February 21, 2002

3:25 PM

Frat Boys Gone Wild!"...the last straw came when the national office discovered the chapter's recreational boxing tournament in which members recruited local homeless persons, "liquored" them up, gave them large boxing gloves and "let them go to town,"" apparently as part a "...tradition of cock fighting and gambling in the house's basement."
posted by n9 (59 comments total)

Just to clarify I posted this because I find it terrifying.
posted by n9 at 3:30 PM on February 21, 2002

I think it would hilarious if this frat house would catch on fire while the strippers and homeless boxing people and cock fights and gambling were all going on.
posted by Keen at 3:34 PM on February 21, 2002

People like N9 are taking the fun out of college. I mean we cannot keep protecting ourselves from going wild. GO WILD GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM! Then become a productive member of society...that si what college is for.
posted by crackheadmatt at 3:37 PM on February 21, 2002

As a more reliable source of opinion in regards to this particular issue than someone with the alias "crackheadmatt" I have to say... I agree with crackheadmatt. lol
posted by banished at 3:43 PM on February 21, 2002

hey, i just saw this story on plastic about these kids running a speakeasy.
posted by kliuless at 3:44 PM on February 21, 2002

As a loyal (alumni) member of a fine, upstanding fraternity (old saying: "Don't call your fraternity a 'frat,' as you wouln't refer to your country as your..."), I was about to come in here and defend fraternities (in general) by pointing out that only a few are like this, in the same way that not all US senators are boozing, womanizing pigs (though some are). Then I noticed this story was about a Kappa Alpha chapter and, well, they are all like that.

My fraternity days were nothing like this. Then again, we were nothing like most "frat boys." So let the "bonehead frat boy" jokes continue.
posted by arco at 3:56 PM on February 21, 2002

heh. i'm an alum of UTK. the kappa alphas were notorious rednecks when i was there. this sounds like typical behavior.
posted by patricking at 4:05 PM on February 21, 2002

I support fraternities. I dream of a brotherhood of man. I dream of a day when all people can look another in the eye and say brother, or sister, friend, fellow human being.

ggrbrrggrlgrlgrllleloosputterushhssssgshhgshh you're seriously choking me
posted by Settle at 4:11 PM on February 21, 2002

Legalize cock fighting and take the crimminal element out of it! Every drunken homeless person a Mike Tyson in frat houses in Tenn., the state that gave us the president, though he is not serving in office.
posted by Postroad at 4:12 PM on February 21, 2002

strippers and homeless boxing people and cock fights and gambling . . .

I blame this on the people who turned Las Vegas into a sterile mecca for bloated yuppies and their screaming brats. If these boys had somewhere to go for their vice and debauchery ...

Hey, wait a second! Anyone wanna help me build a theme park?

SEEDYVILLE: Like Amsterdam, Without the Tulips
posted by hipstertrash at 4:21 PM on February 21, 2002

bums, hookers, cock fights?

Whatever happened to hazing freshmen, and getting the sorority girls drunk for entertainment in frat houses?

class, get some class, gentlemen. go get yourself a good old fashion paddle, cut your hair, throw on some A & F and defend Bush like your older brothers did -- or consider yourselves out of the will!
posted by tsarfan at 4:23 PM on February 21, 2002

My god, that is just absolutely sick and terrifying.
I've known some frat guys who were good people and there are some frats which do actually try to do some good, just to be fair.
But, I've heard several tales of similar behavior from other frats which lead me to believe that a lot of them function as the rich-kid equivalent of a street gang.I've often come out in defense of crude fun, but this goes beyond crudity into sadism.
An interesting scenario for justice would be to drive these jerks to Knoxville's skidrow section sans wallet and car keys, leave 'em there for a week or so and see how funny they find it all then.
posted by jonmc at 4:28 PM on February 21, 2002

Otis! My man!
posted by Ty Webb at 4:35 PM on February 21, 2002

The most frightening thing of all is that this does not lower my estimation of the fraternal system as a whole. It hardly even surprises me. I live right across the street from frat row, and looking out my window on any given night of the week I could find enough evidence to write an essay on mob mentality.
posted by Hildago at 4:35 PM on February 21, 2002

As someone with inside knowledge of more than a few Kappa Alpha chapters (though, as an outsider) I could tell stories MUCH, MUCH worse than this. This is the kind of thing they brag about. This is nothing. Homeless boxing? Feh.

