<p>I'm still stunned this hasn't been mentioned more, and proton, feel free to show the world how this isn't proof greeks don't buy friends.</p>
<p>First off, in order to even be given the opprotunity to pay dues, a person must go through rush, and be extended a bid. Right now as we enter rush, we are not looking for wallets, we are looking for friends. We are looking for guys whom we want to live with us, hang out with us, etc. Whether or not you can pay is not influencing our decision, and in fact, we have scholarship money and payment plans available to those who can't afford to write a $300 check every semester (which is $200/semester less than living in a 4 person on campus suite).</p>
<p>Second, let me reiterate that the dues partially go to the national organization, and also partially go to funding activities for the brotherhood so we don't have to pay out of pocket at each event. The fact that we throw down $300 up front and then don't have to reach into our pockets for dinners, booze for parties, camping trips, paintball days, mini-golf outings, etc. isn't any different than you and a few buddies hanging out each weekend and having to buy things. When you guys go out to dinner and split the check, are you paying those people to be your friends and eat dinner with you?</p>
<p>"Being in a fraternity is about more than stepping."</p>
<p>"Pledging a frat is one of the best decisions I ever made in life" - I find this statement somehow uneasy yet unjustified.</p>
<p>Why's that, tenniscraze?</p>
<p>I don't believe in such a thing as a "best decision", as I can confirm horrific experiences and unpleasant stories of many frats. I don't buy his statement at all.</p>
<p>Best decision IN HIS LIFE. He is entirely qualified in making that statement. Learn to read more critically.</p>
<p>Dear Luxar, it's not about being critical or easy on someone's post. Although it may be his decision, I don't buy that statement like I said before. I have the right to oppose his decision :)</p>
<p>You don't "buy" an opinion. That's nonsense.</p>
<p>Go get yourself educated on lingos will you?</p>
<p>Why is it, tenniscraze, that you can "confirm horrific experiences and unpleasant stories of many frats"--but cannot believe that even a single person has been involved in a frat and genuinely enjoyed it? </p>
<p>Personally, I mean... I can "confirm unpleasant stories about being an engineering major"--including several engineering students who have committed suicide--but I still manage to believe that some engineering students genuinely enjoy being engineers... and that perhaps some engineering departments <em>coughMITcough</em> have more intense environments than others, which may partially account for the different student reactions; individual personalities, obviously, are also a big factor. </p>
<p>For once... I'd like to see you counter some of my arguments--for example, could you explain how paying dues to a frat (which often also includes housing, and therefore allows students to stop paying for university housing) is different from (and apparently so much worse than, in your opinion) paying dues to a club sport or some other student group that also cannot be fully funded entirely by the university?</p>
<p>Because you're paying dues for parties and alcohol which in turn could lead to judgments that are impaired. Dues from club sports on the other hand are used largely to pay for sports facilities which are much needed to run the clubs themselves.</p>
<p>It was easily, by far and away, without a doubt, unequivocally, undeniably, indisputably or whatever other synonym of these words you want to use, THE SINGLE BEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE. </p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>Because I wouldn't be in medical school had it not been for the support, advice, and encouragement I received from my pledge brothers and other members of my chapter. I have made irreplaceable friends, met people from all over the country, earned scholarships, traveled to leadership conferences, created amazing memories and become a better person. I have a permanent "home" on the campus of my beloved alma mater, a place that I will show off to my children when I return as an older alum. I have been able to share this experience with my little brother and it has only made us closer, and if I have sons maybe I can share it with them. </p>
<p>I had more fun and accomplished more things (in the classroom, in the community, in campus organizations) than I would have ever thought possible had I lived in the dorms.</p>
<p>I really would like to know how much better my college experience could have been, how much better my life could currently be, had I not joined my fraternity. Can you tell me tenniscraze?</p>
<p>So because less than $450 of the nearly $4800 I paid per year to live in my fraternity house went to pay for DJ's and social halls where we had parties (the overwhelming majority of fraternities ban the use of dues money for the purchase of alcohol so social chairs must collect money individually the week of a party), that makes fraternities wrong? What about the fact that I was paying $700 a year for food, or that $200 was going to our philanthropy fund, or $80 towards intramural fees, or $100 towards our technology budget? Or what about all the money I spent on RENT to pay for things like utilities and upkeep of my chapter house? Sounds like that last one is "much needed" to run the chapter itself.</p>
<p>tenniscraze just doesn't get it. Leave him alone.</p>
<p>tenniscraze--</p>
<p>Actually, your Greek dues DON'T pay for alcohol--that's against national bylaws for pretty much every single frat and sorority out there. What in fact happens for both Greek groups AND club sports, in fact, is that either individuals are asked (but not forced) to chip into a separate fund that goes toward alcohol, or there is some kind of entrance fee to any events with alcohol that goes toward covering the cost of drinks. No one pays dues that go toward alcohol!</p>
<p>(And before you go condeming the sororities and frats again for having this sort of alcohol fund, let me tell you--every single club sport on campus here does the same thing, and it's quite a tradition on many teams to get the rookies incredibly wasted at their first team party of the year. If you're gonna blast the Greeks, you gotta blast the sports teams, too!)</p>
<p>Sorority and frat dues DO go toward housing (even unhoused chapters are required to contribute toward a "house fund" that is kept in reserve in case that chapter ever decides to buy a house in the future), national membership fees, insurance, marketing, social events, the occaisonal subsidized t-shirts/sweatshirts/whatever if there's leftover money. Sure, parties are social events and we definitely buy decorations and supplies with dues money, but we also have career workshops and charitable fundraisers and speaker events--all of which take up far more of the budget than parties. </p>
<p>Care to comment on that? </p>
<p>...</p>
<p>BTW: You didn't offer a good defense of why your knowing about some bad frat-related incidents automatically means that every single person in a frat must have a bad experience... care to elaborate on the logic there, or are you still trying to figure out a comeback to the engineering analogy?</p>
<p>Haha I'm sorry, but it's a well-known fact that dues go to parties and alcohol. Don't deny the facts. I didn't say every frat must have a bad experience - I said MOST. Care to read more carefully and critically, as LExus would put it.</p>
<p>Could you please post evidence of this "well-known" fact. I'm am 100% confident that any chapter with a house is spending far more money on things like food, utilities, upkeep, supplies, salaries to house directors and cooks, insurance and so on then they are spending on parties. </p>
<p>Isn't weird how you have Greeks on this board are telling you time and time again that their experiences were amazing in ways you can't even begin to comprehend? Certainly doesn't seem like 51% of the greeks on this board are buying into what you are saying. </p>
<p>Why don't you go over to <a href="http://www.greekchat.com%5B/url%5D">www.greekchat.com</a> and post your assertion that most greeks have a bad experience. There are thousands of members of Greek Organizations there, perhaps someone there will support your assertion. Maybe you can start by surveying all the greeks at your school and asking them if they are having a bad experience?</p>
<p>Guys, Tennis is just getting off, by you replying to his silly comments. Hes' a flamer. He's not here to have a dialog, he's here to yell "fire" in a movie theater and then stand back and happily watch. </p>
<p>He makes accusations he knows he can't prove, just to get a rise out of you. He will not answer direct questions because he has no real arguement, he just enjoys the fight. </p>
<p>Flame on tennis... the more you post the less believable you are.</p>
<p>No matter how rich tenniscraze is, he'd never able to "buy friends" by joining a fraternity because he's a douchebag.</p>
<p>Lol, why should i even want to buy friends in the first place? In the greek system, who wants to accept a middle-class person who has no money? Even if you're a douchebag and rich, frats will probably take you any day.</p>