Yeppers.....
Christianity in ritual?
Christian vs. Jewish vs. Other?

Doesn't AOPi have a similar founding story? That of the group of friends at Barnard, one didn't get into the sorority they all wanted for religious reasons?

This is taking from the SDT site: "Most of the seven had experienced the subtle, but very real, discrimination practiced against religious minorities by many Greek organizations at the time. In response to the closed doors, and as a way to meet their own social and housing needs, these young women established a sorority which would respect the individuality of its members. The personal growth and social development of each individual was the basis upon which the new organization would be built." This of course is talking about the founding of SDT

Snaps! :D As a kinda-Catholic SDT, I agree completely. Of course, at Emory, with a Jewish population somewhere between 30-40%, being Jewish isn't a big deal. But I'd hate for anyone reading this to think that we exclude girls because of their religious affiliation.

In terms of relations between the Jewish community and GLOs, ISC has several Jewish girls, and there's even a Jewish Greek Council. I would say relations are pretty good. :)

As shadokat stated, DPhiE is non-denominational. My chapter had Jewish, catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant members. My school was pretty diverse, and my DPhiE chapter reflected this diversity.

Hmmm...a new term? I do hope this doesn't mean you discriminate against administrative assistants!;)

Thank you for the first good laugh I've had today!!!

This is an interesting thread!

Disclaimer: I am Jewish and am not a member of any sorority. That said, where I went to school we had five predominantly Jewish GLOs: AEPhi, AEPi, Sammy, SDT, and ZBT. I don't know much about the fraternities, but the sorority that seemed to have the most Jewish members (after AEPhi and SDT) was, oddly enough, Chi Omega. There were several Jewish members of Alpha Xi Delta and AOPi too. It did seem that each house had at least a couple Jewish girls taken in each pledge class.

I did rush (dropped out midway through for personal reasons) and can say that I only felt seriously uncomfortable because of my religion at one house. Every other house it just wasn't a big deal. (Nobody asked me if I was Jewish or anything like that at any of the houses. This one particular house it was pretty obvious that Christianity was a big part of the house vibe, if that makes any sense.)

I think what makes people feel comfortable or uncomfortable is what role chapters feel they have as historically jewish glo's. Some chapters might feel they should embrace/encourage judaism by having many events affiliated with hillel, shabbat dinners and jewish philanthropies. Other chapters might feel its more about having a chapter where jewish members can feel comfortable without being completely jewish in purpose i.e. having kosher food available at events and not having events on shabbos but officially affiliating themselves with hillel.

my chapter (imho) falls under the latter. and i feel that kind of attitude can extend positively towards other religions and promote being considerate of people of all religions. Just as we wouldn't have an event/meeting on Rosh Hashanah we wouldn't have an event on Good Friday. And while my chapter is mostly jewish b/c of our national reputation we specifically recruit non-jews b/c we want some diversity, we don't want everyone to be exactly the same.

There is a chapter on my campus that falls under the first category I described and while they do accept non-jews I do not see how they are comfortable in the chaper. I don't think I personally would be comfortable where most of the activities revolved around being Jewish.

heh, me too, I would feel uncomfortable only participating in Jewish activities, especially if they were on the religious/orthodoxy side. Having a seder for Passover, an informal sisterhood event to services, maybe, if t was occasionally and not the focus of the sisterhood. But if I solely wanted to be doing Jewish-related activities, I would have been active in Hillel. Being in a sorority is about many things, and one thing I experienced being in a diverse chapter was learning about new people. Besides, there were enough Jews in my chapter that I didnt feel out of place, and religion played no role in my chapter, other than getting out of meetings on any major Jewish/Christian holiday.

Sammy Sigma Alpha Mu
 

Hey AEPI is not the only Jewish Fraternity. Actually they are nebishes and if we showed up on most of those campuses AEPI would not get anybody to join. Sammy is a much better Fraternity and so is ZBT. Our guys are more social and not as zealous about being Jewish. We actually give more money to Jewish causes and the campuses we are at, but just are quieter about it. AEPI has to brag about being Jewish because they have nothing else worth bragging about.

Proud to be a Sammy. I wouldn't wipe my ass with AEPI toliet paper.

Re: Sammy Sigma Alpha Mu
 

Is that why your most famous member hit a woman on national television?