Much darker activities inside.
posted by ColdChef at 4:59 PM on February 21, 2002

when i saw that article a day or two ago, i thought of the battle royale in "invisible man"...
posted by moz at 5:28 PM on February 21, 2002

GO WILD GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM!

Why should we accept that people have "wild" in their system that has to be "got out"? I certainly knew better than to do shit like this before I was 18.
posted by kindall at 6:11 PM on February 21, 2002

Why should we accept that people have "wild" in their system that has to be "got out"?

Well ,depends on what kinda "wild" you mean, kindall. Drunkenness, tit flashing, and strippers are one thing(and somewhat healthy in moderation). No one would begrudge people a little rowdiness to take the edge off.

The date-rape stories floating out of other frats and the homeless fight club in this story are a whole other kettle of fish. The impulses behind those acts come not from natural college-kid rowdiness, but from a sadistic mindset and a facistic mentality. I honestly don't think that this stems from the usual type of collegiate rowdiness.
posted by jonmc at 6:22 PM on February 21, 2002

What you need to do is hang onto the "wild", channel it, use it, let it keep you from turning into a drone, and not let it all leak out at once resulting in this kind of big, stupid "wild" fallout.

But...no "wild" at all? What kind of world would that be?
posted by umberto at 6:23 PM on February 21, 2002

Some frats rock, some suck. A lot of it depends on what university you go to. Here at UGA, my brother said he would kill me if i joined the PIKEs (he's a Sig Ep) cause of the crap they do (they're under trouble for racial discrimination here). At the Auburn chapter, a friend was rushing them, and to get a bid, he had to date rape a girl (yes, you read that right). He walked out the door. But, in general, i find nothing wrong w/ frats. I rushed 2 times, but just found they weren't for me. Point is, when crap like this happens, they should get in trouble. Difference between frats and other organizations is that the other orgs are either (usually) a) academic in nature, or b) sports related, so they got the University's blessing. But, so many hate Greek Life with a pasison that they will stop at nothing to shut them down and get them in trouble.
posted by jmd82 at 7:01 PM on February 21, 2002

Some frats rock, some suck. A lot of it depends on what university you go to.

Oh right.
posted by raysmj at 7:38 PM on February 21, 2002

That's tellin' him, ray.
posted by jonmc at 7:42 PM on February 21, 2002

It's just ridiculous, jonmc. Frats have caused trouble all over God's creation (a saying, please no atheist attacks or attacks from religious people who believe it more than a saying). Most fraternities *do* have the blessing of universities. They receive, at most schools, subsidized or free land on which to build houses, on prime real estate, for starters. Deans of students oversee them, on salary paid for by the university, etc.

And I've heard enough, from people at state (hey, bad stuff happens at even relatively sedate places like Vermont) and elite colleges with fraternity systems alike, from small and large schools, etc. to know the it-depends-on-the-school thing isn't quite true.
posted by raysmj at 7:57 PM on February 21, 2002

Frats have caused trouble all over God's creation

Some frats, ray. As have some motorcycle clubs, some fraternal orders and some chess clubs, for all I know.
I just don't think we can paint the whole system with such a broad brush. Like I said in my initial comment, there are some frat guys who are good people.
During my abortive college career at Fordham, I knew some of the guys in our schools one frat. They had no house and the whole organization was basically an excuse to get nifty ballcaps and hang out together and drink beer and they welcomed everyone to their parties with open arms. And part of their pledge requirements involved community service.
My school may not have been typical, but knocking fratboys as a group is no more fair than knocking punkrockers or NASCAR fans. Although the frat in this particular story should be strung up by the balls, in my opinion.
Besides my comment was merely a playful poke at the brevity of your response. You know you're one of my boys right?
posted by jonmc at 8:16 PM on February 21, 2002

But...no "wild" at all? What kind of world would that be?

It'd be a world where people think about things before they do them. In other words, a far, far better one than the one we live in.
posted by kindall at 8:25 PM on February 21, 2002

raysmj, well lets see. They aren't all alike. My fraternity at the time i graduated had spent 25 years in three different houses, all paid for, land and all, by the members, and alumni.

