12-27-2007, 05:34 AM
When reading one of the Christmas posts another member of this board mentioned being part of a fraternity, and I was kind of curious on what others on this board felt about the existance of social Greek Life on university campuses nowadays.
I'm personally part of a fraternity - and I love it. It is an interest experience that has greatly added to my collegiate experience thus far, and I'm making life-long friends with some of my experiences. Whether its a 4:30 am snowball fight, or making a beer pong table out of snow (link), I've only been active for a semester and I love everything about it.
I understand, though, the negative stereotypes. There is another forum that I visit on a regular basis that is based on the sports at my university, and fraternities are frowned upon greatly (sororities are okay though - they like the girls!). Obviously, hazing is an issue with many chapters on many campuses. The biggest complaint that I seem to hear though, is the fact that Greeks have a tendency to look down upon others, or that they're the "ex-jocks" who're trying to relive the glory days of high school. Its an interesting phenomenon...
So I was kind of curious - who participated in Greek life back in their college days? What houses? What did or do you perceive as the positives & negatives nowadays?
Personally, I'm a Psi Upsilon. Positives? I can't argue with meeting lots of cute girls. I'm looking forward to living with 20-25 of my best friends next year when I move into my house. Its a safe place to go, and I'm taking over as treasurer of my house right now - meaning that I'm handling a non-profit that turns over almost $200,000 a year. Its also an interesting experience in dealing with 35-40 other guys who have differeing opinions & ideals in terms of what would be best for the organization as a whole. Negatives? The stereotypes kill. Its tough to walk down the street and know that some people will hate you just because you are Greek, or the rivalries between houses. I like to think that my house is pretty level headed & cool, but some houses are filled with people who intentionally like to screw things up for others.
I'd say that the positives outweigh the negatives, though. I love my house, I love the guys in it, and I love the experiences I've had because of it. I've got 2.5 more years of it coming, and I'm gonna love every minute of it.
-Baylan
I'm personally part of a fraternity - and I love it. It is an interest experience that has greatly added to my collegiate experience thus far, and I'm making life-long friends with some of my experiences. Whether its a 4:30 am snowball fight, or making a beer pong table out of snow (link), I've only been active for a semester and I love everything about it.
I understand, though, the negative stereotypes. There is another forum that I visit on a regular basis that is based on the sports at my university, and fraternities are frowned upon greatly (sororities are okay though - they like the girls!). Obviously, hazing is an issue with many chapters on many campuses. The biggest complaint that I seem to hear though, is the fact that Greeks have a tendency to look down upon others, or that they're the "ex-jocks" who're trying to relive the glory days of high school. Its an interesting phenomenon...
So I was kind of curious - who participated in Greek life back in their college days? What houses? What did or do you perceive as the positives & negatives nowadays?
Personally, I'm a Psi Upsilon. Positives? I can't argue with meeting lots of cute girls. I'm looking forward to living with 20-25 of my best friends next year when I move into my house. Its a safe place to go, and I'm taking over as treasurer of my house right now - meaning that I'm handling a non-profit that turns over almost $200,000 a year. Its also an interesting experience in dealing with 35-40 other guys who have differeing opinions & ideals in terms of what would be best for the organization as a whole. Negatives? The stereotypes kill. Its tough to walk down the street and know that some people will hate you just because you are Greek, or the rivalries between houses. I like to think that my house is pretty level headed & cool, but some houses are filled with people who intentionally like to screw things up for others.
I'd say that the positives outweigh the negatives, though. I love my house, I love the guys in it, and I love the experiences I've had because of it. I've got 2.5 more years of it coming, and I'm gonna love every minute of it.
-Baylan