Let's not start throwing stones in glass houses.

Re: Sammy Sigma Alpha Mu
 

Now come on...that's a hell of a statement to make.

You don't exactly represent your organization well when you come on talking trash like that. Give it a rest.

Re: Sammy Sigma Alpha Mu
 

Hey, that's an @sshole thing to say. Way to represent your fraternity.

BTW- Sammy has been dying at my school for years- they've averaged 6 men and have been down to ONE person for awhile. Not sure if the HQ has finally pulled the plug or not. AEPi has been alive and well, as is ZBT. So don't talk isht unless you can back it up

someone asked if there are any christian groups that deny membership-
I can't speak on a national level, but I do know an org at my school during rush that puts OBIC (Our Belief in Christ) on all their cars and such and have told women that are jewish that they can't join because of their ritual...
I had a Jewish friend rush and she had told me about it- she said she appreciated their honesty, and yes, she had asked the girl if her being Jewish was an issue- basically the girl told her, yes and she was dropped next round.

I am Jewish and didn't rush until my sophomore year. In my freshman year, I was really involved with Hillel. I even helped them during orientations the following fall-- our university set up a room for clubs and organizations to promote and recruit at orientation.

At the Hillel table, I would always be asked, "My son/daughter is rushing. Which one is the Jewish fraternity/sorority?"

I wasn't Greek at the point, but I was planning on rushing that fall. I told them, based on my observation as a GDI, that we didn't have a historically Jewish sorority on campus, but ABC and XYZ were currently the chapters with more Jewish girls. At that point, we did have a new AEPi chapter on campus, but there were also guys in other fraternities who had a large concentration of Jewish guys.

When I went through rush, my religion wasn't an issue. I WAS on the executive board of Hillel at that point as VP of Public Relations or somesuch office, and I was frequently introduced as, "This is ADPiUCF (ok, I was GDI-UCF at that point!) and she's VP of PR for Hillel." People seemed impressed that I was involved in leadership on campus... Maybe it made me "diverse." Whatever. I ended up preffing what would be considered two top tier sororities at my school, and I can't complain about where I ended up. ADPi was sensitive to the fact that there would be members who were not Christian and they took great care to make sure that we never felt our beliefs were compromised or unnoticed.

I think today, the school is more ethnically diverse than it was in the mid-late 90s.

I didn't think anyone used the word "nebbish" anymore since Alan King croaked.

Senusret, are you referring to RW Steven? I thought he was something else other than a Sammy.

Re: Sammy Sigma Alpha Mu
 

Sammy and not ZBT are no longer Jewish fraternities. They are historically Jewish fraternities. What may have been, no longer is.

What percentage of your fraternity is Jewish? How many chapters are left?

Don't worry too much about us though...we'll just keep growing while you keep on hating.

Didn't your chapter hurt pretty bad and get suspended? Are you a part of the IFC again yet or have they not allowed you back on little hick boy?

-Rudey
--By the way how come so many of your chapters are dying off? I think you're down to 65 or so now huh?

I wouldn't agree with White Chocolate that most of our chapters are predominately Jewish (or whateever she said exactly)

We are non-sectarian as she wrote, and that is because some of our founders were Jewish - they were of different faiths and not allowed to join the same sorority.

on my undergrad campus, I'm not sure exactly the involvement between greeks and Hillel. I know I had one sister who was on the executive for the Jewish Student Association - she would tell me all about stuff going on. I know she went to Shabbat a couple times, and I now when they had a Holocaust survivor visit campus, some Phi sigs (including our advisor who is Catholic and took her kids out of school for it) went to see him speak.

Once on campus a woman approached us, she had just transferred here and wanted to know if Pi Lambda Phi was Jewish here as well. We told her no - there were a couple guys who were Jewish, but majority wasn't.

As for where I am for Grad school I have absolutely no clue, esp since I haven't met any Greeks. All I know is i'm always defending greek life to the grad students who did their undergrad here as well(and have somehow gotten a bad perception of GLOs)

Nope, Seattle Stephen was a Sammy. I remember he made a big deal about it in the casting special and showed him celebrating Shabbat with his brothers. On the actual show, I don't think he wore letters or anything.