Your generalizations make you sound like every other whiny person i've every heard bitch about the greek system. you don't know a thing about it. yes i loved hanging out, having fun drinking beer with my friends. We also had community service projects at least twice a semester, as well as putting on one of the largest Biathlon(bike/run) events in the area with all the proceeds going to charity.
posted by jbelshaw at 8:32 PM on February 21, 2002

jonmc: Some motorcycle clubs, yes. Lion's Clubs? Probably not, although I do remember seeing a friend in a Santa suit on a Lion's float whistle at teen cheerleaders and taunt police, whilst (archaic, used intentionally) singing carols in Spanish. Oh, and Rudolph's antlers breaking off, and the float, a few minutes late, screaming toward the area of the Xmas parade, presents falling out on the highway and being plowed over by nearby cars.
posted by raysmj at 8:34 PM on February 21, 2002

oh, and I in no way condone cock fighting or homeless boxing. its horrible.
posted by jbelshaw at 8:34 PM on February 21, 2002

jbelshaw: OK, some, but I thought that was implied or understood. You're doing the whining. They have caused problems all over God's creation. I was responding to a post, and didn't have to say anything about academic records, etc.
posted by raysmj at 8:35 PM on February 21, 2002

raysmj, i realize that you aren't indicting all, but it is something that pushes a button with me. I've personally never heard of any school paying for a house or land.

Any time anyone learns that I am a member of a fraternity, 80% of the time I get hassled, and usually its by someone who hasn't clue one about what really goes on.
posted by jbelshaw at 8:41 PM on February 21, 2002

jbelshaw: They're built on school property, pretty much everywhere. And they're subsidized because their long-term leases are so often dirt cheap. Maybe not free, as I wrote in haste, but most certainly cheap. (And this, remember, is prime real estate - land the schools could use for other, more important things or at least another senselessly huge sports facility or Unecessary New Engineering/Biz Building to Impress Alumni). They don't pay for the houses, no, but schools subsidize them via the land. I also know that, at least in the past, schools made loans to fraternities which wanted to build houses.

Here's an interesting one: At Washington U. in St. Louis, the university even provides fraternities with janitorial services.
posted by raysmj at 8:59 PM on February 21, 2002

At the University of Kansas, where I did my undergrad, the Greek houses (there are quite a few of them) are definitely on private property. It's easy to tell, because the campus is "dry" and the frat houses are allowed to have alcohol. I suspect, but cannot prove, that this is not an uncommon situation. Certainly the many Greek houses associated with USC are not anywhere to be found on the Presidio-like campus in the middle of South-Central L.A.

The Greek houses are officially "clubs" that are affiliated with the school, and the school can take that status away (like in Animal House), but it's much more likely, at least at KU, that a problem house would have its charter pulled by the national organization.
posted by bingo at 9:33 PM on February 21, 2002

Sweeping generalizations, of any kind, are just asinine. Ok, so some hee-haw fraternity acted like a bunch of morons and got Boxcar Willy to box for booze, so now all fraternities are thrown in the A & F wearing, DMB listening, binge-drinking, date-raping garbage heap. It rediculous. Take a look at some of the good things frat boys have done.
At least try to look at things objectively.
posted by dcgartn at 9:56 PM on February 21, 2002

bingo: Was it always that way at Kansas or did it change over time? Might the serving of alcohol (or desire to serve it) have been a factor? Curious, since the big deal for some frats these days is to proclaim themselves "alcohol-free."

I take it from this article that the fraternites at USC are indeed located on school property, or that the university controls the property.

dcgartn : I made no sweeping generalizations about fraternity life, but was responding to a post in which it was more or less claimed that universities (or many people, in association with the universities who overtly sanction sports and academic organizations, but supposedly not frats) do everything they can to keep fraternities down. The other part of the post I was responding to involved a statement to the effect that fraternity problems happen only at certain schools.
posted by raysmj at 10:05 PM on February 21, 2002

Pretend for a moment that the Boy Scouts had been blamed for several date rapes and accidental deaths. Would you join or allow your sons to join? Hell no.
Plus, most people do not have to buy their friends, which the Greek system strongly endorses.
posted by ttrendel at 10:33 PM on February 21, 2002

raysmj: It seems you're right according to the article, at least in terms of that specific fraternity. Their address places them off-campus, but apparently they count as on-campus anyway. Incidentally, alcohol is allowed on campus at USC.

