You can read about it online. It’s being promoted. I doubt the film itself is a dramatic departure from the promotional info. Google it.
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So you haven’t seen it but you have read promotional material. Have you actually been on Alabama’s campus during rush week?
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I went through rush myself. I said, I was in a greek org. I’m sharing my perspective. If you don’t agree, that’s okay. There are plenty of colleges without greek life for your kids to choose from.
Half of frat boys and a quarter of sorority girls will still be alcoholics when they’re 35, which is 50% higher than those that don’t join Greek organizations. Alcohol is in the DNA of college Greek life, with the social destruction lasting far beyond graduation.
As stated previously both my sons were proud fraternity members.
I however wouldn’t jump to judgements and declarative statements about a documentary I hadn’t seen, based on promotional material authored by people I don’t know, centered around a college I didn’t attend, based on a rush week I didn’t participate in.
I absolutely agree with your sharing of your experience (decades ago, different school, etc…) but it isn’t necessarily relevant to a documentary you haven’t seen. You are speculating about the accuracy and relevance of the documentary through a biased lens of experience at best which is your prerogative.
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I am not speculating in sharing what I know of what I experienced. I was there. It is relevant because no one would watch this show if it wasn’t depicting a generalizable, relatable experience.
I don’t look up people’s prior posts even if I can. I don’t see the point.
I am sorry if you don’t want to read what I think about what I know about the film. You don’t have to. Enjoy the show.
I do want to add this: I see that you wrote that your sons were in fraternities in the past few years.
I didn’t share 99% of what went on with my parents. I was trying to have my own life and didn’t think I needed to. Nothing rose to that level of importance. I do know people who were in fraternities decades before me, and their stories are not meaningfully different from mine.
I have never been an alcoholic and I don’t drink now at all for health reasons. Nothing about my choices in adulthood regarding drinking has anything to do with what clubs I joined in college.
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You haven’t seen the film.
If you are drawing conclusions about the documentary’s content and haven’t seen it I am sorry, but you are speculating.
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Do you have a source for that statement?
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I haven’t read all the comments… I for one am looking forward to watching this lol. That said, a few mentioned something about this being bad for Bama… and I see this not so much as calling out Bama but more so greek life in general and the rush process.
I have 2 in greek life at two totally different schools. One is at a large SEC school. So yea, I get to experience all of the “dirt” so to speak. She had a fine rush experience, wasn’t too bad. But some of the things make me shake my head. For starters, the first round she was cut from like 6. She never even “met” them. She watched a video on them, they watched hers. There were lots of rumors floating that certain sororities will cut girls from the north. Rumors of cutting girls based on their parents financial status. Of course these are all just “rumors” so who knows if they are true. But the whole process can be brutal and fake. Everyone is putting their best face on and you never truly know someone based on that.
She also worked “rush” as a member. She hates it. They get yelled at if they aren’t “cheering” enough, they have to “vote” on girls that are rushing and cut them or give bids etc… like literally what you would see on Animal House the movie where they rank the girls. I really think she thought that being in greek life was going to give her instant sisterhood and friendships and it hasn’t been the case. Most of her friends aren’t in her sorority and there are a lot of mean girls and cliques within the sorority. Neither of my girls sororities have helped them in regards to internships and jobs. Next, it’s expensive. In the southern schools that have greek houses, you are required to be on their house meal plan ALL YEARS, whether you live in the house or not. Which stinks and is expensive if you have an off campus house or don’t like the house food. Good parts- yes there are many social functions to get involved in. However last year due to covid, many of these events were limited to only a small fraction and if you didn’t sign up quickly you didn’t get to do it. There’s also lots of opportunity for community service. I prob can add so much more but I won’t . My one is considering dropping as it doesn’t seem worth the cost.
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Skull and Bones at Yale?
From Wikipedia, it is “The Skulls,” and not Skull and Bones from Yale as far as I can tell:
The Machine, the former Alpha Rho chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon at the University of Alabama, is a coalition of Panhellenic sororities and IFC and NPHC fraternities that formed a secret society with some degree of influence over campus and Alabama state politics. The group, which has operated in varying degrees of secrecy since 1914 (though its roots run deeper into the 19th century), is credited with selecting and ensuring the election of candidates for Student Government Association, Homecoming Queen, and other influential on-campus and off-campus offices, including the Student Government Association Senate. It was evidently first publicly noted as “a political machine” in 1928 by Alabama’s campus newspaper, The Crimson White.[1] Then in a 1945 article in the newspaper, it was referred to as “the machine”,[2] and the name has stuck ever since. It is alleged that The Machine plays a real role in both the politics of the student community and in the political careers of numerous Alabama politicians.[3]
History[edit]
The Alpha Rho chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon was founded at the University of Alabama in 1888.
