<p>Could someone please post all of the frats at W&L as well as the general opinions associated with each? I would greatly appreciate it.</p>
<p>Stereotypes and the opinion of one or even a number of people won't tell you the truth about the frat so I would recommend waiting until you get to campus and finding out for yourself - you'll have plenty of time.</p>
<p>Check out the student life page at the W&L website. They have links to the Panhellenic (spelling?) site, etc. and those will list all the greek organizations and some of them have websites.</p>
<p>Hey sorry this is such a late reply; I have been away from the board for a LONG time. Feel free to IM me anytime at Ben jammin Hur if you have ANY questions. Dima is correct in what he says-- however, pretty much all of the fraternities, in my opinion, have way too much of a focus on drinking and partying. I'm not saying I don't do this; I go out as much as any normal person should. However, I also like going to the independent films shown in the Commons Theater, Lenfest Center performances, and speakers in Lee Chapel. Sooo many fraternity members miss out on great opportunities like this in favor of drinking. Because of this, I am part of a new fraternity on W&L, Sigma Phi Epsilon (<a href="http://www.sigep.org)%5B/url%5D">www.sigep.org)</a>. Sig Ep focuses on returning to the true "balanced man" ideal upon which many fraternities were founded, but have gotten so far away from. We have a small but awesome group of guys, and hopefully should get a pretty solid pledge class for next year. Let me know if you're coming on Accepted Students day (sometime in April) and I'll introduce you to the guys. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Damn, it messed up the link. <a href="http://www.sigep.org%5B/url%5D">www.sigep.org</a> . There.</p>
<p>oh and in response to Summer's post - PanHel is the sorority overhanging organization</p>
<p>The IFC is the men's version of PanHel, its website is pretty much useless though.</p>
<p>The Greek Life web site in general is greeklife.wlu.edu</p>
<p>And Morgan, I assume you know that on other campuses spe is one of the biggest party frats - like it was here before it got kicked.</p>
<p>Yes, I do know that, but all the new chapters that are getting started up use the Balanced Man program, like the one at Yale that got started three years ago and is now the #1 fraternity on campus.</p>
<p>My father was a SigEp when he went to Washington and Lee. This is incredibly awesome news to hear and a great thing to know for next year.</p>
<p>so SigEp is about "returning to the true "balanced man" ideal upon which many fraternities were founded, but have gotten so far away from." Just like that great program at Yale huh? Looks like those Yale SPEs... er SigEps, might "miss out on great opportunities like this in favor of drinking."
See the pics on their website: <a href="http://www.yale.edu/sigep/pics.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/sigep/pics.htm</a>
I would suggest checking out the set titled oh i dunno "case race"...
Just a few I would check out if I were you....
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/3.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/3.jpg</a>
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/24.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/24.jpg</a>
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/21.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/21.jpg</a>
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/18.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/18.jpg</a>
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/14.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/14.jpg</a>
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/6.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/sigep/images/case_race/6.jpg</a></p>
<p>Yeah, you guys sure do look so different from every other fraternity party I've seen... certainly not wasting a night drinking instead of becoming more "balanced". To think, this balanced program is only three years old... didn't take them long to figure out how to become the "#1 fraternity on campus" (your words) wonder how long till the W&L chapter resorts to this...I'm so tired of you high and mighty SPEs acting like you're above it all. Just relax and enjoy the W&L experience.</p>
<p>Don't let wludude's post fool you. We have gotten a very warm reception from our neighbors in Davidson Park (except for the fraternity housing the SPEs who were kicked off campus three years ago, of course). I have very close friends in every other fraternity who see the merits of what we're doing.</p>
<p>I'm inclined to think you, wludude, are an ex-W&L SPE. You exhibit the complete ignorance exhibited by those kids. (I could say a lot of terrible things about them and the one other fraternity who dirty rushes us [which happens to be the worst fraternity besides the one the displaced SPEs are in now-- you'll learn that frats who dirty rush usually do it because they're desperate for members], but I prefer not to be so distasteful). Did I ever say we were a dry fraternity? Absolutely not. Just because one has a "case race" does not mean that everything they do revolves around drinking. That being said, it is ridiculous to label us as exactly the same as the Yale chapter and assume we would sponsor such an event early on in our history. A real example of Sig Ep gone wrong: What happened at Rutgers is that they got a group of your standard frat guys who only joined Sig Ep so they could avoid pledgeship. So they're just a bunch of D-Bags who think they're all fratty, while not really sticking to the Balanced Man ideal. That will not happen at W&L.</p>
