USA Today story
 

http://www.usatodayeducate.com/stagi...-of-greek-life

Lots of FB comments!:D

The copy is great, but the pictures don't really tell the story of "successful-looking" Greek students! Oh well.

I'm quite proud of my Greek Community posting this around. There are several of those comments from several different organizations on my campus.

While much of what is said can be applied across Greekdom, when you look at the details these types of articles are really talking about the awesomeness of NPC and NIC Greek Life rather than the awesomeness of Greek Life across councils and conferences.

I keep hearing "All but 3 presidents have been Greek". I think this is a misnomer. Many of these presidents were alumni initiates and not active, undergraduate Greeks.

Going back:

Barack Obama - ?
George W. Bush - Delta Kappa Epsilon (undergrad)
Bill Clinton - Alpha Phi Omega
George H.W. Bush - Delta Kappa Epsilon (undergrad)
Ronald Reagan - Tau Kappa Epsilon (undergrad)
Jimmy Carter - U.S. Naval Academy/nonGreek
Gerald Ford - Delta Kappa Epsilon (undergrad)
Richard Nixon - nonGreek
Lyndon B. Johnson- ?
John F. Kennedy - Phi Kappa Theta (alumni initiate)
Dwight D. Eisenhower - ?
Harry Truman - Lambda Chi Alpha (alumni initiate)
Franklin D. Roosevelt - Alpha Delta Phi/Delta Kappa Epsilon (I've heard both)
Herbert Hoover - ?
Calvin Coolidge -?
Warren Harding - ?
Woodrow Wilson - ?
William Taft-?
Theodore Roosevelt -?
William McKinley -?
Grover Cleveland- Sigma Chi (AI)


My point? There have been more than "3" nonGreek presidents since 1825. It's got to be more than Carter, Johnson, and Nixon.

Those who are AI are not nonGreek. They are noncollegiate Greek. That distinction only matters when collegiate Greekdom, and what these collegiate Greeks do post-college, is the topic which is what most of these types of articles are about. That is also why these types of articles are primarily talking about NPC and NIC Greekdom.

As for which of the U.S. Presidents were nonGreek, collegiate or otherwise, I have no idea where "three" came from but it does not interest me enough to research it.

Per wikipedia

Theodore Roosevelt - While at Harvard, Roosevelt was active in rowing, boxing, the Alpha Delta Phi literary society, the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and was a member of the Porcellian Club.

Calvin Coolidge attended Black River Academy and then Amherst College, where he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity

William Howard Taft - At Yale, he was a member of the Linonian Society, a literary and debating society; Skull and Bones, the secret society co-founded by his father in 1832; and the Beta chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.

Herbert Hoover - attended Stanford when it opened.
Lyndon Johnson - attended Southwest Texas State before the school had NIC groups
Dwight Eisenhower - attended West Point (no fraternities)
Warren G. Harding - attended Ohio Central College (no longer exists)
William McKinley - attended Allegheny College (1 year)

So the question becomes were Hoover, LBJ, Eisenhower, Harding, and/or McKinley AI's at some point.

Taft and Arthur are both Psi Us. Arthur is actually from our Theta (Alpha) Chapter. Ike was USMA, but I think he might have been a AI, not sure.

I know that AI does not mean nonGreek or I would have put down nonGreek. The point of putting down AI was to show that these particular men got their leadership skills in ways other than being Greek as undergrads.

I have oftern seen it stated that "all but 3 Presidents have been Greek" since whatever date. I believe it's a misnomer because it implies that most of the Presidents joined Greek orgs as undergraduates, and it's not true. It's just a bugaboo that bothers me and I was commenting.

Yes, that can be misleading if the point of the article is the awesomeness of, and lessons learned from, (NPC and NIC) collegiate Greekdom.

I agree

That "all but three" reference comes from an article written almost fifty years ago but somehow is constantly repeated today. I have seen it in many Greek Life publications. The earliest president to be a fraternity member was Rutherford Hayes, initiated by DKE as an alumnus. The next president, Garfield was actually the first initiated as an undergrad -- DU at Williams College. I count nine who were not Greeks: Obama, Clinton. Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Hoover & Harding. JFK was not initiated into Phi Kappa Theta, he was given an honorary membership without his knowledge or approval. I think Tau Epsilon Phi did the same thing with Ike. Some of the nine may have, like Clinton, been a member of APO or a similar organization. The reference to 85% of corporate executives is also from a study written about the same time, and unlikely to be accurate.

Plus, it's just dumb. Hey, 85% of people who are privileged and connected enough to end up as corporate execs were involved in groups that largely draw their membership from the privileged and well-connected! Shocking!

LBJ belonged to the Black Stars (local) which became Pi Sigma Chi (local formed with any eye to becoming Sigma Chi) which became Pi Kappa Alpha. My father has interesting stories about LBJ's creative book keeping (my dad was a Pi Sigma Chi)!

Yes but, I'm sure I'm not the only person who noticed some of the errors in that article. I don't remember everything but, I remember seeing that the first sorority was founded in 1831 (in the article). Ummmm...a simple Google search can correct that for you. How was this published/ placed online when so many different things were wrong (dates and the fact that they went by myths)? I appreciate what the author was trying to say but; it needed an Editor to check facts.

Also, I see what LaneSig was saying. It's not as though people who AI are less Greek but, the premise of the article was to say, "Hey, look what going Greek (in undergrad or grad) can do for you!" I would have to agree with NutBrn about the fact that they could have used a picture of a prominent Greek man or woman (anyone would have done) other than young ladies wearing those tank tops and hats.