What significance, if any, do college fraternities have to conspiracy theorists?

I know many conspiracy theorists love to harp on Yale's Skull and Bones, but what about the dozens of other college fraternities out there? To the conspiracy theorists, are some or all of these fraternities part of a conspiracy? Or are they just a bunch of immature, beer guzzling, louts?

College fraternities have many of the features that masons have. They have secret rituals, passwords, and handshakes. They claim many prominent people as members. Many say college fraternities form elite social and business networks.

reply to post by hotpinkurinalmint


Well if an old boy network is a conspiracy, then I suppose you could look at it that way. If you mean that they are up to some malicious or criminal behavior, I'd have to disagree.

Fraternities bring about feelings of comraderie that reinforce loyalty, which can be manipulated by more powerful or more clever individuals. This is the front-door of conspiracies, but not all inclusive. This also does not mean that every conspiracy is mounted against society in general either. There may simply be a conspiracy to get cheaper beer somehow, or even to steal it.

I'm sure some fraternities (and sororities - let's not leave them out) actively work in conspiratorial ways to advance the careers/priorities/agendas of their members, whether those members are currently enrolled in college/university or out in the workforce. You already mentioned Skull and Bones, the most famous of these.

But there's a fine line between a quote-unquote "conspiracy" and friends/acquaintances helping one another out. I'm not and never have been a member of a fraternity, but of the four jobs I've held in my life - two of them summer gigs during high school and college, one in a position with my university, and my current job - I've benefited from a friend's recommendation in three of them. It was that recommendation/connection that got my foot in the door and (at least) gained me an interview.

Does that mean that my friends and I "conspired" to get me those jobs? I don't think so.

Most of the people I know benefited from a friend/family member's recommendation - at least in part - in getting their current jobs. Being a member of a fraternity/sorority just increases the number of potential connections you have.

You also have to consider the role that fraternities and sororities play on college campuses. I've visited friends at several small, private colleges where nearly everyone - I'm talking upwards of 90% of every graduating class - was a member of a fraternity or sorority. That's just how the social life operates on some campuses, including some larger schools. You're bound to have a few uber-high achievers in a group that large.

That said, most of the Greeks I knew in school fall into the (as you put it) "immature, beer guzzling, louts" category. Of course, so did most of the non-Greeks - including yours truly, from what I can remember...

For the record, I was a member of a college fraternity. I knew of a few members of my fraternity getting a little help from alumni of the fraternity, but there was not much of an old boy's network. There was a guy in my frat who got his first job out of college working as an engineer for a firm owned by an alumn of the fraternity. There was another guy in my frat who interviewed with an alumn of the fraternity and talked about the fraternity during the job interview, but did not get a job.

Unfortunately, there was no "conspiracy" in place to help me get ahead as being a fraternity member got me nowhere career wise. I did get help finding work through a professor I did some research for.