“boys will be boys” in 3, 2, 1…
nothing changes… there is nothing new under the sun. 
i have a sad
As an educator it still weirds me out that the college experience is largely just about frats and football for so much of America, especially since the culture surrounding both seems largely antithetical to academia.
I wonder if we could spin those two institutions off into their own separate thing and let everyone else focus on learning and stuff?
Sexual harassment? There are billboards more provocative than these.
This is why we have things like warnings and reprimands (and - ironically - education), instead of jumping straight to suspension.
I’m not comfortable foisting these levels of sensitivity and consequences onto 18 year old men in a culture that still promotes this behavior through almost every possible consumer avenue
Actually something did change. They got called on the behavior and the university gave them the boot over it which probably would not have happened 20 years ago.
We had this fraternity at Tulane. Frankly, if they had been as open about their raping as this, we’d all be forewarned and forearmed.
At Tulane most of the Signma Nu brothers were soccer or rugby jocks from wealthy families. They were very very good looking and very very rich.
They had a lot of parties targeting Frosh ladies, but the one that was just a big old coordinated rapefest was their “Freshman Girl’s Tea.”
The brothers would hand deliver written invitations for this. Girls were to dress up. The brothers wore khakis and sport jackets and looked very handsome. After the girls arrived, they popped the corks off of bottles and bottles of champagne (one per brother) and got the girls good and plastered. Then they opened up ten kegs in the back yard. And there were, off course, the ever present “vat” of mysterious mixed drinks (usually pure grain alcohol mixed with kool-aid). All with a group of teenagers who had very little drinking experienced.
Actually, this is why there are codes of conduct that fraternities must adhere to if they wish to continue their existence within a University. I can pretty much guarantee that this organization was pre-warned not to engage in sexual-harassing-assholery.
Can an American explain what purpose fraternities/sororities are supposed to serve?
They just seem to be an institutionalisation of some of the worst aspects of university (college) life.
When I was at university we didn’t need a fraternity to help us drink too much, that was what the student union bar was for. Although I guess some of the sports clubs were a bit like fraternities.
I’m expecting a more weaselly “this was a few individuals and not sanctioned by the fraternity as a whole”. Which, even if true, still doesn’t say much for the fraternity as a whole. It would be hard to hide a project like that.
Reminds me of Trump’s moment of being too honest about how things really work, when he said that rich people like him buy off politicians and basically run politics in their own interest. These frat boys basically admitted that their culture’s basic attitude toward women is that they’re little more than cum buckets. They opened the curtain for a second, allowing all to see what goes on backstage, but the curtain will close soon, and all will go back to normal in Bro Land.
They’re basically for buying friends and connections among the elites, connections that tend to last a lifetime (the Old Boy network). They’re also for assuring oneself that you’re among the elites, and thus better than the other layers of scum who exist out of sight and down the social ladder. They’re also for assuring ready access to members of the opposite sex who are supposedly at one’s own level, often in terms of conventional attractiveness and parents who have money. Their propaganda organs will spew crap about community service, supporting each other to get good grades and so on, but it’s all a cover for the real reasons they exist.
The university is just winding up to do something and has an investigation going. A careful read of the article seems to say the national fraternity has suspended and disavowed the local chapter. Might seem like no punishment but it’s part of the process of completely disavowing some individuals and leaving them open to whatever hammer comes down.
You probably wouldn’t have seen these sheet messages 20 years ago, I think they came in vogue 10-15 years ago.
I know one shouldn’t stereotype, but in general frats are full of people who are used to their popular high school cliques and aren’t ready to go out and live on their own and be their own people. You hear about so many retarded frat or sorority stunts because one person gets an idea and all the yes people behind them are like, “Oh yeah, totally! That will be so funny!”
Also, keep it classy, guys.
I came here to say this. Greek life is such a huge distraction from what is supposedly an educational institution. And colleges cut good but small programs and won’t pay profs or offer tenure, yet they sink money into six figure coach salaries and failing football programs.
FWIW, one of my daughters is currently looking at colleges, and one of the first thing she checks for is frat/sorority membership. Anything over 5-10% and she’s not even willing to look at their website. Literally, before looking at the academic offerings, the most important thing to check for in a U.S. college/university is that. (Sports mania is second.)
Fraternities used to be a different form of institutionalization of some of the worst aspects of university life, namely, that of elitism in response to the growing rise of colleges as a necessary institution for economic development. Poor kids could come get educated at college, but fraternities guaranteed they’d never gain access to the vast network of political and financial families and all the trappings therein.
In response, many of those poor kids formed their own fraternities, usually based around things like religion or career paths. They basically decided to “fight fire with fire” and form their own networks. These have always been highly informal, having larger classes and focused more on recruiting and sustaining popularity - they’re almost like a pyramid scheme, though they obviously do provide “benefits” to their members (benefits being of all kind both good and bad - connections, access, actual service opportunities for resume-building, drugs, alcohol, sex, shelter, whatever)
And @milliefink is right and wrong, as she describes both types of fraternities as one. Generally the Old Boy network ones keep their heads down low, but make no mistake, they are buying friends and connections; the second type of fraternity are the ones providing sex, alcohol, etc. in a race to the bottom for membership.
I’d like to point out that we’re really talking about WHITE fraternities/sororities. The traditionally African-American ones really are about community service and being a supportive network for each other.
Privilege is a dangerous drug.
One thing I like about the community college where I teach is that everyone is there to learn. Nobody goes to an urban campus with no fraternities or on-campus housing because they are just there to party.
It’s been weird and deeply saddening seeing colleges around here transition into universities and immediately feel the need for a football team… GSU did it a few years back (and last year got rid of the thing that actually MADE us unique, the radio station) and now Kennesaw State (which just merged with a polytechnic school) has one too, and they start playing this year. I think they do it because they think it’ll attract students who want the “proper” college experience. But how about you focus on growing research and stop trying to be like UGA or GA Tech.
I still don’t really get college sports.
For Brits, university sport just means you get Weds afternoon off.
