Homecoming: Fraternities and Sororities and Tissue Paper

Katie Couric, Aretha Franklin, Condoleezza Rice, Leigh Anne Tuohy, Rosa Parks, Kate Spade, Robert Frost, Steven Spielberg, John F. Kennedy, Harrison Ford, Eli Manning, George W. Bush. I could go on with this list for hours. These are all familiar names to us for what they have accomplished in the past or the present. If I told you that all of these individuals participated in Greek life during their times during college, would you be stunned? As college students, we are all given a commonly misconceived stereotype of fraternities and sororities as a whole.

As a way to get more involved on a college campus, many students decide to join Greek life. To help students decide on which organization is better suited for their personality, a Recruitment Week, also known as “Rush Week,” is held to give students the opportunity to explore the

Everyone knows about the stroll offs, roll calls, and step shows when an African American Greek sorority or fraternity is the topic. But is that all African American Greeks do is step and stroll? Believe it or not the image of African American Greeks has been tainted and miscued by their entertaining performances. Better known as the Divine Nine, the African American Greeks their hand signs and colors. The Divine Nine is a brotherhood and sisterhood organizations that are called to help the community and give back. These organizations also give women a chance to make a difference. After all, each and every one of the Dive Nine was founded because differences.

Within sororities is a language all their own; many words are created or used in a different manner. For example, “big” is not an adjective that describes something grand or large as in the English language. However, “big” is a term used to describe an older sister whose is assigned to a younger sister within the organization to be a mentor and a friend. Another example is the word “waltz”, which is not referring to a ballroom dance but rather the celebration of a sister’s twenty first birthday. Even the word “sister” is a part of a sororities’ unique language as it does not denote the relationship between blood-related relatives, but rather signifies the sister like bonds between members. This language is imperative to a sorority’s culture because it unifies members under a commonality that distinguishes them from other groups and organizations, much like racial and religious cultures.

The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity provided a voice and a dream for African Americans around the world. For people who were colored at the time this fraternity was created, had to struggle in their everyday life because racism was such a huge focus. Alpha Phi Alpha was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven outstanding African American men who attended college there. They created a strong bond and brotherhood in the organization and were an inspiration to colored people all over the nation. The seven founders were known as “Jewels” at the fraternity. These seven men were Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy. They were all very intelligent and brave men, a lot of people looked up to them. The fraternity was created and based on colored people who were racially prejudiced socially and educationally. There was one man who caught my eye and found very

The total population of students in University of Miami is 10,615 undergraduate students, with a diversity of 55% (https://welcome.miami.edu/about-um/fast-facts/student-enrollment/index.html). 2,500 students are a part of Greek with 29 Greek Letter Organization (http://doso.studentaffairs.miami.edu/units/greek-life/index.html). There are nine sororities at University of Miami, which potential new member can rush sororities starting in spring of first year (http://doso.studentaffairs.miami.edu/units/greek-life/councils-chapters/index.html). Results:

As I walked into the glittery ballroom once again, trying my hardest to remove the white cat hair from my black sweater, I noticed that almost everyone had heels on and ignored the Panhellenic letter that suggested we wear “church attire.” I was already nervous about having to wear an overly conservative dress that didn`t match my style for the second day of sorority recruitment, so seeing that everybody else looked like runway models only added to my nausea. However, when I looked around the room I saw many girls who were didn`t fit in, like me; some who opted for slacks, some who decided to wear no makeup, some who just didn’t look like everyone else. We all had similar demeanors: uncertain smiles, furrowed brows, and faces that were pointed straight down, as if we were being reprimanded.

