COLUMN: Pool parties are ‘building’ our fraternity men
Last weekend I attended the huge “Pool Party” at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house. After paying my $4 entrance fee and getting a wristband, I entered and proceeded to have a fabulous night. The music was great, the people were fun, and even though I saw that the most beautiful girl at school did, indeed, have a boyfriend, I was only mildly disappointed because I had a riotous time with my group of friends. As I walked home and attempted to take off my itchy wristband, I saw that inscribed upon it was a catchy phrase that was something along the lines of: “Building Better Men.”
I thought back to the party I had just attended and laughed to myself at the idea of anyone becoming better because they attended. While it was undeniably a blast, it was just a bunch of college students sweating, panting and scoping each other out — nothing more, nothing less — which brings me to the point of my article:
Fraternities are often lauded for the leadership skills and service opportunities they supposedly bestow upon their members. However, I, and many of those I’ve talked to, believe that Greek membership in many ways is nothing
more than a social caste system that sets apart the privileged and wealthy on campus from the less privileged, and in fact can have a negative effect on students.
It would be interesting to compare the parents’ incomes of a typical Greek student to that of a non-Greek student. My guess would be they are substantially higher. Through simple observation, I noticed the cars parked in Greek lots are noticeably nicer, and the Greek students driving those cars are better dressed than their peers. When I asked a random student what came to mind when he thought about Greek membership, he said, “Drinking, parties, and money. You have to be cool, and in some ways you have to have money to be cool.”
While being cool is nice, it certainly doesn’t encourage students to interact with those outside of their social circle; and I would argue that fraternity involvement does exactly the opposite, by placing students in living quarters with only those with the same financial opportunities and ideals as themselves.
Apart from the financial aspect, a study done in 2006 shows while fraternities can have a positive impact on graduation, they are linked with increased levels of alcohol consumption, academic cheating behavior and lower moral reasoning; all of these, of course, contributing to being a “better man.” Fraternity membership was also shown to have a significant negative effect on cognitive development in the first year of membership. Did I mention that this research was done by the “Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors”? Even those in support of fraternity involvement are finding and publishing these issues.
You may be thinking, “So what? Some people have money, some don’t; and cognitive development doesn’t necessarily correlate with being a good man.”
You’re right. But, consider this. While in the course of hanging out with friends, I stumbled upon
the induction packet for a fraternity. Included in the packet were the fraternity songs, which are sung loud and proud by participating members. Among the songs was one with lyrics about the sister sorority of this particular fraternity. It graphically described lining up one hundred women in the sorority and committing lewd sexual acts in their presence. I’m pretty well known for having an expansive vernacular when it comes to curse words and potentially offensive concepts, but this was incredibly disgusting and offensive — even for me. This isn’t building better men; it’s building disrespect, sexism and lewdness toward those who are supposed to be their “sisters,” although, I’m sure the attitude could pertain to any woman. And, if one fraternity does it, it can’t be alone. Is that behavior something to be proud of? Does it provide leadership skills and service opportunities? Absolutely not, and it only serves to
contribute to the stereotype of fraternity brothers frequenting a cesspool party of moral degradation.
Why this kind of content is allowed in any club or society in our day and age is beyond me, but it proves the laughable nature of the idea that fraternities aim toward “Building Better Men.” Let’s admit it, fraternities are a great resource when it comes to partying and experiencing the light, fun side of college; but as a source of instilling higher values and contributing toward the academic and moral fiber of its membership, we’d all be better off looking toward the LDS Institute building — and from me, that’s saying a lot.