI transmission, upholding of class divisions, drug use, etc. The racism, sexism, and homophobia isn’t just happening in the fraternities the rest of the campus feels it when frats engage in this behavior and receive little or no backlash from administrators and their own institutions. A student dies almost every other year when they go on their trips to Lake Shasta, and cultural centers have trouble booking houses for retreats because fraternities regularly rent homes to have raucous parties in that cause a lot of damage and noise complaints so racial justice organizations have difficulty doing their work preparing for the next year. There’s also the regulation of gender norms and expression, dress codes, makeup standards, shaming members for having sex with (particularly female) partners their peers have deemed unattractive or unworthy of sexual attention or even not having enough sex with the implication being that they’re gay. It would be really interesting to explore the lasting affects of these behaviors on individuals and the way other institutions function. I like that theirs some focus on this subject but I feel like there’s still more to be said.
As a european perusal College/University life in the US is the MOST cultural difference I see between our continents. Honestly I’ve always envied how awesome Uni life in America is, don’t get me wrong we have parties and all that but the level of comradely and partying seems amazing and it makes me jealous. But then i see the average cost of going to Uni in the US and that jealousy quickly fades.
I was in a Fraternity for a little bit and there was no hazing at all and everything we stood for was positive. I do see the negative sides to them but they do a lot for the traditions of the colleges that doesn’t even include money when it comes to experience. There is also a way to make fraternities positive, like the one I was in.
If u talk to ppl in fraternities in a normal setting, u can see most are regular ppl who like to have fun and be successful, which are the type of ppl I like. Im not in a frat, and I don’t drink, but I intern with a bunch of ppl from many different frats and most are on the path to success and living a happy balanced life more than most ppl at my school.
99% of fraternities aren’t killing people or raping women. It’s kind of sad the article doesn’t address any real positives fraternities bring. Community service, raising money for philanthropy, leadership development, business connections. Yes fraternities drink and have parties and can be rowdy but it’s mostly only huge party schools where the bad stuff happens. I think this article misrepresents the Greek community as a whole.
At my Alma mater there were two fraternities. Formerly 3, but the third frat (I forget the name, I think it started with a ‘Xi’) had been given a four year suspension by the University for an incident the previous year involving fireworks INSIDE the frat house leading to two deaths. And by coincidence that year also had the University President at the time stepped down (I’m sure that it was just a coincidence that he was a longtime member and had no ALLEGED involvement trying to sweep it under the rug).
Fraternity wars destroyed frats in my university ever since one of the spy from a fraternity causes a fire in one of the enemy fraternity our school had a major crackdown on them this includes filing lawsuits on the older members and harsh sanctions on students that are proven to be part of a fraternity.
I think one major thing that should have been mentioned and kind of was, was that a lot of Greek Life organizations bring in a bunch of money for charities. yea they also donate to their schools and i really hate a lot of the Greek Life on my campus, it’s almost inescapable which sucks and can be uncomfortable when you’re not a part of it. However, the money that frats and sororities raise for charitable college each year is pretty staggering.
As a proud member of a fraternity, I appreciate the historical contextualization you provided in this article. Clearly many young people and collegiate administrators still see value in these organizations. As the culture of Greek life changes over time, organizations and institutions must adapt. It’s not simply a money issue, it’s an issue of preparing students to live better lives following graduation. It’s a set of values to conduct one’s life through while finding a home away from home. I would advise you to speak with Sorority and Fraternity Professionals further on this topic.
I have been a higher ed fundraiser for nearly 20 years. I can tell you with confidence that membership doesn’t equal higher rates or even likelihood of giving TO THE UNIVERSITY. The connections created are with the org, not the university/college. The only way to get around this is to create a fund within the institution’s foundation or finance office specifically for the frat. Even then, it takes education and leg work to get the members to support it. You’ll need alumni volunteers and undergrad members to buy-in. These orgs also have national philanthropy obligations, so the university also competes with them to get donations.
Fraternities aren’t the problem, it’s the people who join the Fraternity that can present the problem. At the core, the people at that chapter make up the fraternity. It’s the same way with a friend group, if you chose the wrong friends then you will go down with them. Besides that, The vast majority of chapters nationwide have some sort of bylaws that will punish anyone convicted of hazing. So again, it’s the people inside fraternities not the organization.