As for KU, I don't know the history, but I would guess that alcohol did indeed play a part. Also, it's a huge school that gets limited state funds, in a region where real estate is relatively inexpensive. I know that one fraternity there, when they first got their charter, bought acres around the house they didn't need, just so they could deliberately sell the land to sorority houses and surround themselves with girls. The plan was executed successfully many years ago, and the houses in question are still active.

I have never been in a fraternity, btw.
posted by bingo at 11:28 PM on February 21, 2002

I've been online forever and I wonder why we never saw a flood of people spilling the beans on fraternity secrets. Why so few pages outlining Greek rituals, symbols, slogans and all that? If everything from the White House to the Church of Scientology can be exposed on the Net, why not Tappa Kegga and Phelta Thigh?
posted by Iberaband at 12:11 AM on February 22, 2002

Iberaband - What, you think frats read?
posted by NortonDC at 4:45 AM on February 22, 2002

some of you guys are brilliant.
posted by jbelshaw at 7:10 AM on February 22, 2002

Everything you need to know about fraternities can be found in these two documentaries.
posted by groundhog at 7:51 AM on February 22, 2002

Sweeping generalizations, of any kind, are just asinine.

O well said, irony-man.
posted by rodii at 8:37 AM on February 22, 2002

I'm glad you got it.
posted by dcgartn at 11:59 AM on February 22, 2002

For all the time I've loathed fraternities, and very occasionally said as much, people have trotted out the you-can't-generalize and they-raise-money-for-charity tropes (that money for charity starts to seem like payoff money after you hear about it often enough).

To which I say: bollocks. Certainly, generalizing, far from being the mortal sin so many claim it to be, is a basic process of forming judgements. Without it, we'd all be surrounded by tiny atomic observations that never lead anywhere. Is it perilous? Occasionally, I suppose. But it's part of cognition.

Some nice people were in the John Birch Society. I'm sure the John Birch Society raised some money, almost by accident now and again, for causes worth supporting. But, for the most part, I loathed the fundamental stance of the John Birch Society and thought it was a poor influence on our culture. Ditto the (White) Citizen's Council of the south; ditto the Promise Keepers.

Why in the name of God would anyone "pledge" themselves to an organization if they believed it embodied no principles at all? Then, if it does embody principles, is it impossible to be opposed to them? Does that make me a bigot, a proponent of (gasp) "sweeping generalizations?"

I don't like what fraternities commonly stand for. Maybe you do. But please don't try to convince me that they don't stand for anything at all -- or that what they stand for is just the bland, noncontroversial stuff the apologists always put up. Everyone involved in that conversation knows that's garbage.
posted by argybarg at 12:10 PM on February 22, 2002

Some nice people were in the John Birch Society.

The problem with this line of argument, argybargy, is that the problem with the groups you mentioned is that while they amy have contained "nice people" their "fundamental stance," repulses you.

Fraternities for the most part, have no "fundamental stance" beyond partying together. Although some frats may do things which (correctly) repulse you. It's not like they are formed specifically for those purposes.

Singling out fratboys is like picking on "rednecks" or "christians" or "heavy metal fans," a convienent for people to pin all the things they hate on some group they don't care for. It's called "scapegoating" among other things.
posted by jonmc at 12:32 PM on February 22, 2002

jonmc: I'm mostly with you in this, but don't you think that by and large, rednecks, christians, and heavy metal fans are groups of people with certain characteristics in common? I mean, when you say "heavy metal fans," you're talking about more than just a random sampling of people whose musical tastes just happen to be similar for no apparent reason, right? These groups come together (or evolve together) because the people in them share certain characteristics. If you have something personal against those characteristics, then dissing the whole group may not be polite, but is it necessarily scapegoating?
posted by bingo at 12:40 PM on February 22, 2002

If people "pledged" themselves to a Redneck Brotherhood that had a central office and officers, it would be valid to dislike that Brotherhood and hold its members accountable for joining it -- presuming that its principles had been shown to be worthy of dislike.

In other words, I didn't invent your label -- you consciously stuck it on yourself. And that decision can be judged.

It's true that the official tenets of fraternities are more or less blank -- just as with the (admittedly more evil) Citizens' Council. But, in both cases, the general tenor of the organizations is well-known. As ttrendel correctly pointed out, if the Boy Scouts were as comprehensively riddled with groupthink, chauvinism, cronyism, violence towards women, binge drinking, hazing and imperviousness to rules as fraternities are, we'd all know what they stood for.
posted by argybarg at 12:43 PM on February 22, 2002

I picked those three groups cause the are the ones so called "enlightened" people often turn to when they want a cheap laugh, the way others might tell a Polack joke. In the humor category, as far as I'm concerned, either everyones fair game or noone is. I, obviously am in the former camp.

