The decrease in membership in fraternities and sororities has occurred due to negative representation in media and criminal reputations. However, students should join fraternities and sororities because together they can do work for charities, volunteer, and fundraise. Students should also become members to be a part of a group life in which you are essentially guaranteed lifelong friendships and a thriving social life. Although the monetary cost may be high and the superficial representation in media makes fraternity and sorority members look daft and trouble-making, the benefits to membership include helping out communities and being held responsible for your academic and extracurricular activities. The words fraternity and sorority can define any group of men and women that come together to form a club, but the words are well-known for college Greek life organizations. Fraternities and sororities are known for their private imitations and rules, which sometimes can only be learned about by becoming a part of the club. The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is known for the first college fraternity. The fraternities developed throughout the late 1700’s as a way for …show more content…
In his work “Fraternities in Decline”, Reisberg mentions hazing as a reason for the drop in memberships. While hazing is a serious concern, there has been a rise in awareness amongst communities as well as policing the initiation processes of fraternities. In fact, most states have enacted anti-hazing laws (Beitman). Fraternities and sororities are known to have a bad reputation due to media. However, not all members participate in reckless, dangerous, or violent behavior. It is simply that out of such a large group there must exist some criminals or people who exhibit unseemly behaviors, but that does not represent the entire
Ian Lovett states in his article that “Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the largest fraternities in the country, said it would no longer permit ‘pledging’ as part of its initiation process for undergraduates.” The change to no longer allow pledging comes at a time when hazing started to become more and more involved and causing nine deaths in the past 10 years.
By establishing a set core of values, they were able to further in developing a closer hypothesis on why fraternities are more likely to view women as a commodity. By that Martin and Hummer (1989: 463) mean that "fraternities use women for their benefit, as bait for new members, servers of brother's needs, and as sexual prey." This is a pattern they saw in fraternities that added to their idea that fraternities are more likely to commit acts that could lead to gang rape. They also noticed a pattern of cohesiveness among fraternities.
sororities, some affirm that they foster a sense of community and support (Farrington 22) and
Fraternities began as a way to teach young men how to represent themselves proudly and with respect. Fraternities are plagued with false stereotypes and misconceptions, but do these ideas hold any truth to them? The majority of stereotypes come from rare incidents involving only a few fraternities, but these incidents play out in front of the entire nation, and then the stigma began. Fraternities are viewed as detriments to college campuses for a while now. Media influences the spread of rumors and slander about fraternities.
In Greek fraternities, a culture that supports and encourages sexual violence thrives. My paper will focus on the relationship between fraternity culture and sex crimes. More specifically, my working thesis is that the culture of collegiate fraternities encourages sexual assault through peer pressure, substance abuse, and college administration complicity.
Twelve members of fraternities or sororities were also surveyed. Eleven stated that they joined so they can meet new people and make friends. Only five agreed that they joined so they could help the community. Eight of the ten felt they needed to join so they would have a place to party and also meet girls. Three felt that being a member taught you leadership skills. Two joined because they thought it would look good on a resume.
It is one of the most talked about, controversial, and debated organizations on college campuses: Greek Life. Originally started to promote scholarly conversation, fraternities and sororities have gotten a reputation for being organizations that promote poor decision making skills when it comes to alcohol, drugs, and parties. However, how accurate is this reputation? According to the research, it is not accurate at all. In fact, there are actually many benefits to being involved in a fraternity or sorority. Despite the criticism surrounding it, Greek Life is a beneficial organization for students to be involves in because it helps students develop professional skills and connections, access scholarships, and have a stronger performance
As portrayed in the 1978 hit movie Animal House, college fraternities/sororities are a hotbed of excessive drinking, casual sex, vandalism, and generally licentious behavior. But, in real life, unlike the movie, the results of such conduct are hardly laughable. Even though the nationwide membership in both fraternities and sororities are at an all time high of 350,000 members, fraternities and sororities are still receiving harsh criticism from university leaders and civic authorities. In the face of several recent incidents, fraternity and sorority behaviors can no longer be viewed as harmless school boy or school girl high jinks, but must be seen for what it truly is, a dangerous threat to the
When undergraduates become interested in Greek life, they have to decide if the advantages outweigh the risks. In the news, the public hears the negative side of Greek life such as the students in sororities and fraternities passing away from alcohol abuse, or colleges such as Indiana University suspending fraternities on campus for hazing and alcohol violations until March 2018. While many negative topics about Greek life are prominent in the news, not all sororities and fraternities experience hazing and illegal problems. Although both advantages and disadvantages arise on college campuses within Greek life, undergraduate students usually benefit from being a part of a sorority or fraternity and are able to create a healthy environment and community to learn, work, and live in.
Many Americans believe that fraternities embody the college experience and that they are essential for every student. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. Fraternities can actually encourage exclusivity and discriminatory behavior. They also serve no purpose that other organizations do not already offer. Therefore, colleges should dispose of fraternities.
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word fraternity? For many people, the first word to come to mind is hazing. Hazing in fraternities has led to the deaths of over 50 students across the nation
Hazing can be defined as the humiliation and dangerous activities that teenagers encounter when joining a fraternity or sorority in college. Over the years, these rituals can be extremely threatening for college students; for instance being tied up for twenty-four hours or even playing intense drinking games. When being in a frat house, teens get to experience living college to the fullest and having the opportunity to pledge for whichever fraternity one would please on doing. All over the world, from different colleges, these teens have to go through this just to be a part of Greek Life. Is it worth it? Well according to “The Fraternity Advisor” it states, “There are over 9 million Greek members nationally.” Many people take fraternity and Greek Life very serious today.Society has viewed hazing very unpredictable
Fraternities have been looked down upon by many people for their "constant parties", lack of concern for school, treatment of women, and most of all their hazing. Hazing is now illegal in most states and forbidden by most fraternity headquarters. There are a few problems faced with banning fraternities. First of all, fraternities were founded as secret societies. As a secret society, the members of the fraternities strive to keep their actions known only to brothers making it difficult for others to take action. The main problem with hazing is that there is not a concrete definition of hazing. Without a solid definition to go on, there is great deal of gray area in enforcing the laws.
Recently, the idea of partaking in a fraternity has become more prevalent. Young adults are captivated with wanting to live the Greek life. The clothes and parties seem to drawn in teens like a magnet. However what these teens do not realize is the terrible things associated with fraternities. Many fraternities have a reputation for turning college students into drunks, treating women vulgarly, enacting violent hazing against other fraternity members and disrupting the true reason why students go to college. For these reasons fraternities should be banned altogether on college campuses.
The idea that Fraternities impact students in a negative way have been around for several years now. Most people believe that fraternities offer no positive effects on a student’s development. This is because they have received a stereotype of being organizations that only care about parties and women. To the people who are not in them or are not educated in depth about fraternities are not aware of what all these organizations provide. The common question is: do fraternities offer any opportunities for students to grow and an individual and provide career development options? Most people like to stick to their believes that fraternity members only care about parity and are not well-rounded people even though there are several successful people the world who have been in a Fraternity. In this paper, I will evaluate several sources to determine if fraternity life has a positive impact on student’s life and their career development.