UVa Frats

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
21

<p>TexasTaxiMom, Wahoowah! As they say, "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." (The more things change, the more they stay the same.) Were you there when they still had Easters and Mid-Winters? </p>

<p>Yes, Delta Upsilon survived, and the bridge is still called Beta Bridge. (For those who don't know what we're talking about, in the 80's the brothers of Beta Theta Pi played a practical joke on DU, which went awry. Essentially, the DU house burned to the ground. So, Beta was forced to give up their house to DU, and Beta was then relegated to a house on the other side of Grounds. Next to the former Beta house is Beta Bridge, which student organizations come out every night to paint over the entire bridge with some message or announcement: i.e. birthday wishes, upcoming parties, etc. In order to ensure that your message won't be tampered with, you're supposed to paint "Thanks DU" somewhere on the bridge. Also, in the early 90's, 3 frats (DU, TKE, and Zeta Beta Tau) had a drug problem and were busted.) </p>

<p>Rush has been dry for several years now. (Frats/sororities aren't allowed to serve alcohol to prospective members, when they're checking out each house during Rush in the beginning of the Spring semester.)</p>

22

<p>I was there for the very last Easters...before it was declared a "ticking time bomb" and banished. I believe it was 1982 or maybe 83, somewhere I <em>still</em> have that yellow Easter's shirt with the mudslide stains from Mad Bowl. The J. Geils Band played at the big concert. Now how's that for dated! Midwinters continued for my entire four years. I graduated in May of 85. </p>

<p>My husband was in Theta Chi (CLAS 83), Chi Phi was next door to them. The pranks they played were terrible. One with donuts ended up before IFC for arbitration. <em>think...what can you do with a donut</em> PM me I'll get booted if I post it! LOL</p>

<p>Sorority rush was always dry, and no alcohol in the house either. Fraternities were much different.</p>

23

<p>LOL! I have an idea what was done w/ said food item. </p>

<p>Geez, I'm so bummed that I never experienced Easters. By the time I was at UVa in the mid-90's, Mid-Winters was also beginning to fade. (It was weird though going to UVa Mid-Winters parties and having half the partiers be students from other schools.)</p>

<p>UVa is still a party school, but not at the level that it was in the 80's and early 90's. I read that in the 80's when Playboy was ranking schools, it didn't include UVa but had a footnote that said, "...but that one institution The University of Virginia is in class all by itself." My friend went to a wedding in LA and met an older gentleman who told him when he found out that my buddy went to UVa, "Man, my friends and I drove cross-country to UVa to party at Easters."</p>

<p>Remember Dean Canevari? I think he was a Dean of Students when you & your husband were there. He told me that when drinking was still legal for 18 year olds back in the 80's Easters was the biggest college party in the country. The frats would go through over 500 kegs during Easters weekend alone, and Mad Bowl was filled with over 20,000 people from all around the country. He also mentioned that the University had to end Easters because non-students began showing up and doing damage to university property. The funniest story he shared with me was about an evening he was patrolling the Rugby Road area during Easters, and he saw a couple kissing. The guy was so drunk that he threw up, and then went back to kissing the girl. She was so drunk that she didn't care. Ewwwwww!!!!</p>

24

<p>texastaximom-</p>

<p>TKE actually doesn't exist anymore. Last year it was a Sigma Chi sat. house, but I think it's mixed this year. </p>

<p>DU is still at the house next to Beta Bridge, and from what I've heard they've been having problems with their recent pledge classes disappearing into thin air.</p>

<p>As for "dry rush"... HAH...</p>

25

<p>Bingo on the donuts. Oh and hubby said it was Sigma Chi next door to them. You seen one Chi, you've seen them all LOL!</p>

<p>Yes, Dean "Can-of-berries" as the Dec called him was still there. Probably getting rid of Easters was the prudent thing to do. I don't know exactly how many people came during that week, but a lot. Particularly because VA had 18 for beer and wine drinking age back then. The parties would start as early as Wednesday, which was also disruptive. Every year more people would have "mishaps." It was definitely conducive to learning, however the Easters controversy raged the whole time I was there. Foxfield always caused problems...drinking all day and driving. And there was a really bad Sigma Chi accident with a U Haul that killed several people(not related to Easters but drinking was involved)--that happened my second year. </p>

<p>But there were plenty of other things to do. I went to Atlanta for UVa's first bowl appearance (Peach) and it was during the era of Ralph Sampson. I had no idea when I watched UVa-Carolina that I was watching the future Michael Jordan! Do you still have to lotto for b-ball tickets?</p>

<p>Shame about the pep band. Crude as they were, they were unique and funny. I see that Uva is big football now. Boo. Hiss. We used to be a cut above, and now they take football players that need to be remediated before they can come play, meanwhile they reject solid students that don't play football. </p>

