Sororities-past & now

[tulip]

Deb--St. A's?

[DebW]

Deb--St. A's?

No, it was a local, with no national affiliation. Used to be a Sigma Nu chapter, but after our house went coed and made national news, we got kicked out because the national was all male.

[Triskeliongirl]

me too, not to mention how prominent alcohol consumption was in all of their events. I never gave either of my sons a push in either direction and was pleased when neither of them showed any interest in frats either.

Mimi, they are not just about drinking, at least not at MIT. At MIT they even compete for which frat has the highest GPA. I am not stupid, I know they have parties with alcohol, so do lots of student groups, but I think mostly its about supporting each other personally, academically, etc.

[Tuckervill]

I was never in a sorority, but my sister went to NC State and was. She's still friends with the girls. I sometimes wish I would have pledged, but I was such a goofy geek that I felt I did not belong.

My oldest daughter is going to San Francisco State where they do have sororities, but no houses, so hardly anyone joins. Sororities cannot have houses because of an old law on the SF books against several unmarried women living together. I guess SF had some past issues with bawdy houses. *snicker*. I think it's about time to repeal that law.

I heard the same thing recently about another state, which led me to check it out on snopes.com. It's an urban legend. http://www.snopes.com/college/halls/brothel.asp

Karen

[bikerHen]

I was in a Sorority. A group of us dorm girls wanted to start a Sorority. Long story short, we couldn't and were encouraged to pledge Delta Zeta which at the time was having membership problems. So about 20 of the most unlikely sorority girls ever, ventured into the greek system. This was the mid 70's and thankfully the whole greek system was a little laid back in Northern California.

There were 5 or 6 sororities and maybe 7 frats. The houses were small and it was not required to live in the house. We went to UCLA once for some sort of west coast sorority thing. The house we stayed at was just like something you would see in a 60's movie. Big house, formal everything, special dorm room for pledges and prissy girls. We were rough, rowdy and could drink anyone under the table. We all felt like the poor country cousins. I have some of my best memories from that weekend! Including a car load of us girls knocking on the door of an RV to use the bathroom while stuck in traffic going over the Grapevine.

It was fun, glad I did it, had some great moments but it's not for everyone. bikerHen

[Biciclista]

I heard the same thing recently about another state, which led me to check it out on snopes.com. It's an urban legend. http://www.snopes.com/college/halls/brothel.asp

Karen

lol, that's a good one. I'm glad you followed up. There's plenty of sorority houses, sheesh.

[Biciclista]

Mimi, they are not just about drinking, at least not at MIT. At MIT they even compete for which frat has the highest GPA. I am not stupid, I know they have parties with alcohol, so do lots of student groups, but I think mostly its about supporting each other personally, academically, etc.

Depends on the school, Trisk. The school I went to (Fairleigh Dickinson U) hahaha, they had keggers.

Washington State University, any alumni want to speak up?

[GLC1968]

When I went for my first bachelors (as a traditional aged student) I attend a school where fraternities and sororites were not allowed. They went against the original charter of the school which was something like "all opportunies for all students". We had NO groups on campus that excluded anyone. In fact, we were the first college in the country to be coed from it's inception (Oberlin, I think - beat us out for first coed college - but they started out all male and we never did). Anyway, it was a small school, so there really wasn't a need for them.

When I got my second bachelors at a big FL school, greek life was pretty huge, but I didn't bother as I was significantly older than 'traditional' coeds.

My brother went to a large southern school and he was in a fraternity. Without it, he would have been lost in the massive student body, I think.


Trisk - I didn't know you went to Brandeis either! I have one credit from there as I took a summer calculus course there when I was an undergrad. One of my closest friends from HS went there and loved it.

[Mr. Bloom]

Mimi, they are not just about drinking.

Even at 'party' schools schools it wasn't all about drinking and parties. In fact, the degree of partying can be directly correlated to the school's academic rigors. I'll assure you that in my day, we did not have 'frats'. We were a 'fraternity' and never used the frat word.

Some of my best preparation for life - organizing groups, negotiation, reading people - came from both the good and bad aspects of the Greek experience

Sorry for the highjack.

[Mistie]

I went to Longwood College (now University). We were really small. I was in a sorority. At first, I felt that the hazing was a little extreme (I went in before the hazing laws), but I managed. After I became a sister, I loved it. We recently got together and it was really fun.

[tulip]

Mr. Silver, c'mon! I was in college in "your day" and the term "frat" was used extensively, by those in fraternities and independents. Granted, we went to different schools, but big public basketball schools still. Nothing wrong with "frat" as a term, it's just shorter is all!

I didn't join a sorority, but I had friends who were in them and they liked them alot. My freshman roomate was totally into it, and she needed that structure. Yes, she partied, but she also studied hard because if she didn't make the grades, she would be on probation with the sorority. It was good for her. I was just rebelling against the dominant culture at the time. Ah, Youth!

[indigoiis]

I was never in a sorority, but my sister went to NC State and was. She's still friends with the girls. I sometimes wish I would have pledged, but I was such a goofy geek that I felt I did not belong.

I also went to NC State and was a little sister in a fraternity. Although most of the guys were fairly studious / serious, being a little sister meant nothing more than helping coordinate parties and events.

[Pax]

I was a Tr-Delt legacy but even my mom knew there was zero chance of me joining...in the 70's and early 80's you got kicked out if they found out you were gay.

[Aggie_Ama]

Sororities are gaining popularity at Texas A&M but still not the norm. I could hardly afford college so I definitely could not afford the average $2,500/year for sorority life. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it myself.

I did not have any friends that were sorority gals or fraternity boys but I didn't oppose the groups, just never really befriended them. My husband and his friends jokingly call us a co-ed fraternity, we even have code intials. Mainly we all suffered through working together sometime at Lowe's and that was our "brotherhood". Everyone in the "frat" has lived with one or more person at sometime.

[Triskeliongirl]

Intersting you say sorority life is expensive. My son finds living in a fratnernity house cheaper than living in a dorm, since the fraternity owns their house, and food prepared by their cook is cheaper than a meal plan. As Mr. Silver stated, I see a lot of positive things coming from his experience. He is being mentored by alumni of his fraternity in the business world. For example, he got a job as a microsoft student partner through this mechanism. Same thing with access to internships, career counseling, etc. I know, I had no clue either about any of this since it wasn't part of my experience.

Its true that you can argue that membership is 'exclusive' but my observation of that process is that its simply about kids finding a good fit with a group of friends, so its not exclusive in a discriminatory way. In fact, my son's frat is the most racially diverse of all frats on campus, and I believe has the second highest GPA for whatever that is worth. I was so impressed when I met his brothers. It was also interesting for me to watch how they did an intervention on a brother who was partying too much and having academic problems. They definitely got him onto the straight and narrow. In fact, my son's first dorm assignment was in a dorm with a huge drug problem (yeh, the air in his suite was thick with pot smoke, even on parent's weekend), and the frat house was a safe haven in which he could work and get away from all that until we were able to get his dor transfer processed. Even though freshmen weren't allowed to live in frat houses, they gave him a bed and desk (free of charge) until he get his housing assignment sorted out with the housing office.

Yes, my son has organized some huge parties, but I view this as a terrific learning experience. He emphasizes how critical it is to be sober in order to put on one of these parties, the fun is not getting drunk, its managing to organize a large event and have it go off without a snag. Leadership training is huge. At MIT kegs aren't allowed, and party plans must be submitted to a council for approval. Its all very strictly regulated.