<p>Following the logic of the title, I suppose I could say HFTs are a pox on trading. Retail traders have no chance of winning. Ban all HFTs.</p>
<p>@SomeOldGuy, maybe this is an opportunity for your son’s frat. Make a public statement – denounce violence against women, list the frats’ philanthropic/community activities, volunteer in some visible capacity. Create a goodwill campaign for the frat by the frat. </p>
<p>That’s what a business would do. That’s what ogranizations under fire would do: show their positives. If more fraternity men were more vocal about the non-mysogynistic nature of their frat this conversation would have a different tone. </p>
<p>As Obama says, maybe this could be a teachable moment for us all. </p>
<p>“If good fraternities or sororities were interested in convincing the “world” of their goodness, they should consider displaying some of that goodness.”</p>
<p>I don’t think the good ones are particularly “interested in convincing the world” of their goodness. Their primary audience is their own membership, and sharing with their own membership the good works they are doing, the leadership positions achieved by their collegiates and their alums, new campuses they are colonizing, etc. I think they know darn well that no one outside of their own membership really cares what they have to say. A “statement” on some other organization is just really kind of pointless. If the Kiwanis had a scandal, and the Elks said “gosh, we think that’s terrible what the Kiwanis did,” how is that going to change anything?</p>
<p>My own alma mater subsidized the fraternity system and did its best to sell it to the freshmen to keep the system going. I wonder how common that is. </p>
<p>Sometimes the university only owns the land, sometimes rents the building with a requirement that the group maintain the premises. These are not dorms. There are often not locks on the individual doors. There are budgets and maintenance issues. The dining rooms are not set up like a door where you swipe in an swipe out.</p>
<p>If the school doesn’t own the house (only the land), it has no right to the house until it forecloses, and it may not be able to do that for years because there is a lease in place. It can refuse to recognize the sorority, but it still has a lease. A very long term lease. I know that the mortgages for the new houses at big schools are $5-8M. Do think the house board for Alpha Alpha Alpha house will be willing to run the house for the university if they can’t have a chapter on campus? I don’t. House boards are usually volunteers pulled from the alums in the area. Is the chess club going to have alums willing to buy out the sorority, lease the house land from the university, hire a house mother, refit the living rooms (those living rooms that have white cloth sofas and glass display cases)? I also don’t think 100 or 200 students will want to live in a house just because they all like chess or video games. Most college kids don’t live in single sex dorms - will these houses need to be reconfigured? I also don’t see how that would be any safer than a group of fraternity boys living in a house - it’s still college kids living together.</p>
<p>“I also don’t see how that would be any safer than a group of fraternity boys living in a house - it’s still college kids living together.”</p>
<p>That’s the key, isn’t it? </p>
<p>Most states require you to wear a seat belt while driving every single day. Even though your chance of being in a car wreck today is 0.00000001%</p>
<p>If 1% of frats are dangerous, it could be very reasonable for a college to abolish all of them. It is about risk mitigation. Not about how many good apples there are.</p>
<p>There’s lots of spins on frats. Princeton has no frats but does have eating clubs – co-ed and non residential. Notre Dame has no frats but has a dorm system that is a substitute in many ways. Lots of various pros and cons.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t object if my kid wanted to join a frat/sor. But I’d definitely ban them if I were a university official. Too much downside, limited upside.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Denison didn’t ban fraternities but it did take away their residential-ness. The old houses are still housing, just part of the regular housing lottery or in one case, an honors house.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>True. The environmental house or the gamers house or whatever are open to anyone who shares, or wants to share, or pretends to share, those interests.</p>
<p>I don’t much care whether fraternities and sororities exist - to each their own. But II chose a college without them and my D isn’t interested in schools where they are a key part of the social scene. As a result, she isn’t applying to any schools where they do. SHe has friends that wouldn’t consider a college that DIDN’T have an active Greek life. Diffrent strokes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Bad example. HFTs are just a way for insiders to siphon money out of the system. They should be banned.</p>
<p>Sororities are bastions of perfection and contribute nothing to the current state of affairs in greek life…</p>
<p>One of the things proposed at my oldest son’s school is changing the frats so that they must be co-educational. My son is in a co-ed literary frat, which is really just a theme house. Their rush events are painting like Jackson pollack night, board game night. His school also has traditional frats but is known not to be frat-driven, which is why he selected it over Penn. I wonder if his school is onto something. Would the stereotypical frat behavior change if frats were co-ED? Is there something about having a big group of boys together that begets troublesome, nasty behavior. Would they be more civilized, respectful if girls were members? I don’t know the answer, but it’s something to think about. </p>
<p>
No, they provide liquidity. Ask @dstark </p>
<p>@Yayy18 of course we do. Everybody in the house adds the people they invite to a list. If the person comes to the door and isn’t on the list or can’t provide ID, they aren’t let in. It’s very simple. </p>
<p>Seatbelts aren’t 100% protection. I think states should ban cars, not just require seatbelts. Think of the money we’d save on highway repairs, prosecuting speeders, DUIs, etc. There is a downside, of course, but we’d all be safe and that’s the goal, no risk, total safety.</p>
<p>“Would the stereotypical frat behavior change if frats were co-ED? Is there something about having a big group of boys together that begets troublesome, nasty behavior. Would they be more civilized, respectful if girls were members? I don’t know the answer, but it’s something to think about.”</p>
<p>Oh please - this is naive! The eating clubs at Princeton are co-ed and some of them, particularly the most selective / bicker ones, can out-Animal House any good ol’ boy fraternity any day of the week. They aren’t any more “respectful.” Google Tiger Inn and Princeton for a very recent example. </p>
<p>Anyway, you can’t “make” fraternities be co-ed that aren’t co-ed nationally, any more than you could “make” my sorority admit men, which we’d fight tooth and nail. It isn’t what it is if there are men in it. They can’t be part of the national organization. You can abolish them and say any new organizations to start up need to be co-ed, but that’s different. </p>
<p>@RenaissanceMom if you don’t mind sharing, where does your S attend? That sounds like a really interesting setup.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>One of the reasons I supported and encouraged my daughter to join a sorority is that her school is 75% men. I wanted her to have the support of other women. She doesn’t need to be in a club with more men. Whenever she has to be in a group project, its is likely to be her and two men. The other women in her house are great role models. The president is also the president of the robotics club and a VP of her major’s honor society.</p>
<p>I encouraged a friend’s daughter who is extremely shy and who also attends a school that is 75% male to join a sorority. She did, and it has helped her be more involved too.</p>
<p>I don’t think the problem in the institution of the fraternities. It’s the clientele they tend to attract. Sure, 95% of the Brothers are probably decent guys but let’s face it, frats attract a-holes. The fraternities need to do a better job screening their pledges.</p>
<p>“screening” - what does that consist of, exactly? We hear horror stories about pledging and hazing but presumably the guys that get to that point have already been screened in some way. What do fraternities look for?</p>
<p>As an outsider I’ve heard everything from GPA to sports team membership to wealth to legacy to simply being physically attractive. I assume there is more to it than simple popularity since many intelligent young men pledge and join…?</p>
<p>Fraternities shouldn’t necessarily be banned from ALL college institutions. </p>
<p>Where else can the rest of us non-affiliates go to have fun crashing parties and raiding their stash of provisions, beverages, desserts, pastries, the spirits, etc. </p>
<p>Hey…we college students do need a gigantic source of free food. :D</p>