<p>UVa headed the way of UT...which just makes me sick to my stomach. UT only graduates 33% of their scholarship athletes. Mack Brown makes enough in salary (about 2 million per year) to send scads of kids to college. And the whole lobbying for a BCS bowl (which nets him a huge bonus for snagging that...more money) bleah. I miss the days when UVa was 1-9, you went to the games to tailgate, the pep band could joke as they pleased, and the student body did not rotate around folks who can't crack 1000 on their SAT.</p>

26

<p>When I was at UVa, basketball tickets were by lottery. I don't know if that's still the case now. </p>

<p>Yeah, I heard that in the 80's, no one watched the football games. Everyone was dressed up in jacket & ties and dresses, and it was just one big party in the stands. A TV commentator once said after noticing the debauchery around him that UVa surely knows how to party when we lose and wondered how crazy it would be when we would actually win. I think in 1990 the first time we beat Clemson, some students in celebration set an 8th of the football stadium on fire. I heard that there was a huge blackened burnt square on the field for a season. Needless to say, it's not that debaucherous now, but I remember the first time we beat Florida State the Fall of 1995. We went crazy! When the game was over, we charged the football field and pulled down the goal posts.</p>

<p>Yeah, UVa has become more sports-oriented in the last few decades, but I will say that the revenue made from football, basketball, etc. goes to improving academic programs at Virginia. So, it is a win-win situation. Also, UVa has the highest football graduation rate for a ranked team: 75%.<br>
<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2004-10-25-grad-rates_x.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2004-10-25-grad-rates_x.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>When I was at UVa, Virginia was the national champion in men's soccer for 4 years in a row. In '99 and '03, the men's lacrosse team was the national champion. The polo team (as in w/ horses, not water polo) has been the national champion for the last 3 years, and the women's lacrosse team is currently the national champion too.</p>

<p>And yes, I too miss the Pep Band. They were so funny but a bit too irreverant for the politicians in Richmond. Back when Wilder was governor of Virginia, there was a rumor that Patricia Kluge (who was then a member of UVa's Board of Visitors and the former wife of billionaire John Kluge) was having an affair w/ Wilder. During halftime, the Pep Band said the following joke. "Why did John and Patricia Kluge get a divorce? Because Patricia got a little wilder on the weekend." Let's say that the politicians weren't happy.</p>

27

<p>But what's the use of improving the programs if you are not selecting the best possible student body? 75% grad rate looks pretty bad next to the 90+% grade rate for the student body as a whole. Bucknell, where my oldest attends, graduates 100% of their scholarship althletes. UVa does have quite a few playing pro, but what happens to the rest of those kids? The ones that don't graduate, and can't play professionally. Just food for thought. <em>wink</em></p>

<p>I say this because UVa paid to have a young man come play football this year who could not crack 1000 on his SATs. He needed to go remediate elsewhere for a year. They also have rejected (just look at the carnage on the UVa threads) many outstanding students, some out-of-state kids with over 1500 boards, high GPAS and good ECs. I think the ball teams should reflect the student body. But of course that is a problem at most colleges. *I remember UVa fans taunting Patrick Ewing with "how do you spell SAT signs" when it became apparent that he was well beneath the standard Georegtown student. Right after I left, Olden Polyniece ran into judish trouble for plagarism. He just couldn't do the work. Nobody thought about that when they recurited him to come play basketball. </p>

<p>This has become a sticking point for a lot of alums. I know that we don't give anymore. We are just disgusted with the move to big sports teams.</p>

<p>Yes...we always lost to Clemson while I was there. That was when Clemson had William "Fridge" Perry. I remember hearing a Clemson fan say that the swaying back and forth the to Good Old Song made her "nauseated." This was a grey haired woman, dressed head to toe in Orange, with a Tiger Paw on her cheek! I had to settle for a nice win over VaTech at Va Tech instead. </p>

<p>When did you graduate?</p>

<p>Soccer and Lacrosse were strong in the 80s, too.</p>

28

<p>The 75% is for football only. UVa graduates over 90% of all scholarship athletes. I don't know the exact figure.</p>

<p>Yeah, accepting academically-challenged athletes is an unfortunate effect of big-time football/basketball, but one that many schools have to deal with. UVa is striving to be the best in all areas. (I just hope those athletes make the most of the education they got.) </p>

<p>Nonetheless, don't let it be too much a sticking point as to throw out the baby along w/ the bath water. Those of us who graduated during the current era of big-time sports don't think it's that big a deal, and there are so many AWESOME things about UVa. For example, unlike many public research universities, undergraduate education is still the main focus at UVa. The professors are awesome, and the student-teacher interaction/cooperation is stellar. (How many schools do you know have a student member on their all-powerful governing board?) Using the Jeffersonian mantra of "excellence, honor, and student self-governance," UVa undergrads are making difference in the world - from saving refugees in Burma to designing a simplified sign language for the mentally challenged. (Read the "Undergraduate Research Opportunities @ UVa" thread.) One of this year's 2 UVa Rhodes Scholarship recipients went to Haiti right after graduation to help alleviate the problems that country is facing. In fact, UVa is the largest feeder school for the Peace Corps among mid-sized universities.<br>
<a href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=5327&pid=611%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=5327&pid=611&lt;/a> </p>