I don’t know if this is true for US fraternities, but here in Europe fraternities have an important role during college. You get the possibility to assume leadership-roles in an environment where making a mistake isn’t detrimental for your future career. Every board-member is a student with little to none leadership experience, so when a mistake is made it isn’t that bad. The positive side of this, is that the board-members won’t make those mistakes anymore when they start working. This makes those people more effective in the rest of their lives. Even when you don’t participate in a function where you have to lead, it is a valuable experience to get to know how hierarchy works. Almost all companies depend on some form of hierarchy, so coming prepared isn’t a bad way of entering the working-pool. At the moment a study is being done on the impact of fraternities on the forming of friendships and the quality of that friendship. This study has been going on for more than 5 years now, monitoring new groups of students every year in three different countries. Besides the new students, a lot of old fraternity-members are also participating in these studies, thanks to the fact that fraternities have active contact with old-members. Some publications related to this study are found here: theffs.nl/publicaties-eng/ I know Vox isn’t a objective source of news, and maybe the situation is totally different in the US, but calling fraternities “overrated” on the basis of a couple of negative publications is just unfounded and based on the idea a lot of people probably prefer to hear they are “overrated” instead of facing the possibility that their lingering opinion on fraternities may be wrong.
Greek life has given myself, along with many of my friends, numerous leadership, philanthropic, social, and professional benefits. While there are bad chapters out there, greek life should not be stereotyped as something that is entirely bad. Chapter to chapter, there is great difference in community engagement, philanthropic efforts, and overall goals. Some chapters look to better their men, and others only go as far as having many social opportunities. This is something that you cannot stereotype.
There’s a similar system in Swedish universities where student unions are granted permission to use (and sometimes construct) university buildings and resources for parties, pubs and weird initiation ceremonies. The idea there is that by granting the students these privileges, the administration both prevents the problems with doing that stuff illegally and in secret (like not wanting to call an ambulance when someone gets alcohol poisoning) and has something to threaten to take away when they want to apply pressure, e.g. to enforce less ducky hazing procedures.
The solutions to Frats are LLCs (Living Learning Communities) LLCs have better leadership than frats because they are run by college faculity and professors instead of outside organizations. LLCs can be monitored better than frats. They are often academically based instead of socially based making less party centric
I was in Greek life for two years at CSUS then an after college Sorority, as well as a bikers club in my mid 20s. Realising that it was trying to belong and not real life nor would these get me anywhere in real life I changed to my city, county for groups, committees etc. I’m not political at all in the politician sense I just gave my time and knowledge for bettering the community I live in after having to leave my job because I became disabled. Giving my time on my terms is something I have been able to do and Skype to meetings when I can’t go because of 3 major back surgeries as well as two auto immune diseases out of remission and going through chemo treatments for almost 3 years now (which hinders me so I can’t be around more than 3 or so people in a room without wearing my breathing mask which distracts people and gets attention drawn to me not to mention some violations of my personal and medical privacy.
Not a huge fan of frats, but how could colleges stop them from existing? Officially recognizing these organizations isn’t free, but it allows institutions to exercise some sort of oversight. If colleges “banned” them, they’d still be right there, just off campus, doing their thing–just without the college setting and enforcing any policies.
As someone born and raised in the UK, fraternities with their weird little houses and their names composed of two or three apparently random greek letters, are completely alien to me. I don’t understand them at all. Sure, I shared accommodation with other students when I was at university, but I barely talked to the other people there. It certainly wasn’t like some kind of club or society.
