"i was drinking at XYZ tonight..."
 

Has this ever happened to you? You have a random people who use your house as an excuse? I am seeing it more often. People get drunk, cause a little trouble, and when they get caught they say they were drinking at your Fraternity house. This happenes to one house on my campus all the time, they are not recognized by the school so it does not matter. This did happen to a house reciently and now they are in a lot of trouble. What are your feelings? do you think Fraternities should get in trouble because people use their name as an excuse?

this is such bullshit.

People know fraternities are under fire for anything they do so rather than own up to the fact that they got busted they blame it on a fraternity. All of a sudden the kid goes from being "underage drinker" to "innocent kid led astray by evil fraternity man."

It's the same mindset where if 2 people, one wearing a fraternity jacket and one not, are weaving their way back from a party, the one with the letters on will most likely get breathalized and written up and the other one will get sent home. This was happening a lot on my campus for a while. By the way, this is the reason for all the no drinking in letters rules nowadays, not "it's disrespectful to drink in letters." That's just what you are told.

If I heard of someone doing that, I'd say not only ban him from your fraternity house, but from all of them. I've never seen anyone go to a fraternity house and be forced to drink. It's time people start taking responsibility for what they do.

If the person was, in fact, drinking at the fraternity house, the chapter and probably the house corporation have liability for whatever happens to that person. It's another unfortunate reason for dry housing.

That's why most companies don't serve alcohol at their holiday parties if they're held in the company facility. Most have chosen to go outside to a third party. The last big company I worked for had an absolute alcohol ban in its' property nationwide.

Does this sound familiar?

Take a look at Fraternal News. Whenever there is an alcohol related incident, the lawsuits against everyone even marginally involved always follow.

If the person wasn't drinking at the house, and he/she is not telling the truth just to get the fraternity in trouble, that's a different story.

I've heard lots of stories where John or Joan Freshman goes to a fraternity party, has one beer, and then goes drinking the rest of the evening away in some friend's dorm room. Unfortunately, the kid dies, and who do the parents go after? The fraternity. Now, sure, the fraternity served an underage kid, but one beer was not what killed him ... But the fraternity is the best target for the lawsuit.

FuzzieAlum,

That happened two or three years ago at my Alma Mater.

Freshman allegedly goes to a Fraternity party -- then goes to several other non-Greek parties and gets wasted.

On the way home, falls in the river and drowns.

Well, the "no drinking in letters" thing about getting unfairly busted by cops makes sense, but I think it does have to do with respecting your letters, too. We do such stupid things when we're drinking, we don't need people talking about "Oh, I see that dumbass over there is in XYZ." Over Spring Break, the biggest scandal occurred with two girls in a wet t-shirt contest (where you just get completely naked anyway) who had their letters and symbols written all over them and their lavaliers around their necks. I make sure to leave my letters at home when I go out (not that I'll be in a wet t-shirt contest anytime soon.)

Just out of curiousity...girls aren't supposed to drink in letters as a respect to our letters, so why do guys drink in theirs?

In my chapter we don't drink in our letters, period. If a member forgets, he is reminded and has to turn his shirt inside-out.

It's a pride issue as well as a perception issue.

Our campus is dry and unfortunately there are members of a recently booted national fraternity that are hell-bent on getting other chapters banned.

We've been informed that they check party pic sites, etc to collect evidence against other fraternities. 2 Other houses just got suspended for certain allegations so our safety is very important to us at this point.

So it's also a self-preservation issue:D

Why is it desresepctful to drink in letters?

If you are in AGD and you go to a bar in street clothes and everyone in the bar knows you are AGD what makes you any different than the person wearing letters?

I think not drinking in letters is just another rule, that has been made up by some nationals to try and lower liability.


The reason my fraternity drinks in letters is because we don't see anything wrong with it, and we don't look at it as being disrespectful. Its not like we are doing anything wrong. Its not like we are going out and robbing a bank.

I guess sit just sends the wrong message about the organization.

You never see cops drinking in a bar in uniform.

I used to go to this one bar where a lot of TV types, cops and paramedics hung out. The cops were always in street clothes, and the paramedics took medical tape and covered up their patches and took off their badges.

It's not like nobody knew they weren't cops and paramedics, they were just showing some respect for their organizations, I think.

I pretty much try not to do anything stupid in my letters. The only time I wear letters when I'm gonna be partying is when I'm gonna be sober. I figure there are enough preconceptions about "Frat" boys that I may as well try to show them what a Fraternity Man can be.

Usually the only people wearing letters at our parties are our sobers, but its not frowned upon here to drink in your letters. We had a DG mixer and it was kind of ridiculous to see the stitch outlines of 'seven triangle' and it was obvious to anyone who knew what a Greek letter was.

I have said this in other posts...

We can drink in letters, as it is not a violation of bylaws, but we cannot drink in letters at a bar (as defined by our risk mgmt rules - anyplace that makes more than 50% of its profits from booze) so yeah, TGI Fridays OK, Bennagins OK, Fox and Hound or Flying Saucer, not OK.

Most brothers wont drink in letters anyway. I dont. At spring break, I turned my letters inside out to drink. We have 1 or 2 brothers tho who will still drink in letters at a party. We all kinda frown on that, but oh well, not breaking any rules....

I dont so much think its disrespectful todrink in letters as it is trashy.

Seriously, who goes to a bar or party in letters? Dont ya'll at least dress up to go out? I throw on some khakis and a collared shirt. Peopel will see you out and especially if you are trying to hook up dont you wanna look your best and like you spent at least 5 minutes getting ready? I also shave, shower etc. Wont go out otherwise. 'Cause damn soon as I do, I'll bump into my ex-girlfriend or one of her minions.

I love my letters, but lets face it, its a damn t-shirt with fabric sewn on it! How classy is that?

Then why not say the same thing about your badge/pin?

Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity, without or without wearing my Greek Letters, spelled out words, badge or other items, means too much to me to disrespect it by getting drunk, taking drugs or other illegal/stupid action and having someone think that AGD allows /condones it.

Because its a piece of jewlry. That to me is classier. I wont drink in that either. We dont allow our NM's do wear their pin when they drink either.

Now if I was in a golf shirt with the letters embrordierd on it over the left breast small like, I might have a drink in that (still not at a bar) WHY? because a collered golf shirt is a little classier than a t-shirt. I could go out in public wearign that. Definately.