<p>Ditto that!</p>
<p>How do people get good grades if they spend a lot of their time partying and involving themselves in frats? Obviously I'm not talking about the entire school population here. As for myself, I hope there is a good DDR club!</p>
<p>Lots of people party and are heavily involved in ECs of one sort or another, SigmaCentauri. I don't know why you think that partying and being successful academically are mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>Bklyn2Cornell: You really seem to have something against frats, and you sure do like throwing insults at them. You bring up racial prejudice, but of course frats are going to have more caucasians than african americans. There are more of them at the school, and not as many african americans try to pledge for various reasons. One of those reasons is a percieved racial prejudice, which you keep going by alleging that frats have one. Next, hatred is a completely unsupported claim that just sounds bad, and it is the same with bigotry. Yes there are examples of hatred and bigotry in frats, but they also exist everywhere else on campus. You attack hypermasculinity, but what is so wrong with that, I don't see much. And finally, I could find more than a few females who would say that frats don't degrade women, that is just one opinion, albeit right or wrong.
Frats are not the greatest thing in the world, but neither are the incessant attacks on them by some of the posters on this site.</p>
<p>^ I didn't say that. I asked HOW. It just seems like it would be easy to get swept away in all the fun.</p>
<p>HOW? It's called "time management". You don't even have to be particularly good at managing your time to have a damn good time every friday and saturday night (at least).</p>
<p>I guess I was assuming people partied every night <_<. I've never been involved in the party scene so this is all new to me.</p>
<p>Hypermasculinity IS a bad thing because it leads to homophobia and degradation of women and seeing women as sex objects. Sexual assaults happen at FRATS EVERY TIME there is a party but they never get reported, trust me, my friends are Sexual Assault Peer Educators. Frats permeate racism, and thats why blacks dont go to Rugby Road because they know they arent welcome. What is soo good about that? AND hypermasculinity makes people PRETEND to be someone they are not. They are overcompensating and being someone they are not just to fit in. They are afraid of doing anything that is perceived to be effeminate or non-masculine. They also do things like hazing rituals (eating dog food) that is soooo absurd. THAT IS BAD, without a doubt! If fraternities were stripped away at UVA, it would be a much better, safer, more welcoming institution everywhere on Grounds, I assure you.</p>
<p>b2c:
this is why you are living in new dorms this yr, the irc next yr... this is why i live in brown... haha. not everyone has that opinion though.</p>
<p>Personally, I try to be accepting and tolerant of all groups- greek, non-greek, whatever.</p>
<p>It seems to me that everyone here is painting all UVa fraternity men with an awfully broad brush. Yes, I am a mom, and undoubtedly ancient to all of you, but still, things haven't changed that much in the college social scene since I was in school. When I was a student at Northwestern - a university with some relatively smart students - I hung around with plenty of guys in frats. Truth be told, I married one. And yes, I was in a sorority. So were thousands of other kids (35% of the student body when I was there). And, I might add, this was during the "Animal House" era. Yes, we did party, as did many of our independent friends...as a matter of fact, we partied WITH many of our independent friends. But our entire college experience wasn't all about that...any more than I think it could be at any academically demanding university. It was simply a part of our college experience. And to be perfectly honest, it was a great part!</p>
<p>I have never apologized for being a member of a sorority. On the contrary, I'm proud of the fact that I was a part of a wonderful organization that allowed me opportunites for wonderful friendships, community service, leadership, and athletics that I would not have had otherwise. Perhaps there are a few "bad apples" in the Greek community on any campus, but the idea that all men and women affiliated with the Greek system are drunken idiots or racists is ridiculous at best. </p>
<p>Greek life is certainly not for everyone, but I've encouraged my son to give rush a try when he gets to UVa next year. If he pledges, great. If he doesn't, great. It's his decision. Hopefully it'll be one he makes with an open mind...
