Quote:
Originally posted by vinz
Hello,
My name is Vincent Lambert. I’m 20. I'm French. I study in Paris.
I'm currently doing some research about fraternities and sororities. But this whole system seems to be really particular to the US, so I've got some questions... Would be nice if you took a few minutes to answer.
- How exactly are fraternities organised ? Do fraternities(chapters) from different colleges have any relationship? What about the different fraternities at the same college?
- Are fratenities (and sororities) the only associations you've got ? In France we've got a great variety of associations : in fact there's almost one association for each project! But ours seem to be much less developed than yours (I mean that we can belong to many of them, because we don't have to spend a lot of time for each one). You seem to be spending all your time and energy either working or having fun within your fraternity... So my guess is that fraternities are like super-associations, which have many different activities. Is that right?
- Are there houses where all members of a fraternity meet? sleep ? have parties ?
- Are some/all/any fraternity mixed ?
- Are fraternities only for undergraduate?
And to finish with I have a question which is not particularly linked with fraternities : parties at college... Are they like movies show? I mean lots of people getting drunk (it is the case in France), even girls (not the case here), having sex in the rooms above (not so much the case here...)? Which movie would be the closest to reality according to you? Do fraternities often organise parties?
Well I guess it must look weird to ask all these questions. The thing is that we do have some images of the life on US campus, but through movies mainly... so it’s very vague and probably wrong.
I would love to have the point of view from an actual American student. It would be very helpful.
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely
Vincent Lambert
|
Whats up Vincent, these are some decent questions but theres some other things that some of the other posters left out. There is a group of fraternities and sororities that as stated before was formed for certain ethnic groups (although you dont have to be a part of that ethnic group to be a member). The fraternities and sororities that I speak of are known as BGLOs or HBGLOs, better known as black greek organizations or historically black greek organizations. They are governed by the national panhellinic council or the NHPC (better known as the panhell). These fraternities and sororities are most commonly known as the "devine nine" and there are 5 fraternities and 4 sororities. They are Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi, Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Beta Sigma, and Iota Phi Theta (fraternites), the sororities are Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho. Each one of these orgs were formed by black men and women at various time during the early 1900's. Each one has a national headquarters and a national staff that governs over each fraternity or sorority respective chapters. Most colleges have all or some of the devine nine on their campus, some dont have any at all....it all depends on where you are located for school. The recruitment process is a little different than other fraternities and sororities. Most college freshman usually have been influenced early in life as to which fraternity or sorority they want to go with before they even schedule classes. This is usually because those orgs were big in there community or their familiy members are members. Some people just figure out who they identify the most with at some other time in collge. Either way members of the panhell encorage aspirants to do research on the orgs they are intersted in on their own, usually by using the internet or reading whatever public books they can get their hands on. After that, an aspirant usually will approach a member discretely and express interest, and after that the org will usually have an open to the public interest meeting to dissiminate some information and hand out applications. Aspirants will apply and if they make the cut (they are reviewed by the organizations members) they are called back to start the process for the organization. Each org has different things they instill in their aspirants before they become members, and thats the stuff that is not common knowledge to regular people. As a whole most of the organizations on most campuses get along, and compete against each other in step shows, and they throw parties, and do community service. The big difference between the "divine nine" orgs and all the other greek orgs, is that membership is reconized to be for life. Once you are a member you are always a member. Its not just something fun to do in college. Most undergrad chapter members are encouraged after graduating to join an alumni chapter in their area. This chapter is made up of people who have already obtained a degree and are out of school. People who have degrees and didnt go thru the process in college are allowed to express interest (much in the same way an undergrad does in college) and join an alumni chapter. I havent been to too many schools, but most of the ones I have heard of have a house they chill at, or a plot on the yard (a place where all the members hang out on the school grounds). But some do have houses where they just hang out and throw parties. The stuff you see on TV is usually a lot of stereotypes, but if you want to see how the black greek organizations do things see if you can rent a copy of "School Daze" by director Spike Lee. Its old, but you should get the idea. Hope my longwindedness helps you.