The first value that the resolute men of Theta Chi Fraternity pride themselves on is by the value of True Friendship and Brotherhood. Brotherhood is “having somebody that will not let you fail” (UC Theta Chi Rush Fall 2016). It “is having someone to talk to, someone to go to. Having people around to motivate you and push you to be better” (UC Theta Chi Rush Fall 2016). Brotherhood is defined by “a group of guys, that come from different areas and different backgrounds. And we mold it all together into one cohesive group” (UC Theta Chi Rush Fall 2016). Friendship and Brotherhood are key values in Theta Chi fraternity because it allows there to be a special relationship between the members of the fraternity. When some men come to college they

Walking around a university’s campus any day of the week, one sees an array of Greek letters worn proudly by young men and women in the Greek system. Fraternities and sororities play a big part in a university. The Greek system can also be an easy target to direct criticism. There are those who oppose the Greek system and those who embrace it. Evan Wright opposes the Greek system in his article “Sister Act” that was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine. He uses examples from students at Ohio State University in Columbus to show his disapproval of the way sororities are now days. He portrays sorority girls as catty conformists who are obsessed with partying with fraternity

Fraternity membership is associated with (heterosexual) masculinity in that fraternity members are believed to attract and date more women. However, Fraternity membership serves as a medium for building fraternal bonds of brotherhood between Black males, which creates a more Afro-centric masculinity (McGuire et al., 2014). Jackson (2012) defined brotherhood as ‘‘a social construction that creates feelings of togetherness and trust while defining a code for interactions among men’’ (p. 64) that provides a physical, psychological, and social space for men to distance themselves from typical hegemonic behavior (McGuire et al., 2014). Jackson (2012) found that this bond allowed males to share an emotional bond with other members where they

Spirit Week has always been an enjoyable time for McGarvin, and this year had been no different. Hosted by ASB, the week, starting on Tuesday, was packed full of events and fun. Students enjoyed themselves in days such as Twin Day, Wacky Wednesday, Sports Day, and Formal Friday. At lunch, many participated in events that include Potato Sack Races, Musical Chairs, FLAGS, and Ski Races. Gretchen Lam states, “Spirit Week was fun. There were activities everyday and many students participated.” Not only that, but even students who didn’t participate in the various activities had fun. For example, Bricia Nguyen had says, “Spirit Week was fun. Even though I didn’t participate in most of the activities, it was fun being able to watch other students

Spirit week is valuable and important because it displays your school pride, your creativity, and it’s fun. During spirit week you are not only able to dress up on the designated days, but you are able to attend pep rallies, assemblies, homecoming, football games, and powder puff games.

“It’s quite frankly humiliating really, the way so many people counted on us (sophomore class officers) to execute a great float and to end come out in last place in the float contest made me feel like I failed my classmates.” Says the Sophomore Class Secretary. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the results of the sophomore class float and when Vice President Nick Menster and Secretary Rodrigo Mayet heard that Indecorous was writing an article regarding what happened they decided to share their story. One of the biggest issue regarding the float was not the lack of effort but rather the lack of help during the construction process. Many students had the intentions of helping with the float but they were busy that day. “Nick (sophomore vice president) and I didn’t even pick the day to build the float, it was picked by the president. To make things worse we began building it four days before the parade, hardly enough time to work with everyone’s busy schedules, we didn't even know when the parade was, we were very

Panther Pride! My hometown, Quakertown, never has a shortage of Panther Pride. It’s never hard to find someone wearing royal blue or a sports jersey. Personally, I take the colors and uniform I wear very seriously. As a cheerleader, my responsibility is to increase the school spirit, not just at games, but in the building as well. We paint signs, perform at pep rallies, sell T shirts, and support our teams as well as preparing for our own competitions. I love being a part of my school spirit all year long, but my favorite tradition happens the night before Thanksgiving. My school has an annual game on Thanksgiving morning against our biggest rivals in football. The night before the game the cheer squad drives around town, while our football

Homecoming is a day where our school pride can be seen throughout the entire student body, and when clubs come together to showcase what they are all about. I did not realize there was an immense amount of planning going on behind the scenes, until I was placed in charge of the parade portion of the event in my sophomore year. Throughout organizing the event, I began to see how Homecoming brought students of my high school and people of the community together. It helped renewed the school pride that had been fading from our school over the years and reminded students to be proud of their alma mater.