IIRC, I think he got kicked out of his chapter after the show ended for that slap, among other things.

Yeah, it was definitely Sigma Alpha Mu and it was definitely Stephen. And you're right, it seemed to be a big deal in the casting special, but never mentioned again.

This is the guy that didn't like the girl, ran to her car, and slapped her inside? That guy was a Sammy? haha.

-Rudey

Yup, that was him. Sigma Alpha Mu. Big time.

He also threw her stuffed animal in the water. He was very mean to the girl with Lyme Disease. :(

Let me get this straight...a Sigma Alpha Mu physically attacked a girl? Not only was he violent, he was violent with a girl, and to top it off she was a sick girl? Wow.

-Rudey

AND she was a Georgetown girl!!!!

Where'd he go?

-Rudey

I really can't remember, but I'll get back to you on that.

He went to UC - Berkeley.

Here's his bio from that season.

I watch too much Real World. :)

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/rwsteve1.html

Was that Stephen from Sigma Alpha Mu?

-Rudey

I remember watching it thinking that he would be arrested or thrown off the show. MTV made him go into therapy or anger management classes. I forget the details because it was a long time ago. I didn't know that she went to Georgetown. I do remember that she had Lyme Disease and was quite sick, but everyone thought that she was annoying. She left the show early because she was getting sicker and the environment was unhealthy for her. As she was leaving the show, she told him that he was gay, and he slapped her in the face and threw her stuffed animal in the water. It was pretty bad.

I haven't watched Real World regularly since that season.

Yes, that is Stephen, the Sigma Alpha Mu from Berkeley, who violently hit a Georgetown girl with Lyme disease in the face and threw her stuffed animal in a river.

Let me get this straight just because I need to understand this. Stephen, a Sigma Alpha Mu, nowhere near as smart as a girl from Georgetown, got violent, physically attacked a girl, who was also sick and unable to defend herself, and then also destroyed her property by throwing her stuffed animal in a river?? That is cruel and cold. And he went on to get arrested for prostitution and stealing a car??

-Rudey
--Sad :(

That's about the size of it.

Sad indeed. :(

Again, if I remember correctly he got kicked out of Sammy after the show ended because of his actions on the show.

Jews/NIC
 

As a transfer to KU, a junior, I had never seen a Jew nor knew
much about their solidarity. There was a very weak chapter of
AEPi at Kansas, and the sought-after Jews were snapped up by
TKE, Beta, perhaps DU...and few Jews went to KU, mostly the
KC ones went to U Mo where strong Jewish fraternities existed,
the Zebes, AEPi, Sammy, Phi Sig (Phi Sigma Delta) etc.
I was proud of TKE whilst on the road as a fielder as we took who
we wanted, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
The TKE Jewish members I recall all were either presidents or the
treasurer, generally pre-law, had great senses of humor.
TKE was invited to revive the long dead chapter at Penn, but we
had to take Theta Rho, local, which was Jewish and Penn had two
rushes, Jewish & Gentile...then. We declined and have never been back to Penn...inactive since '40. WWII killed this great one
It seemed silly to be so divisive. Lose-lose for TKE, too.
While ZBT swallowed up many Jewish fraternities, the removal
of the "clause" has created some problems.
The transition of the Jewish fraternities has been difficult on some
campuses...but we never had that problem.

He also accused her of using her sickness as an excuse. It was a big-time slap too - open-handed and he really wound up when he did it.

I can't believe a Sigma Alpha Mu did that.

-Rudey

Believe it. A Sigma Alpha Mu. Sammy, if you will.

I'm so surprised you never saw "The slap heard 'round the world."

I really don't think that Stephans fraternal relationship is really relevant in the slap scenerio. It is fruitless to linger on the fact that he WAS a sammy. I am sure that "brothers" from other fraternities have made similiar mistakes in moments past, which haven't nessicarily exemplified the morals that their founders had tried to embody in their fraternities. It is sad when this happens, such as in Stephan's case, but in no way is this indicative of a failure or weakness in that particular fraternity. People are people, and sometimes despite the best upbringing of relations, people do just make huge mistakes and come out bad.

In the Slap case, I think it is a shame that Any Man (or woman, for that matter) would lose their temper and harm a sick girl (despite how annoying she may be), regardless of fraternal orientation.