The problem arises when it goes beyond good-natured joshing to making assumptions(usually negative ones) based on superficial traits.

For instance, if someone saw me walk down the street in my Anthrax t-shirt and immediately concluded "dope-smoking, low IQ convience store clerk" or heard a southern accent and thought, "inbred, unemployed crossburner" or sees someone wearing a crucifix and imputes "homophopic abortion clinic bomber" or saw Greek lettering on a sweatshirt and assumed "overpriviliged date rapist"

All of the above constitute prejudice and scapegoating, not to mention intellectual laziness and I see it happen in the real world and here on the 'filter. Just cause it's groups you or I might not like dosen't make it any less bigoted. It's not only those on the right who have preconcievd notions.
posted by jonmc at 12:58 PM on February 22, 2002

argybarg, please, tell me what principles you believe fraternities commonly stand for. I'd like to hear your reasonings for these generalizations. Usually when i've met someone who feels as strongly as you do about this, they've been directly affected or had some sort of direct experience to shape their views.
posted by jbelshaw at 1:27 PM on February 22, 2002

jonmc: A southern accent is not something you choose, no matter what a person might think. People might intentionally "lose" them, but they come back at the weirdest moments. A fraternity is not something one is born into. Whatever you think of frats, the comparison is not at all valid.
posted by raysmj at 1:52 PM on February 22, 2002

jonmc: The thing is, when I was an undergrad, I didn't make assumptions so much based on the fact that someone was wearing Greek letters, but based on the specific Greek letters they were wearing. Guessing a sorority girl's house based on her appearance and attitude became a running joke among some of my friends (male and female), and we could do it with a high degree of accuracy. I think there is a difference between a redneck and someone who speaks with a southern accent, and there's a difference between someone you would describe primarily as a "heavy metal fan" and someone wearing an Anthrax t-shirt. It's true that a lot of people judge and scapegoat based on their ignorance and the most superficial details. But if you are informed enough to know what the relevant details are, I think it's possible to hold some general ideas about a group of people with better motivations than to simply find scapegoats.
posted by bingo at 2:06 PM on February 22, 2002

bingo- maybe so. I suppose all I was really trying to say was this: the more I've let go of assumptions(based on just about anything) and give people the benefit of the doubt, the more people have pleasantly surprised me and the more I've widened my circle of freinds and knowledge.
posted by jonmc at 8:08 PM on February 22, 2002

I've never seen so much ignorance masquerading as understanding before.

As jonmc points out, preconceived notions - like, for example, racism - color one's perceptions of all superficially similar things.

Substitute any racial, gender, or orientation label for "fraternity" in this thread and you'd get something worthy of posting only on sites we all loathe.
posted by mikewas at 8:57 PM on February 22, 2002

wow, i haven't seen metafilter get this prejudiced since .... since .... ever.

*pops in animal house dvd*

i'll give you a more accurate post after properly assessing the situation by reviewing a highly reputable documentary on the subject and carefully noting my reactions.
posted by rorycberger at 11:34 PM on February 22, 2002

Substitute any racial, gender, or orientation label for "fraternity" in this thread and you'd get something worthy of posting only on sites we all loathe.

People don't choose to join races, genders, or sexual orientations, and they can't be excluded from them, either.
posted by bingo at 12:52 AM on February 23, 2002

Fraternity: "Oh, shit! I need friends, here's some cash" *BING* Instant pals.
posted by owillis at 1:13 AM on February 23, 2002

bingo: And what does that choice have to do with intellectual laziness and dishonesty? The fact is, you admit to making pre-conceived judgments about individuals based on their appearance, which is effectively the same thing. You're a bigot hiding behind an anonymous ID.

owillis: I'm surprised to see intellectual shortcuts from you, too. What you're saying is that any person who joins an organization that requires dues is buying their friends? You know that's false, so why are you trolling?
posted by mikewas at 6:43 AM on February 23, 2002

mikewas:

Ah, the old "you're-a-bigot" conversation stopper.

I don't like fraternities. I don't like what they stand for. If you take a certain sort of approach too far, every judgement looks like "prejudice." As the trope turns, some of my friends went to fraternities, etc. I still don't like fraternities, and don't like what they stand for.