It seems a lot of people think that a fraternity forces you to think one way or hangout only with people in the group. Being in a fraternity I have never encountered this and people disagree with each other all of the time on issues concerning the chapter and the outside world. In fact, I have seen organizations breakup over philosophical differences on the chapters directions or practices. Group think is always a problem, but this is present in cultures and religions as well on a much bigger scale. You are also free to hangout with anyone you want, you are just more likely to hangout with your brothers because fraternity processes (while they do involve plenty of unnecessary things) bring you closer to them and the organization binds you to them in the same way a sports team or club does, if not more intensely. Greek life has a lot of serious issues that need to be addressed and I totally get why it looks stupid, but it isn’t like you are entering an organization that controls your life or anything like that, you always have the freedom to leave and think for yourself while inside the organization.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with social organizations aiming to organize fun, social, and memorable events. The problem has to do with frat culture as it has developed over the years. At a time when boys are transitioning into manhood, masculinity is fraught with confusion and is highly susceptible to societal expectations. The biggest issue with frats is that they teach a performative and ultimately violent form of manhood that includes substance abuse, destruction of property, sexual assault, and complete disregard for self-development and emotional growth. At the tender age of 18, most boys just want to have a sense of belonging and to have fun; they are perfect victims for the tornadoes of destructive attitudes and behaviors offered as gospel by frats.
lowkey think fraternities help. Wasn’t in one but this is what I saw… The kids who grinded academics ended up too socially awkward / stressed to pass an interview both in the technical and culture. The kids who did frats usually excelled in networking and landed good jobs. End of the day, GPA means nothing after college, just get that interview and ace it.
I think fraternities are actually beneficial, if held properly accountable. At the University of Georgia, fraternities are allowed to haze pledges whenever, wherever… unless they are in class. This encourages class attendance. Consider the fact that the average UGA student’s high school GPA > 4.0, they certainly aren’t calling anyone out for being a “nerd.” There are massive stakes for drug hazing and the majority of them refrain from it. However, this doesn’t mean pledges have it easy, they still have to consume copious amounts of alcohol, aimlessly humiliate themselves, and do chores or run errands for the active brothers. In doing so, the pledges are able to learn respect for authority if they hadn’t already, respect for each other as they all know how their fellow pledges are suffering, and they are able to gain respect from the actives who were once in the same position. Through the hardships they can make lifelong bonds with strong mutual trust and respect. Obviously, fraternities can be toxic and distasteful, but I think the argument that they are “overrated” or just all-around negative aspects of American colleges is an argument devoid of nuance told from the perspective of those who don’t know a fraternity’s benefits. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk👍
I want to mention that he never noted D9 (historically African American org) or Latin American orgs. Those are 2 that we’re made out of resistance to racism and discrimination in the early 20th century and have famous members who work for justice, (MLK, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, and other famous people) Those are not like other frats at all 💯. Look up “Divine 9”.
I’m in a Fraternity in college and if anything I have been more inclined to do better in school and drink less. Overall Greek life is a wonderful thing. To mention there are shortcomings is needed but are wildest out of proportion in comparison to the way some non-Greek life students act. If anything Fraternities give structure and the ability to better discipline myself.
You can literally find a place in any fraternity. We have the most fratty of frat guys and the most nerdy of nerds and nobody gets treating differently because of it. The guys that have dungeons and dragons night are still friends with the guys the go out and party. And most fraternities are extremely strict to grades
I’m pretty nerdy and I hate frat bros but if this study admits these organizations increase the income of their members after graduation, then is it really fair to get rid of them? The alcohol-soaked masculine culture is gross but they do provide an incredibly value service, by creating networks and teaching useful personality traits.
In my country (Ukraine) there is no such thing as fraternities. And I think it is good. People come to universities to gain knowledge, so there is no such thing as bullying anyone and the smartest ones are usually the most respected ones. I’ve watched a lot of American comedies about college life, so I know it sounds utopian, but it’s really like that here. At least, in good universities, I don’t know what’s going on in bad ones.
Fraternities bring in tons of money for the school But wow binge drinking?! No way! Also most Frats require certain GPA limits as higher GPAs give the fraternity better football seats and other perks. As someone who has severe social anxiety a fraternity saved my life. I was thrust in a situation where I had to be social and I kind of sorta came out of my shell. I met friends that I will love for the rest of my life, had so many fun experiences and alot of bad ones to learn from! But at least I had those experiences rather then staying in my room all day taking drugs and being depressed. Fraternities get a bad rap by people who weren’t in one but everyone who has ever joined one minus a few will say it was the best time of their lives and again it saved my life.