The Alpha Rho Chapter was illegitimately founded; it was a chapter formed without formal permission of the society. In 1902, it contacted the governing authority of the society, the Alpha Chapter at Wesleyan University, and was accepted as a legitimate chapter. It was subsequently accepted by the administration and university community, and in 1905, the chapter hosted its first annual promenade, which was a successful public event.[4] In 1909, on February 14, The Alpha Rho Chapter created a new society, this one for members of the senior class, called The Skulls.[5] The Skulls replaced the Theta Nu Epsilon chapter. Both the earlier and later organizations were publicly recognized by the university, and appeared each year in the university yearbook.
The Skulls was considered a legitimate student group until 1922. The organization officially ceased to exist at that time.
I am not sure where you are getting your stats from but I do not believe this is factual. College partying and drinking is not unique to being greek.
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Likely more a function of who chooses to live inside a fraternity/sorority than anything else. I could name certain dorms which at our flagship which have a reputation as “animal house”. Those choosing that dorm often already have substance abuse issues or a predilection to them.
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I am curious, the documentary has issued a trailer. The trailer seems to indicate that the film will be damning to the Greek system on the UA campus… maybe that just for publicity? However, most commenters, myself included, have given qualifiers… “what I know about the film” (based on the trailer) etc… I have not read any comments that suggest any of us know the full scope. So why the concern over pre-judging? Isn’t that what the film makers want us to do based on what they have released?
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Thanks for sharing this. This is interesting.
I would like to see a further study done separating AUD symptoms and awareness of AUD symptoms. Anecdotally, I do see more of an awareness of AUD symptoms in my adult friends that I met in college at frat parties. My other adult friends engage in the same behavior and far more drug use (which another study on the same site also reflects, but only with regards to marijuana), but seem unaware of it. I wonder if that would be reflected in a large study. Any study that relies on self-reporting is going to have flaws, but it’s likely the best option for studying this difficult topic.
Wouldn’t alcohol consumption and overdose likely be a bigger problem at a school where Greek life is one of its most notable identities? A student can obviously choose not to join, but that presumably comes at a cost to her/his social life at a school where Greek life plays a dominant part of one’s social interactions.
I would assume greek life enables excessive alcohol consumption, but colleges without greek life seem to also have this issue so apparently students find alcohol elsewhere
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So two points. First, most of those pre judging are self disclosing bias in the form of either ties to UA and or being Greek fans. They are attempting to invalidate in advance the experiences (that appear based on the trailer) to be expressed by actual students who have chronicled and shared them in the face of risk and suppression.
You are in advance judging not just the filmmaker but the students who are featured and are in a much better position to describe UA rush than any of us.
So not only are you invalidating these students first hand experiences you are asserting their motivation for sharing of these experiences is a pursuit of fame and self aggrandizement all without having seen the actual content. Seemingly cynical and unfair from a parent!!
Second here is how the filmmaker actually describes the film versus your interpretation from a short trailer.
“This film is a thoughtful and compassionate portrayal of young women in 2022 as they rush the sorority system at the University of Alabama,”
You seemingly rhetorically ask isn’t the “damning of the Greek system at UA” what the filmmaker wants. What the filmmaker likely wants is you to watch the film then have an informed opinion.
Pretty odd that people are determined to defend the devaluation of something they haven’t seen. Typically people at least watch something before they reflexively dismiss it.
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I haven’t seen the documentary but I have seen the UA sorority Tik Toks (well before the documentary was made public), and my older daughter has a friend who rushed at UA 5-6 years back and my daughter gave me a play-by-play back then of what went on (including moms who stay in hotels near UA during rush in order to help their daughters deal with the drama & emotions). Not to mention the trailer. I feel somewhat safe making assumptions but I hope I’m wrong and it’s not what I think it will be.
Agreed.
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Someone’s feeling optimistic this morning. 
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