What does "appearance" have to do with this? Not that this is an exact equivalence, but would judging someone by his membership in the KKK be "making pre-conceived judgements about individuals based on their appearance?"

jbelshaw: My experience with fraternities has been that they promote a certain kind of indoctrination, groupthink, and the illusion of privelege. I suppose the sensation is that the fraternities confer a kind of power -- and that's what I find disturbing. Demanding "allegiance" to a set of letters and group of other men is a shady business in itself; allying it to that sense of power over authority is very troubling. How much do universities ever do to crack down on fraternity misbehavior when so many fraternity alumni hold the college's purse strings? How much violent garbage have fraternities gotten away with while administrations look the other way?

It should be no surprise that aggregations of that many young men, granted that much false (and real) power, tend to become grandiose with their sexism, binge drinking, tormenting younger members and unearned pretensions to superiority. Fraternities are like a shadow play of the ruling class, an aristocracy. And if I dislike aristocracy, I dislike pretensions to aristocracy even more.
posted by argybarg at 8:10 AM on February 23, 2002

Fraternities are not all bad. In fact, they often foster a wonderful spirit of family among their members, and can do much for the communities in which they reside. The majority of fraternities get an unfairly bad rap for the egregious abuses of a few.

All that said, they are highly suspect. I definitely side much with argybarg on this issue, and I think he's spoken really well. From my personal experience with fraternities, even the "nice" frats that exist primarily for the purpose of community service, even at colleges where frat culture is marginal, they are places in which attitudes of misogyny, homophobia, racism and general cruelty are often permitted to flourish.

"Is she still in there?"
"Yeah, sleeping."
"How much did she cost you?"
"$40 for the tickets, $20 for a corsage, $50 for dinner ... add that up."
"Was she worth it?"
"Hell yeah."

I was pretty shocked to hear of this exchange from frat boys whom I had formerly considered decent guys. But I don't think they even stopped to think about what they were saying, because they were within the confines of a place where that kind of misogyny was accepted. Outside of their fraternity house, they could be gentlemanly, intelligent, friendly, funny, but inside, their baser tendencies were given free reign. That's an overarching tragedy of the fraternity system, from my perspective. And that's just one of many instances that I've encountered personally. So yeah, they're suspect.

Fraternities are, factually, often places where criminal, reprehensible behavior thrives.

• "Men reported to be fraternity members are over-represented as offenders associated with the more serious crimes. Fraternity members represent approximately 25% of the undergraduate men enrolled at the UIUC during the spring semester of 1989. However, of the 54 sexual assaults committed by men who were reported to be UIUC students, 34 (63%) were committed by members of fraternities. Of the 56 sexual abuse cases involving men who were UIUC students, 40 (71%) involved fraternity members. Additionally, it is noted that three women reported having been sexually assaulted by more than one man during a single incident and that all of these incidents involved fraternity members."
• "Overall, almost half of those studied had experienced some form of sexual coercion, 24% experienced attempted rape, and 17% were victims of completed rape. Almost half of the rapes occurred in a fraternity house, and over half occurred either during a fraternity function or was perpetrated by a fraternity member. This study provides evidence that fraternities represent a social context that tolerates, if not actually encourages, sexual coercion of women, including sorority women."

These are from studies done in 1990 and 1991, which is a while ago, and I like to hope it's getting better, but my experience leads me to believe this behavior is still rampant.
posted by grrarrgh00 at 9:57 AM on February 23, 2002

mikewas: The fact is, you admit to making pre-conceived judgments about individuals based on their appearance...

Indeed, in certain cases I do. People who wear army uniforms, for example; I tend to assume that they are in the army. People who are in the same greek house do not end up looking similar to each other by accident. They do it on purpose; they want people to identify them by their appearance. And the houses, especially the sororities, actively seek recruits who already look like them. As if this weren't enough, frat boys and sorority girls are notorious for wearing sweaters, t-shirts, necklaces, bracelets, hats, etc. emblazoned with their house letters. When I was a freshman, I was invited to several frat houses to sit in on their recruitment speeches. They all talked extensively, and with great pride, about the image that their houses had on campus. They made it perfectly clear that if I could fit in to their carefully constructed system, they would give me friends, girls, answers to exam questions, and various other benefits.
posted by bingo at 10:03 AM on February 23, 2002