I bet these kids go to college and lose their minds! 
1 Like
I had the opportunity to live in my on campus sorority house and most of the time it was extremely enjoyable to live there. I have absolutely no regrets living there or having being in a sorority. Was it ideal? Of course not. But it was an important part of my college years. (It served me extremely well my first two years and I still am close with some many years later.)
With that said, when S21 starts school in fall I hope he doesnât join a fraternity. And, Iâve purposely helped him find suitable schools that he would be okay at without being in a fraternity. I observed much fewer benefits to being in a fraternity when I was active in greek life compared to the advantages of being in a sorority.
1 Like
Yes - I have many friends who didnât have horrible experiences in Greek life - genuinely nice people. I would argue it still doesnât justify the number of deaths, rapes, and other minor offenses disproportionately associated with Greek life. I trust the math. Of course it would occur to almost anyone reading this that while your experience was an important part of your college days - had Greek life not been available something else would have filled that void - something perhaps less exclusive, more fun, and certainly less expensive. You may have met a different group of girls and lived with them and had different but perhaps not lesser memories.
My point: Iâve still not heard anything that one gets from frats that they canât get from other college experiences. Like so many things Americans of a certain demographic like to romanticize - I expect Greek life will be phased out by the coming generations of college students. How are the middle aged men who support their families by reliving their glory days working for these organizations going to make a living? Perhaps thatâs what we should be most concerned about.
1 Like
A drinking age where traditional age undergraduates straddle the drinking age is problematic for colleges, since it becomes difficult to enforce the rules when underage undergraduates can easily get alcohol from those who are of the drinking age. A college may prefer the drinking age to be one where almost every undergraduate is of the necessary age (e.g. 18) or where almost every traditional age undergraduate is underage (e.g. 23 or higher).
The parties are not at the sorority houses. Drinking, and thus parties, havenât been allowed in sorority houses since the last 1970âs (I think 1978).
Donât blame the sororities.
2 Likes
There are more members of Greek organizations today than ever before. More chapters are added to schools every year. Harvard tried to get rid of them and the fraternities and sororities fought back and are again allowed (although they are off campus organizations, but always were).
Are you referring to sororities that the OP was referring to? Or all sororities?
None of the National Panhellenic Sororities (there are 26, and are the ones most think about like Kappa Kappa Gamma, Tri Delta and are most likely the ones with the big houses on campus) allow alcohol in their houses. Period. Even alums cannot host events with alcohol, or weddings, or garden parties. If an event is held at a hotel or private club, those who are of legal age can buy drinks from the business directly, but the sorority cannot pay for it like include it with the dinner or have an open bar.
Local sororities have local rules. There are a few other national sorority groups (traditionally Black Sororities are a big one) and Iâm sure they have their rules, but the 26 that are part of NPC cannot have parties with alcohol so really donât have functions at their houses except for things like Pancake breakfasts or Chili cook offs for fundraising.
Yes, many sorority members attend functions at the frat houses.
1 Like
But they do hold âmixersâ with fraternities at the frat houses where alcohol is served. Further, while there are no formal events at sorority houses that serve alcohol, private consumption (âpregamingâ) with other members certainly occurs within the houses. My point was that raising the drinking age has moved much of the weekend social scene off campus to less controlled environments and to situations, including âmixersâ that are not inclusive.
2 Likes
I donât think the sororities are sponsors of the mixers, and I know they cannot use sorority funds for the events. If you mean that there is informal drinking IN the sorority houses, it is kept very secret and many have been expelled for it, even more strict than in the dorms. IMO, there is not pregaming IN the houses. If you mean that girls get together and go drinking, then sure, of course, as do all other students at those schools.
When I first pledged, we were allowed to have 3.2 beer at the house (because most of us were of legal age to drink that) and we rented out our house to frats who didnât have their own houses to do rush parties. The next year that became forbidden and quite a few trunks of cars became traveling bars. There really was very little alcohol hidden in closets and none drunk out in the open.
My alum group wanted to have an event at a local house and we couldnât if we wanted to serve wine. Absolutely no way around it even though we are all WELL over 21.
Hazing with and without alcohol absolutely does occur in sorority houses, regardless of what the ârulesâ say.