As a minority in a fraternity at a large SEC school, the detriments of greek life are exaggerated and vilified. I’ve felt nothing but welcome in my fraternity, and I’ve made life-long friendships and have had some great experiences during my undergrad. No one ever talks about how much greek life-related philanthropy contributes to local and nationwide organizations.
Something else happened in 1900-1920-ish era, which was enthusiasm for secret society rituals not only in colleges. It was the heydey of the KKK and they managed to attract many members with their Masonic style secret rituals dialed up to 10. Anywhere else you could form a community group (benign or not), it seemed like people were REALLY into that hokey secret ritual around that time. I wonder if it was a result of imitating rich young college kids, or the other way around?
“Fraternities and sororities, or Greek letter organizations are social organizations at colleges and universities. A form of the social fraternity, they are prominent in the United States, with small numbers of mostly non-residential fraternities existing in France, Canada, and the Philippines” (Wikipedia1.) 🙂
As a member of Greek life, I would like the opportunity to defend it. On our campus Greek life has an increased GPA by .2, a higher on time graduation rate than the rest of campus, and completes over 2/3 of service hours and fundraising despite being about 25% of the student body. This is at a large SEC school. Our Greek system is far from unique in this regard. There are many studies not shown in this article that show Greek students nationally have higher GPAs, earn over 10k more than non Greek college grads, less likley to be alcoholics after graduation, and are 3x LESS likely to die of alcohol fatality. I encourage you to do your own research on this, and not just take this article’s word that Greek life is “overrated” without looking at the benefits.
Fraternities do more on campus than any other organizations, and there isn’t an academic drop in all fraternities and campuses. On average members of Greek life perform far above average on my campus. Hazing is also not at every school or fraternity, and is not something that the agrees with the values of fraternities. Fraternities act as a support network, a family away from home. If you say colleges should just get rid of fraternities you don’t see any of the philanthropic good fraternities and sororities do everyday, but I guess social capital isn’t equal and you’ll only be judged for the egregious acts of a few bad eggs.
This comment section is written by people who have barely any first hand knowledge of what a fraternity is. Literally we just want to have a good time in college, hold people accountable for having bad behavior around girls, and keep in mind there are some people who aren’t safe (and at the rate faternities are getting kicked off everything will have to be turned down a notch). The fact is, this is mostly an opinion piece, and the fact this guy has the audacity to say “frat” needs to understand that it sounds ridiculous. Also to those who say we are paying for friends, your goddamn right, it just comes with a lot of other things too 👐🏻
So many people talking out their asses right now. This is so misinformed. Frats don’t prevent you from doing well. I’m at the university of Illinois which is a top five college for mechanical engineering and I find it fine to keep a good GPA if you’re not a time wasting idiot. Frat parties being unsafe is also very untrue. We don’t initiate members or allow in members who are creeping on girls. Random parties where random people can go creates what is dangerous. Most sorority girls know a few guys in each house they go to and can ask for help if them or a friend is in trouble. We all have a big community together and we’re just trying to have a little more fun in our short college years. Anything beyond this is just people missing the point.
Fraternities are what you make of it. I came to my university not knowing many people, let alone what to do in my spare time. After joining my fraternity and seeing all the opportunities I had ahead of me, I took advantage. I am currently the philanthropy chairman and have raised over $10,000 for the Ability Experience. My fraternity also completed 385 service hours this past semester. There are some folks who join to drink, and there are some who join to take advantage of easy opportunities. Also, college students drink. Since when did it become a stereotype to do it with an organizational label? For those who sit alone in their dorm rooms or apartments ripping on greek life from the stands, I am so sorry you aren’t enjoying yourself in college.
It’s yet another thing only done in America while the rest of the world watches in bafflement. There are no such things as fraternities, sororities or any other kind of “social group” in universities outside the US. I mean there are sports teams and clubs maybe, maybe a few “secret societies”, but nothing like what exists in the US. The point of college is to get an education, not engage in extreme segregation of the student body that fosters tribalism and aggressive behavior. In some colleges, you can’t really even socialize or date people outside of whatever social structure is imposed by the college’s “Greek life”. Not to mention, selection is highly based on looks, money, and even race, and there are clear hierarchies, i.e. which is the top frat, second best, etc. That seems more suited for a reality TV show than a prestigious institution of higher learning. But then again, the other issue is that unless you’re pursuing a technical or science degree, education in US colleges is a joke. So-called “liberal arts” education is nothing more than discussing social issues, some history, politics, in maybe 2 hrs of lecture per day and then writing a few essays. That frees you up to do stupid stuff the rest of the time, so no wonder frats and sororities are so popular.