<p>There's something about UVa that makes its students want to become leaders and to give back to society. Surely, that's worth supporting.</p>

<p>Hey, if a gay Asian liberal could have a fun, amazing, life-changing experience at the stereotypically conservative preppy Southern institution known as UVa and love it to no end, almost anyone can. </p>

<p>(I'll email you privately re. personal info.)</p>

29

<p>Oops, my bad. The student-athlete grad rate is somewhere in the 80s not 90s. Anyway, it would be one thing if UVa was part of the Ivy League, which as an athletic conference doesn't allow for athletic scholarships, but UVa is part of a real sports league, the Atlantic Coast Conference. In basketball, we play schools like Duke, North Carolina, and Maryland. (By the way, Duke's graduation rate for its baskeball players is 58%.) In football, we play Virginia Tech, Miami, and Florida State. Maybe having a 1-9 record was okay at one time, but I surely appreciated seeing UVa win games when I was at school. I wanted to go to a school that wants to win (academically, athletically, etc.) not just a place where one would just socialize and get drunk in the stands.</p>

30

<p>hmmmmm. bump</p>

31

<p>Are you thinking about rushing, jacl?</p>

32

<p>yeah-- I don't really know them that well but I was thinking about Deke, A's, Elmo's, Zetes, Kappa Sig or Phi Psi. Do you have to know people to get into these? Do you know what they are like besides the parties?</p>

33

<p>I don't really know - I'm a first year, too. I know people at several houses, and I'm considering rushing.</p>

34

<p>I am the president and founder of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity which is making a return to UVA this fall.</p>

<p>We currently have 17 founding fathers and are going to be involved in formal rush in the spring</p>

<p>This is a great opportunity to be part or something big and be involved with a great group of guys.</p>

<p>If you go to UVA you can check out the Sigma Alpha Mu facebook group and you can email me at <a href="mailto:sammyuva@gmail.com">sammyuva@gmail.com</a> if you have any questions</p>

<p>best of luck,</p>

<p>josh</p>

35

<p>does anybody here have any experience with the rush process? i'm going to be rushing this spring and i'm curious about how competitive it is at various houses and what i need to look out for.</p>

36

<p>The rush process isn't that hard. If you're asking about it now, you're probably not being dirty rushed anywhere. But, in general here are some tips.</p>

<p>Go to as many houses as you can in open house - this greatly increases the amount of 1st invites you get.</p>

<p>From the first invites you get, try to go to about 5 or 6 different houses (you usually get around 10 or so depending on where you went in the first place). Unless they hate you, you'll probably get a 2nd invite to places you get first invites from. Get a good idea of each houses "type".</p>

<p>2nd invites is pretty important, you want to go to multiple events of the houses you like. This tells them you're serious.</p>

<p>3rd invites is great - best events and there arn't THAT many people who get 3rd invites...usually no more than 30 or 40. You should probably have it narrowed down to 1 or 2 (at most 3) houses by now...just go to as many events as possible. By 3rd invites I knew exactly where I wanted to go, I only went to 1 place for third invites (out of 3 offered).</p>

<p>Another suggestion, watch out for houses that are into money and/or are super southern(they usually are the same houses...). Unless you are rich or super southern, you'll have a hard time getting in, and you probably won't fit in that well anyway. I don't mean to judge, its just I didn't want to be in a place where the brothers discriminate based on how much money your parents make, or what latitude line you live on. </p>

<p>The rush process works pretty well. If you like a house, generally they're the type of guys who will like you. </p>

<p>Also, don't get discouraged if a house you like balls you. It's nothing to get worked up over, and in the end you'll find that you'll end up where you should have.</p>

<p>FINALLY the most important thing is to like the 2nd years (one will most likely be your big brother) in the house, and like the guys you're rushing with. You'll spend the most time with them when you're in. If you join a house based on liking the 4th years...just remember they're gone in a semester.</p>

<p>Good luck getting into the house for you!</p>

37

<p>jags, would you mind telling me which house you're in? I'm just curious. you can PM me or something.</p>

38

<p>anyone know anything about Pi Kappa Phi?</p>

39

<p>u mean Psi Kappa Phi?</p>

40

<p>there's both untitled, </p>

<p>Phi Kappa Psi is called Phi Psi and Pi kappa Phi is Pi Kap -</p>

<p>Anyway, Pi Kap has cool guys - 2 or 3 kids in my dorm that I liked first year pledged there. They're one of the handful of houses at UVa that still has 2 semesters of pledging. Solid house.</p>