Were you talking about a specific sorority with which you are familiar? Iâm confused by your statements. Please tell me that you donât believe it doesnât happen anywhere because it is against NPC?
2 Likes
I drank alcohol at parties at tri delt and kappa kappa gamma regularly.
Also, as far as numbers of Greek going up - kind of like saying the loser in an election got more votes than when he won in previous election- counts go up but because of population growth proportions go down. Also - the past year has brought sweeping changes to all areas of society- it would be naive to think numbers going up just two or three years ago is relevant in the current societal upheaval.
1 Like
Mixers are cosponsored by the fraternity and sorority. As for nowadays, parties are not held at sorority houses but it doesnt stop them from pregaming there before going to the frats.
1 Like
Mixers are parties that pair a frat with a sorority. It is organized, not random sisters dropping in on a frat house party. The mixers are at the frat houses bc of sorority rules. In a way this may create a less safe environment because the women are drinking/partying on the menâs turf rather than their own place. Pregaming is done as a fact in the sororities at Sâs school where they have the big national houses. Different houses may have different levels of scrutiny. Sâs GF is a member of a âbigâ one, so I have some limited insights to what goes on there now.
1 Like
At my school the mixers are called raids but anyways, the events are held off campus at bars or nightclubs rented out for the night. All alc consumed after the pregame at the fraternity house is purchased at the bar. This policy was done to limit the amount of alcohol consumed unsupervised.
All I know is I drank a lot of alcohol at kkg and tri delt houses - with a lot of other people - not a pregame - the main event
I differentiate between kids in dorms and apartments choosing to drink themselves sick with alcohol and kids who join a social service organization and as part of rituals to indoctrinate them are pressured or coerced to drink cases of beer/10-40 shots/bottles of wine/etc in short periods of time by their older brothers and sisters.
Boys especially do not have frontal lobes at that age. Get a bunch of them together, and what they do have shrinks. I have not met a single 18-20 year old boy who I donât think could do something completely out of character if in a big group of new friends with alcohol involved, I donât care how well they were raised. Most of them have no idea what they are signing up for, it is all top secret!
Seems like there are a handful of hazing deaths every year. That is too many for me, there can be no number of âgood chaptersâ to make up for the ones that kill.
In case you havenât figured, I think fraternities and sororities should be abolished.
8 Likes
Dorm drinking and parties donât seem to involve hazing, humiliation, and pressure to drink at the same levels as fraternities. Also canât remember seeing news regarding deaths associated with dorm parties.
Just kinda sad that this is the best entertainment supposedly smart kids can figure out. However, underage teen drinking isnât going anywhere and one way to address it my opinion is to lower the drinking age for beer and wine, with serious consequences for hard liquor infractions.
3 Likes
For the OP, Iâd like to point out that there are many Black and Hispanic/Latino sororities and fraternities. There is also diversity within the Greek system, depending on the college, although I agree that they have lots of room to grow in this area.
Another poster asked what you can get from the Greek system that you canât get from some other activity on campus. I am not a person with talent in any particular area. I canât sing well enough to join an a cappella group. Iâm not a dancer/actor/artist. I couldnât make a club sport team, and my hall mates were not interested in intramurals.
I was overwhelmed, a little lost/lonely, and failing Econ until I joined a sorority. Our house had a considerably higher GPA than the student average, and I was impressed by how smart and ambitious my new sisters were. It inspired me to be a much better student. I loved living in a house full of women. The no drinking rule was very strict and it was understood that we each had a responsibility to keep the chapter out of trouble. I lived there for two years and never saw alcohol in the house, although one girl occasionally smoked on the fire escape. The house was much cleaner, nicer and cozier than many dorms, although it was campus housing and not more expensive.
A women-only space was just what I needed to gain confidence and role models. I found a running partner, study groups, tutors, people to cook with, chat all night with, mentors and mentees. And we formed an intermural soccer team. We would go to student mass on Sundays at 4:00, and then walk straight to games, play our hearts out and head to the dining hall. Great memories.
I wish people were less judgmental, and not so quick to paint millions of individuals in a vast country including thousands of Greek chapters, with the same brush. I hope we donât have to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are good reasons why sisterhood appeals to many.
10 Likes
At the bad frats and sororities the problem is drugs not alcohol.