<p>laserprecision: what a shocking waste!</p>
<p>While we're on the subject of illogical exclusions, can we also agree not to presume that some frats/srats are racist based solely on the geographic location of their campus?</p>
<p>California. </p>
<p>Esquette, I don't really see how geographic location of a house on campus can affect its members...I don't see it much and I visit a lot of campuses. Care to explain?</p>
<p>Well ... it's kind of unintentional but there is a nearly 100% asian frat at my school. A living group that is intentionally 100% black, several other living arrangments that are 100% certain races etc. I don't think some of them do it on purpose (although some certainly do), but it sometimes just naturally happens.</p>
<p>Are you sure those aren't historically black or asian frats? Because that seems like a very unusual occurrence to me...</p>
<p>I'm European.
Just wanted to ask, can one be part of many fraternities/sororities at the same time?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>No, when you join one, that is the one you join for life. If you try to pledge 2 or more houses at the same time, it is likely that both will rescind their offer of membership (much like when you deposit at 2 colleges at the same time).</p>
<p>The exception is for things like Greek-letter honor societies (Tau Beta Pi, etc). You can usually be a part of those and traditional social fraternities at the same time.</p>
<p>You can join more than one organization if they're are of different types. For example many people who are in social/cultural organizations are also members of service fraternities (i.e. Alpha Phi Omega) and/or academic/honors fraternities. However, you cannot join two social/cultural fraternities/sororities.</p>
<p>Oh I see :D So it's kind of a pledge for a lifetime you do.</p>
<p>One more question:
I recently read that certain fraternities/sororities have their sections ("chapters"?) also outside the U.S.A., like in certain universities in the U.K. or other English-speaking countries.
Do you know whether it's possible and what's the procedure of introducing and setting up a new chapter of a fraternity/sorority in a new university?</p>
<p>If you want to start a new chapter, contact the national organization of the fraternity you are interested in and speak with the proper people in your school's administration. They'll tell you the requirements for starting a colony, and how to eventually turn that colony into a fully-recognized chapter.</p>
<p>"Well ... it's kind of unintentional but there is a nearly 100% asian frat at my school. A living group that is intentionally 100% black, several other living arrangments that are 100% certain races etc. I don't think some of them do it on purpose (although some certainly do), but it sometimes just naturally happens."</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that is an asian-interest frat. The other explanation (what I've actually seen before) is for example a predominantly white frat has a new class cross that has a lot of blacks in it. These new guys draw in a new crowd of blacks, who are encouraged to join by the guys already in the house. This creates future classes with a lot of blacks and less and less whites. The house eventually gets the reputation of being for black guys, thus whites turn to other houses. Just an example....don't overthink the black/white thing too much.</p>
<p>As an Asian girl in a white srat, mine didn't. But some do.</p>
<p>I think frats/sororities are looking for a certain type of person, not a race. Because of various factors such as social conditioning and expectations, certain races will have more of these certain types than others. It's a question of attitude IMHO.</p>
<p>"The other explanation (what I've actually seen before) is for example a predominantly white frat has a new class cross that has a lot of blacks in it. These new guys draw in a new crowd of blacks, who are encouraged to join by the guys already in the house. This creates future classes with a lot of blacks and less and less whites. The house eventually gets the reputation of being for black guys, thus whites turn to other houses. Just an example....don't overthink the black/white thing too much."</p>
<p>In a way - this story is a bit disturbing (but hardly surprising).</p>
<p>"I think frats/sororities are looking for a certain type of person, not a race. Because of various factors such as social conditioning and expectations, certain races will have more of these certain types than others. It's a question of attitude IMHO."</p>
<p>While I'd like to think that this applies to the majority of houses - it would be naive to think that there aren't some which prefer to be a bit more "exclusive."</p>
<p>laserprecision: Not referring to geographic location ON campus -- rather, geographic location OF the campus. </p>
<p>I was responding to broad brush suggestions that all southern schools have racist Greeks.</p>
<p>Well I'm not sure what you define as racist, but if it's excluding a certain race, it would be pretty prevalent on the east and west coast schools as well due to the numerous ethnic-centered greeks. I don't think you could really say one certain area has more than the other.</p>
<p>At my school, the sororities and fraternities are predominantly white, but that is because its almost all white people that rush/pledge. I have a black friend that is an sorority. There are minorities in all the sororities and fraternities I know (except the Jewish frat, they are all Jewish) but there's usually only a few - but not because of discrimination. Most of the black people that want to go Greek join the historically black sororities/fraternities. I have never known of them to have people of other races, interestingly. There was actually an article in our campus paper about how they discriminate.</p>
<p>One thing that should be understood is that the historically black GLO's (greek letter orgs) have a much different perception within the black community than historically white organizations have among most segments of the white community. Most Black americans can tell you about the Omegas, or the Alphas, or the SGRho's (and not just from the Kayne West song) and what the stereotype for each group is. Because of this familiarity, many black american students may feel pressured, or simply prefer to join these known entities rather than going through recruitment for one of the historically white groups, rather than discrimination on the part of the white groups.</p>
<p>Having been to enough national greek meetings and conventions, I can anecdotally reference racism in membership selection by Southern Greeks. Anyone remember the whole Trent Lott/Sigma Nu issue a couple years back? There were a lot of news stories which quoted (at the time) current collegiate members saying that race was still an issue that frequently came up...</p>