<p>Is it true that the fraternities all wear coats and ties at the football games?</p>
<p>Are you for real? In this day and age? Oh wow, maybe my kid would be shell shocked down there.</p>
<p>From my experience as a former student and frequent visitor to Bryant Denny Stadium, my guess is that the only students required to wear suits and ties are the freshman pledges. The upper classmen may dress up as well, but they don’t wear suits during the game like the pledges. Actually, if you look at the endzone student section, most of the Frat boys are not in suit and tie.</p>
<p>Yes, there is the expectation of dressing up for the football games if you are in a fraternity or sorority. That expectation doesn’t extend to the general student body.</p>
<p>I really am perplexed by this. Would you please explain to me why it is expected that those in frats and sororities dress up?</p>
<p>My boys are not in a frat, so they wear “regular clothes” - Bama T or Bama hoodie and either shorts or pants. The majority of the students in the “student section” are wearing regular Bama clothes. My boys have never complained about seeing pledges dressed this way. What’s the big deal? It’s not hazing; it’s just good clean fun. :)</p>
<p>This is NOT a UA requirement… this is a frat requirement for their pledges (don’t know if all frats require this.) It’s supposed to be a sign of respect for their frat and for their school. The frat pledges wear khaki pants, shirt, frat tie, and a blazer. I think that once you’re initiated, you wear your frat polo shirt. My nephew at Vandy (a pledge) has to do this. </p>
<p>It’s an southern thing, but not just a SEC thing. UVirginia and UNC-Chapel Hill (not SEC) greeks do this, too.</p>
<p>Many sorority girls wear sun dresses during the warm weather games, and regular clothes to cold games. I don’t think they are required to wear sundresses during warm games - I think they do it for comfort and cuteness LOL These aren’t pricey dresses, just some comfortably cool dress (stadiums are hot on warm days!) </p>
<p>Non-Greek girls just wear regular clothes - but if they want to wear a sundress for comfort, that’s fine, too. One of my son’s female friends (not Greek) loves dresses from Anthropolgie and New York Company, so wears those nearly everyday when weather permits (to school and games). That may be weird, but who cares??? 
LOL</p>
<p>While it may be “different,” it isn’t bizarre. As a Californian, I’ve gone to USC and UCLA games, and the Greeks dress nicely for their games, too. When we attended our first “southern” football game, sure we noticed the blazer/khaki thing. But, we didn’t find it appalling or “OMG, what are they doing?” It was just, “Oh, this is what the pledges do. They look nice.” </p>
<p>Seriously, no big deal. It’s something they do for about 4-5 home games.</p>
<p>Thanks again Mom for your great explanation. I didn’t find appalling, just strange.</p>
<p>this article from this week’s Wall Street Journal discusses a bit of the SEC football tradition…</p>
<p>[Southern</a> Football’s Dating Game - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574532052658242422.html]Southern”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574532052658242422.html)</p>
<p>fyi, this made me kinda sick but that’s just me…</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Then you better be “sick” about other schools all over the country, too. It really annoys me to have something that is done on many campuses across the US, but it gets “singled out” when a southern school does it, and then you have people acting like, “OMG, that sickens me” or whatever - without bothering to find out that that is “business as usual” at some of their favorite non-southern schools that are on their application “lists.” </p>
<p>That article is very misleading…at least about Bama.</p>
<p>Regarding the empty seats. There aren’t “seats” in the student section, there are benches and students don’t have assigned seats. So, you might have 12 kids crowding in a bench row designed for 15 kids. Many of the students stand during the games - smooshed together in an area designed for less students. This can give the “appearance” of empty seats elsewhere in the student section. </p>
<p>Also, student tickets are sold in sets, so you buy a set, and you might not go to every game for whatever reason. The same goes for regular season ticket holders. </p>
<p>All clubs are eligible for “block seating,” at Bama. Many clubs don’t avail themselve of it, but you can’t blame the Greeks for that. It’s like everyone can submit a FAFSA, the fact that some don’t isn’t the fault of those who do.</p>
<p>Maybe I should clarify before someone takes a shot at me…this article made me sick not because of the tradition (which no, I have not seen anywhere but in the southern schools we have explored)…</p>
<p>It kind of turned my stomach because IMO it smacked of the misogynistic attitude that we experienced at a particular southern school that my older daughter had at the top of her list when she visited for accepted student day…just an isolated incident, of course.</p>
<p>didn’t mean to “curl the hair” of any other posters on this thread…</p>
<p>curious to know though, what non-southern schools had similar traditions to this? for a heads-up for D2</p>
<p>nice explanation in that article of how the tradition started… to honor people serving on the battlefields. i never knew that. obviously some modifications now though lol
probably all colleges, or for that matter, areas of the country have traditions that may seem odd to those from outside…but that is all part of the experience of travelling to different areas, expanding knowledge of others…if it is not harmful,why not embrace it as something that that makes the area unique. otherwise why bother to go anywhere else just stay instate
when we first moved here to a small southern town, i couldnt understand why any car coming towards you would wave… how strange was that, i didnt know them… turns out it is a relic of the civil war a way to identify those who were from the area vs a “spy”. it kind of a two finger salute lifted off the steering wheel.</p>
<p>Fraternity/sorority aside, I think the concept of dressing up for games is charming for those who want to do it, can’t see it as being anything but respectful. The drinking till you puke part… not so much.</p>
<p>I don’t like the “drinking til you puke” on any campus - north, south, east, west or in-between. </p>
<p>I hate to see those video clips of “Spring Break” in popular vacation destination spots of kids (from everywhere) literally pouring alcohol down their throats. Awful!</p>
<p>Anyone who thinks that they are going to find a school that they are going to love every aspect, every rule, every tradition, every prof, every assignment, and every requirement is setting themselves up for a let-down. </p>
