<p>I was wondering if anyone could talk a bit about fraternities at davidson... Ive heard about the eating clubs at davidson -- do davidson's fraternities operate as eating clubs or are they "traditional" frats so to speak? How is frat life overall? If anyone could just write a bit on the subject of fraternities that would great.</p>
<p>The fraternities at Davidson are nationally affiliated, traditional fraternities. Freshmen, men and women, alike, are not permitted to join a social organization during their first semester at Davidson, but rush does begin in the fall semester and bids are distributed from First Night Down until Court Selection Night. You must get a bid to join the nationally affiliated frat, but if you receive no bids and still want to join one, you can become a “social member,” which means Davidson College recognizes you as a member of a particular fraternity and you are not to be excluded from any events hosted by the frat, except voting on house matters. Few go with this option. For the historically black fraternities and the sorority, you must applied to the national organization and go through a completely separate process.</p>
<p>The fraternities we have on campus are Phi Gama Delta (FIJI), Phi Delta Theta (Phi Delts), Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE), Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp), Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKA), Kappa Alpha (KA), and Kappa Sigma (KappaSig). All of these fraternities have houses on campus (in the Patterson Court Circle, with the Black Student Coalition – the BSC – and the four eating houses, Rusk, Turner, Connor, and Warner) except PIKA, which, like other some other frats, keeps a house off-campus on Main Street. </p>
<p>Davidson has policies against hazing, but it unfortunately still occurs every now and then for the pledges. For example, SigEp pledges are not permitted to enter the house through the front door until they officially become full members. FIJI, I know for certain, does not haze, and does not have an especially distinct pledge process. </p>
<p>SigEp and KA are the largest frats, I believe. </p>
<p>None of the Patterson Court Houses are residential, but often times members of the fraternities and eating houses will opt to “Super Cluster” in apartments down the hill, right on Patterson Circle, in the three “sophomore apartments.” SAE, for example, has a hall in Irwin. The Phi Delts have a hall (super cluster) in Knox. And FIJI boys occupy the bottom floor of Akers. </p>
<p>Haha…I have a single in Irwin next year, so I’m not especially looking forward to the noise…especially not if SAE is right above me…but c’est la vie! The sophomore apartments, you will find, when you get here, have a really bad reputation. But if you end up living down there with friends, it’s not so bad. It seems really out of the way, but it’s only about a five minute walk down from Chambers (about a seven minute walk back up) where all of your classes will be. You don’t have to worry about that, though. Not yet. </p>
<p>I’ve heard frat-life is a lot of fun. Even pledges going through their pledge period (which, by the way, at Davidson, when it exists, is ridiculously mild, compared to that at other schools) seem to love every minute. </p>
<p>There are service hour requirements, but those are easy to knock out and not especially time-consuming. </p>
<p>On Court Selection Night, when girls are allowed to join Eating Houses and men are allowed to pledge and just about every house has its own party, the guys run through all of the girls’ houses together and put on an amusing display. FIJI boys wore Hawaiian shirts and jean-shorts. Phi Delts wore barbecue sauce. </p>
<p>While it’s not necessary to join a social organization in order to have a social life here (all parties are open, except semiformals and formals), as a member of Rusk, I’ve had certainly enjoyed myself. It’s nice to have a place to go, where you have 24 hour access to the house and it’s a good way to make friends among upperclassmen, and eventually, among those younger than you. </p>
<p>Until First Night Down, you can’t really be at the frats (that’s mid-September, so not that long a wait…two or three weeks), but once First Night Down hits, there is one party after another, so don’t worry!</p>
<p>thanks for the thorough response that’s really helpful</p>
1 Like