Ask me anything (almost) about my college frat

There seems to be a lot of misinformation about secret societies here. I figure I can help by answering questions as frankly as I can about my own college fraternity. I will not give the name of my fraternity or anything that would give away the fraternity's identity, but anything else is fair game. The way I see it, it is like giving away a combination to a lock, without telling the person which lock the combination belongs.

So shoot. Perhaps you have questions about hazing, rituals, etc.

frats arnt exactly secret societies though.

But what kind of initiations did you have to go threw? can you describe them in full?

College frats are secret societies in that they have secret handshakes, passwords, and initiation rituals. Although many of their activities like parties, intramural sports, etc. are public, some activities like weekly meetings and initiation activities are private and secret.

My frat practiced a mild hazing program. Hazing is not really a function of a fraternity, as much as it is a function of the school the fraternity is at. So members of fraternity XYZ at a school in the south with a strong greek system will have a pledge program much more similar to other fraternities at the same school, them members of the same fraternity at schools in which the Greek system exists in a different environment. At the time I pledged, the Greek system at my school was struggling to survive. Thus, many frats including my owned made the pledge process more mild than it was 5-10 years before I pledged. Furthermore, by the time I was a college junior, hazing was pretty much irradicated from my fraternity's particular chapter. (We did have the pledges engage in fun activities that could be considered hazing like sending them out on scavenger hunts, but nothing was forced and drinking for pledges at activities was optional and as I recall nobody vomitted during a pledge activity from drinking too much.)

When I pledged, we had to memorize all sorts of information from the pledge manual and were quized at line ups. Our weekly pledge activities involved chugging beers, singing the house songs, and doing push ups. The toughest activities during hell week were "Black Supper" a ritual where the pledges ate nasty food like jalapeno peppers, having stuff like eggs and beer thrown on us, being tied up and being forced to listen to loud music.

yes but are you the next world leader/madman/Oil Baron/Globalist/Neo-Facist

all that beer and messing around will really mess your head up

My serious question would be:

Will you meet up with your fellow members in your future life and do all that it takes to help each other to be successful (whatever you define as that...)

Do you or did you ever have affiliations with Lambda Lambda Lambda?

Were you invloved with the vote of "No on 13"?

Care to add additional comments?

Becoming a member of a fraternity and the relationships you have with other members of the fraternity is not that much different from joining any other organization like a church or sports team, and the relationships amongst members is not that much different than the relationships between sports team members or church members.

Being in a frat is like being part of any other social network, it can help open some doors, but it is not a guarantee that you will be accepted into anything. Some members of my fraternity were great guys, and I still keep in contact with them. Some of them were jerks and I would not want to deal with them. While I was in school, one member of the frat was able to get a job with an alumn of the fraternity who would often come to the house during football tailgate parties. Another member of the house was ***NOT*** given a job with an alumn he interviewed with. Going to the same church, having your kids in the same little league, or being on the same sports teams offer similar or even better networking advantages than fraternity membership. In fact, I would recommend that if any kid out there wants to make the right connections in college, they should join professional societies, research groups, and athletic teams. These are much more wholesome and productive ways to network.

Originally posted by masonite
Do you or did you ever have affiliations with Lambda Lambda Lambda?

Were you invloved with the vote of "No on 13"?

Care to add additional comments?

Ha! Ha! Ha!

I guess I've been outed!

Originally posted by hotpinkurinalmint
Our weekly pledge activities involved chugging beers, singing the house songs, and doing push ups. The toughest activities during hell week were "Black Supper" a ritual where the pledges ate nasty food like jalapeno peppers, having stuff like eggs and beer thrown on us, being tied up and being forced to listen to loud music.

I would just like to point out that many Fraternities do not have their pledges take part any base or crude activities.

Also, for the record it all depends on the Fraternity you belong too. Some form life long friendships, others do not. Some are great for networking some are not. Some are enjoyable, some are not.

So, please take things you hear about Fraternties with a grain of salt.

-- Boat

Originally posted by Boatphone

Originally posted by hotpinkurinalmint
Our weekly pledge activities involved chugging beers, singing the house songs, and doing push ups. The toughest activities during hell week were "Black Supper" a ritual where the pledges ate nasty food like jalapeno peppers, having stuff like eggs and beer thrown on us, being tied up and being forced to listen to loud music.

I would just like to point out that many Fraternities do not have their pledges take part any base or crude activities.

Also, for the record it all depends on the Fraternity you belong too. Some form life long friendships, others do not. Some are great for networking some are not. Some are enjoyable, some are not.

So, please take things you hear about Fraternties with a grain of salt.

-- Boat

You are correct, that fraternities differ broadly. Even individual chapters in one fraternity can differ. Fraternity ABC at University X can be an outstanding organization, and Fraternity ABC at University Y can be full of slimeballs.

As far as hazing goes, you are correct in that there are many fraternities these days that truly have non-hazing policies. Virtually all fraternities have an official non-hazing policy, which is often not enforced. There was one frat on my campus that had a "no hazing policy," but they made their pledges spend several hours a week doing chores. Some people have different definitions of hazing. Somebody from one of my frat's Canadian chapters said with all sincerity his chapter did not haze, but their initiation involved locking pledges in closets for several hours. The definitions of hazing can often be broad and can include many activities that are voluntary and genuinely fun for the pledges. For example, at the end of my college career my chapter did not have anything I would consider hazing. We did have scavenger hunts, that initiated members sometimes participated in along with pledges, which could be defined as hazing by some loose definititons of the term.