Something I'm not seeing much of around here.</p>
<p>I stand corrected. Thank you cavelier302, for proving me wrong. :)</p>
<p>I disagree with the morality of greek life because it reinforces the stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. That's very degrading to women, first of all, and it forces both men and women to act in a certain way that conforms to the system itself. Overall, the incidence of rapes is high in the greek system, and this is encouraged by how the system works. For example, it's a well-known fact that most frat brothers only admit a guy to a party if he brings a relatively good proportion of girls with him. The idea is of course to objectify women, with frat brothers hoping to get laid given the larger ratio of women to men. Many more women, as a result, are being taken advantage of - due to intoxication and what not - resulting in rapes and cases of sexual assault. This is evident from my friend's account as a Peer Health Educator who counsels greek women most of the time during his volunteer. He rarely sees greek men unless they were coming to test for an STD. </p>
<p>In sum, the greek system is not healthy and is reinforcing the traditions that only encourage a highly genderized environment. This adds to the pressure of both men and women to conform to society's standards of masculinity and femininity. To top this off, hazing is NOT yet eliminated regardless of what frats claim. I find it ridiculous how frats try to enforce 'leadership' and 'brotherhood' when they make pledges drink many shots - cases of which have lead to deaths as we all know.</p>
<p>"Sexual assaults happen at FRATS EVERY TIME there is a party but they never get reported"</p>
<p>B2C, are you SURE about this? Because I don't agree with you. How do you define a sexual assault?</p>
<p>"The idea is of course to objectify women, with frat brothers hoping to get laid given the larger ratio of women to men. Many more women, as a result, are being taken advantage of - due to intoxication and what not - resulting in rapes and cases of sexual assault."</p>
<h2>Frat-parties = rush tools. Trust me, most brothers aren't trying to get laid during the party. Why do you think they give people free beer and spend so much time setting up?! To attract rushees when spring time comes!! First years are generally pretty stupid/immature, and the way they decide which houses to rush is by judging each house's frat parties. When you become a brother, you realize all this frat parties are bulls**t. But you gotta do it anyway, because it's the only way to get first years to rush your house.</h2>
<p>"I find it ridiculous how frats try to enforce 'leadership' and 'brotherhood' when they make pledges drink many shots - cases of which have lead to deaths as we all know."</p>
<p>Third Tier Trash schools do this crap, most houses at UVa do not. </p>
<p>Fish shots don't count. We do that voluntarily during Formals, it's fun!</p>
<p>I agree with Untilted. Yes, boys hit on girls, often, during parties. But, as a girl myself who has partied at both UVa and VT frequently, I know how this stuff works first hand: if girls are stupid, get totally trashed, and make themselves available to other boys, then yes, they most likely will get taken advantage of. But they put themselves in that position!! I really can't stand girls who put themselves in these awful postitions, and then cry about it later. It's like wearing a ton of jewelry and carrying a bunch of purses and wearing all these fancy clothes in the middle of the night in the alleys of NYC: are you doing anything wrong? No. Should people do the wrong thing and rob you? No. Do some people see the opporunity of the bad position you put yourself in and take advantage of it? Yes. While it isn't always a girl's fault, and sometimes it is a legitmate rape, I would bet that 75% of college sexual assults are because the girl is doing something dumb. When I go out, I go with atleast 3 other girls, and we never leave one anothers' side. However, I mostly try to go out wiht guys. That way, if I get into a bad situation (which, to be honest, I have a couple of times), I have someone to fall back on and trust them to help. But some girls go out on their own or with one other girl, get totally trashed, and then cry the next morning when they realized what they did the night before. It's called common sense. Yes, it sucks for girls to always have to be on the defense. But otherwise, once alcohol gets in the system, things go astray. It's called playing smart.</p>
<p>Guys: take care of girls when you get to college. When you go out in a group, don't hover over the girls, but be attentive. Best thing that you can do. And when girls ask for help, be gentlemen.</p>
<p>Untilted, it happens at frat parties all-year round, and not just during rush. I can understand that generosity and acknowledgment are given to non-greeks during rush period. Going by your statement, this is to say that frat parties are rush tools only at that point of time. But, come on, don't deny the fact that frat parties provide social outlet to quench sexual thirst and to take advantage of girls. The result is then to conveniently blame it upon alcohol. The whole process repeats itself every weekend.</p>
<p>You missed my point, tenniscraze.</p>
<p>Frat-parties, regardless of when they are held, are all rush tools. Rush isn't just the first 3 weeks of Spring Semester, that's just the official rush process. RUSH GOES ON ALL THE TIME. Jags, you can probably confirm this. Every single party thrown serves as a rush tool to an extent. You have to throw parties in the fall semester to make 1st years rush your house in the spring semester.</p>
<p>Fraternity men might try to get laid during date-functions and formals. But not usually frat-parties.</p>
<p>parties are rush tools, people don't want to join houses that have *<strong><em>ty parties. its kind of a funny thing--most brothers don't give a *</em></strong> about the parties once they're in the fraternity, yet it's the most important thing to get people IN the party. You'll notice that there are generally less parties and more stringent admittence policies in the spring...as frats have nobody really to attract at that point in time except for girls and friends of brothers. Money is more allocated towards date functions/formals.</p>
<p>I find it funny that people like tenniscraze assume that if you join a frat you're someone with the moral character that would be fine with taking advantage of girls.</p>
<p>"You'll notice that there are generally less parties and more stringent admittence policies in the spring...as frats have nobody really to attract at that point in time except for girls and friends of brothers."</p>
<p>This is exactly what I was talking about. The parties are there to attract girls and friends of brothers. Anyone outside this circle of exclusivity isn't as wanted as much. It's all about reinforcing gendered stereotypes.</p>
<p>i don't see what the problem is, tenniscraze. When you have a party, do you just let anybody in? No, you let your friends in. I'm willing to bet you're much more likely to let girls you don't really know come (because nobody wants a sausagefest), rather than a bunch of dudes you don't know--who you don't want to know--and are just going to drink your booze.</p>
<p>In the fall, you want everybody to come because A) first years don't know anybody, and no first years throw parties B) you want hot girls because its more fun to party with hot girls C) you want first year dudes who can potentially join your fraternity D) you want dudes who can bring hot girls to continue the cycle.</p>
<p>In the spring, there usually arn't that many parties/admittence is "stricter" because A) massive amounts of a fraternity's budget goes towards other things (rush, formal) B) there are first years in frats now, and people who are friends with first years who are pledging are invited to the parties. C) even if a fraternity has less parties, there is still a lot of "hanging out" at the frat houses. first years can come hang out with their friends at a frat house. D) if you don't know anybody in a fraternity, hopefully you have joined a club or some group which does party, and obviously the frat scene isn't for you--so whats there to complain about?</p>
<p>I mean...how is a fraternity having a strict policy any different than me trying to show up to a College Democrats party or a Baseball team party with 5 dudes...not knowing a single person who is in the club/on the team and getting thrown out?</p>