<p>Also, I never said it was wrong to be in one of the TWELVE existing fraternities at W&L-- I almost joined one of them. I strongly believe everyone should be allowed to live the way they want. There are some kids here, though, who don't want to live the standard W&L way constantly, drowned in alcohol. </p>
<p>Just an example to prove my point: on Homecoming weekend, one of the greatest live bands ever, Umphrey's McGee, performed at W&L. Approximately 100 students, including me, showed up. Where were the other 1,700 students? Well, the majority of kids I talked to were literally blacked out by 6 PM. I think it's fair to want something other than that, and it's fair to OFFER that alternative to people who want it, considering there are TWELVE other fraternities who simply "relax and enjoy the W&L experience." Not so sure how enjoyable it is, considering over 50% of students on a survey last year said they were so depressed they didn't even want to get out of bed ;-)...</p>
<p>The last sentence in my post was unnecessary, unfair, and unclear; sorry. Just to clarify, the survey (from what I'm told) said that over 50% of students, at one point or another, were so depressed they didn't want to get out of bed. This doesn't necessarily have any correlation to "the W&L experience," and it was unfair of me to imply that. (I would have just edited the post but it won't let me).</p>
<p>Also, I encourage all freshmen to visit as many houses as they can; suicide rushing (going to only one house) is not a good idea, because you are cutting yourself off from seeing where you may be happiest in the long run.</p>
<p>I'd also like to apologize for my "worst fraternity" comment. That's a very subjective term; what I meant by the "worst" fraternities were the ones who were struggling to survive at W&L because of lack of membership. This doesn't necessarily imply "bad," as they could have a small but strong brotherhood. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Did Dima scold you privately like he did with the other poster publically? :)</p>
<p>You seem to be a lot more honest or at least open about what's going on at W&L.</p>
<p>No, he didn't; I corrected myself on my own will. He and I both don't want to be unfair to anyone.</p>
<p>Actually I found it refreshing. I think we all realize your opinions are just that, your opinions.</p>
<p>I wasn't planning on scolding Morgan - actually, I was going to make a reply similar to Morgan's to what wludude said, stating that you can't judge a chapter of a fraternity at one school by what you know of a chapter at another. </p>
<p>The only thing that needs correcting in Morgan's post, in my opinion, is that if I count right there are fourteen fraternities here at W&L (counting SPE), not twelve. I only hope that my fraternity isn't the one Morgan is referring to in terms of dirty rush - I was turned off from a certain fraternity this year because they dirty rushed the fraternity I ended up pledging in an attempt to get me, I think its a horrible thing to do. (I refuse to name fraternities on this forum because it is my opinion that all freshmen should wait until they get to campus and then find where they belong so even though I definitely like certain fraternities more than others - I will do my best not to name any)</p>
<p>I do think that Morgan is exagerrating the W&L lifestyle, however. Your homecoming comment is misleading. I would not say the majority of the 1600 people who didn't see the band you mentioned (thus the reason my friends and I didn't come . . . we had never heard of them) were blacked out by 6PM. In fact I don't know of a single person who was that way (though I don't doubt that you do). At 6PM, my friends and I were just getting ready to go to dinner.</p>
<p>tartan, I don't know if I'm misreading your post about openness but I will admit that I am much more PC than Morgan is about W&L. Maybe because I am a tour guide, maybe because I have a more positive view of what the W&L experience, or maybe just because so many of my friends aren't big partiers so it doesn't seem to be an anomaly to me. At any rate, once you guys get to campus, if we talk personally during rush about fraternity life, I will probably be a lot more open - just because my statements aren't "on the record" and preserved on CC forever.</p>
<p>Instead of scolding Morgan - I am very glad he is on the board and making posts so different from mine. A variety of views is always a good thing.</p>
<p>I agree that different views are good. </p>
<p>I just wish there were more women students doing the same thing: maybe I will be in a couple of years. I figured you were a tour guide or somehow connected to admissions due to the gung-ho attitude.</p>
<p>Yes, Dima, I forgot to count the two new historically black fraternities; my bad.</p>
<p>Also, I don't necessarily not like my W&L experience; it is just a lot different than it looks on paper (and on paper, it looks like heaven).</p>
<p>As for the Homecoming band thing, the majority of students I TALKED TO were indeed blackout drunk that night and thus missed the concert. Not necessarily indicative of the entire student body, but certainly true of my sample size. Also, Dima's comment about not having heard of the band as a reason for not going, in my experience, is typical of the student body (and Dima I'm not accusing you of the following behavior): Whenever something new or exciting comes to W&L, people don't go because they're not familiar with it. I always tell these people that there was a time they hadn't heard of Dave Matthews Band (W&L is like a DMB cult), but now they're their favorite band, so these people should expose themselves to up-and-coming acts when they have a chance to; they might discover their new favorite band.</p>
<p>Also there was a misplaced comma in one of my posts "live the standard W&L way constantly, drowned in alcohol." I meant to have the comma after "way."</p>
<p>Haha, grammar freak! I don't blame you though; I'm kind of that way myself. ;-)</p>