I think this is the first Vox article I’ve disliked. I’m in a fraternity at my University and have had nothing but positive experiences with my membership. People forget that fraternities are more than just a social “drinking” club and can have positive developments of character. With the recent jargon in the news about the dangerous environments fraternities allegedly create it’s easy to forget the priorities and values embedded in the initiation process. Additionally, my fraternity lost a brother in a freak car accident a couple weeks ago and the support group provided by the unity of the brothers was uncanny. Definitely reconsider your opinion on fraternities, they’re more important in the maturity of boys to men then you would imagine.
Oo a .25 drop, so i cant be a 3.5 im only a 3.25 Metric worth to academic value is only good for making people who want to read and write papers all day. Wish the school system was more geared towards application and on job experience than some made up realm of responsibilities and assignments that is current american college. Id be curious to see what other social groups result in an academic drop
This article is based on stereotypes, and I’d like to know if a single study was conducted with or by any member of Greek life, or if it was based on the clips from movies that you showed. If your knowledge of fraternities come from movies it is like getting your understanding of gravity from a Superman comic.
If you were in a Fraternity during your undergraduate time in college, you would know that you NEVER use the word Frat. It’s like saying my country….would you shorten it to say “my c…..”? No, it’s disrespectful and stereotypical to say that all Fraternities haze, binge drink, party every night, wear their letters all of the time, treat women poorly, are racist, etc… It’s ridiculous. Greek Life isn’t for everyone, but it really makes the college experience fun for millions.
Nerds nerds nerds? What an outdated stereotype. The idea of a “nerd” has changed too. It’s less of an insult and often takes the same qualities of “geek” that some people wear proudly. Frats are lame but I think this article could benefit greatly from you taking on the perspective of a modern college student.
This article really has no idea what it is even talking about. Vox cherry picks their studies that they use. Greek life has been one of the positive experiences of my entire life. Average GPA in Greek life on average is higher than non-greeks. The connections with your brothers are lifelong, and it really helps to grow better men. No matter what, your brothers are there for you. Plus the benefits and connections later in life are priceless. Greek life gets a bad rap because of very few isolated cases and that should not represent it as a whole.
I think one of the reasons my brother joined the fraternity is because of the scholarship they offer. When we were in college, my older brother and I used to live together in a rented apartment near campus. Some of his closest “fratmates” lived with us for a year/sem/month/week or if they just need a place to stay to complete requirements or units. I saw how they supported each other and viewed themselves as an extended family mem. That’s why I have a positive view on them. Also, I gained a lot of brothers. Well, my brother definitely joined a good one.
I do admit, I would have been like you if I didn’t join a fraternity. I came into when COVID hit and it wrecked college social life. So I started reaching out to people in my dorm and they were standoff-ish not really wanting to do stuff with COVID around. But then a fraternity reached out and invited me to meet them. Grabbed some food with them and got to see what they were about. Coming from a background in Boy Scouts and having those friends you can depend on, and you come to know as lifelong brothers, transfered into fraternity life. I am happy to have joined my organization and recommend young men going into college to give it a shot.
I’m glad I did not choose to live in a frat house. Basically, when COVID was coming to an end, my university reopened. I live about 1.5 hrs away from the university, almost 2 hrs with traffic. I was going places and finding a good place to settle. A frat house opened the place for all students because they happened to have an empty room. At that point, I didn’t really know what “frat” means. I dodged a massive bullet there. I am not a party boy. I’d rather play games at my room than partying. It’s nauseating, even just looking at this article.
That almost like A Trap house but fraternity Trap house They just ruined their wall and some of fraternity House’s clean not messy Number 1 always clean up after the party Number 2 cleaning up their kitchen !! TRAP Fraternity house I know they’re act like little kids but all adults And they not let their own parents sees that too that’s A Trap fraternity house not fraternity house