<p>I know someone whose daughter is now at her 3rd college (most recently Alabama). Each school, so far, as “bothered them” in some aspect - one school had course req’ts they didn’t like, another school wouldn’t give as much AP credit as they liked. I doubt she’ll stay at Alabama either, because now she’s complaining that her roommate is too shy and quiet. </p>
<p>Picking a school is like picking a spouse. You accept that you’re not perfect, and neither is he/she. You try to pick one that has many of the qualities that you like, while have fewer of the ones that you don’t. If you demand that your spouse be perfect in everyway, you’ll be frustrated and looking for a way out quite soon.</p>
<p>Now, we’re hearing people “flipping out” over Ole Miss’ song that has “the South will rise again” in it. That doesn’t mean that they want slavery to return (what a nutty assumption). And…BTW…the most racist words I’ve ever heard come out of people’s mouths have been from midwesterners and those who live in this nation’s biggest cities.</p>
<p>Frequently, people complain about things at one college that aren’t that different or worse than what goes on at their favorite colleges. Over the years here on CC, I’ve had “discussions” with people who are indignant and appalled at public U’s that have Honor Colleges. They’ll argue that public schools shouldn’t have such things that “separate” the masses. They’ll say that “every child” should have access to those same programs.</p>
<p>Well…how is that different from their own beloved flagships that have such high stats req’ts that the entire school is like an Honors College to which most of their states’ students can’t even gain acceptance? How is it any different that Berkeley (a public U) is essentially mostly only accepting kids in the 90th+ percentile, while those with lower stats end up at UCR or UCSC or UCM? Are these systems more “palatable” simply because they are literally segregating the “lesser stats” kids onto other campuses? One certainly could never argue that the profs at Berkeley are equal in stature to the ones at UCM or UCR, so those kids don’t have access to those better profs. Yet, for some reason, the same people that “flip out” over such things as Honors Colleges or other things, don’t see that a similar (or perhaps worse) situation is happening in their own backyard.</p>
<p>Wow, just checked this thread that I started and was really interested to see the discussion that ensued! mom2, your insights into Bama and southern schools in general is really interesting and valuable. The reason I asked is because my S met with a rep from Alabama last week and she had mentioned this to him, and he was quite interested and, in his words, “intrigued” by Alabama, and brought up this issue, not as a bad thing but out of curiousity. I actually find it kind of charming in a good ol’ boy way, and if a student is uncomfortable with it, maybe the greek system isn’t for him/her. We will continue to look into Alabama.</p>
<p>Well much to my great surprise, when I just told my daughter about this she said “you mean you didn’t know that mom” So, I guess it does not bother her at all. Since she is the one going to college and not me, I will refrain from anymore comments.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Elizabeth yes, you’re right. It’s all intriguing. LOL And, you’re right, that some things do seem a bit charming in an ol’ boy way. Thankfully, there is also room for those who aren’t that way at all. </p>
<p>In some ways, frats are like “man caves” on a larger scale. LOL </p>
<p>My friends’ sons are from Erie and those boys are in frats at Bama. I’m sure they were a bit amazed at some funny quirks. I know that when I was in a sorority in Calif, I was a little sister at a frat. I thought it was bizarre that one frat wore these outrageous flourescent-like orange hoodies around campus (they were hideous and certainly not flattering to many people’s faces! LOL)</p>
<hr>
<p>BTW…as I reread my above post about Ole Miss and their song, I realize that some might think that I think that all/most midwesterners or “big-city” white people are racists. I certainly do not. My point was simply that people (from elsewhere) can find examples of actual or perceived racism in the south (like that song’s phrase), while completely ignoring the racist nonsense that goes on in their own states or regions. </p>
<p>And, BTW, virtually every campus in the US struggles to find ways to encourage more socializing between the races. Magazines, such as Time and USNews, have written articles highlighting the fact that while our nation’s colleges are finally more integrated, the students often separate themselves by where they eat or what clubs they belong to. Yet, there are often posts on CC questioning “the relationship” between whites and blacks on southern campuses - as if everyone is happily partying together on other campuses.</p>
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<p>Don’t refrain! That’s how we learn what’s what! LOL Something can sound odd or funny at first, but when put into context it is often more understood. When a person doesn’t ask, then there’s no opportunity to learn more.</p>
<p>I thought I was telling my son something funny that I had heard about preppy dressing and the way he wears his sunglasses - “Oakleys on a chokie.” My son was like…“Oh, mom, everyone’s heard that.” I guess we’re all just “old fogeys” in some ways. LOL</p>
<p>oops…</p>
<p>I am an old fogey…I think it was, “Oakeys on a crokie” LOL Is that what it is? </p>
<p>BTW…if that’s true, where did the name “crokie” come from?</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, I think crokie is the correct term, but I have no idea why it’s called that.</p>
<p>I think the article did a good job of describing some SEC traditions, we even had a discussion about LSU fans smelling like corn dogs in one of my classes last week. Yes, pledges do dress up for football games, but they also dress up for classes and such during this time too. I was told that it is popular in the South to dress up for football games, but many who dress up are Greek. One learns to appreciate the traditions, even if one doesn’t partake in them. Sometimes, people can get out of hand when they overemphasize certain things, showing disrespect for others. There have been issues with how long block seating is reserved, overly drunk fans, smoking cigars in the stands, and possibly some others that I don’t know about, but these can and do happen at any schools. Yes, there may be some traditions that people don’t like, but they do not have to participate. I for one really enjoy singing/shouting Rammer Jammer and the additional words to a certain two songs played at every game, but many don’t. That’s life.
Roll Tide Roll!!!</p>