What do you guys think about this anti greeks article from MIT?

[VeNuS97]

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V117/N7/hypocritical.7c.html

Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT
Column by Stacey E. Blau
Opinion Editor

Is it really true that frat life is about service, brotherhood, and friendships that last a lifetime? Or is about parties, drinking, and sorority chicks? The pre-rush booklets that freshmen get before they arrive at MIT for Residence and Orientation Week would have you think that frats are bastions of brotherhood and its concomitant wonders, but the longer I am at MIT, the more I am convinced that frat life is much more like the unseemly cliches that conventional wisdom and Animal House teaches us about them.

I've never been to a frat party. I've heard that frat parties differ depending on where you go - certainly you're going to find something at Sigma Phi Epsilon that you won't find at Tau Epsilon Pi. But it's probably not an intelligent conversation. More or less, the Sunday morning vomit trails tell the story: Frat parties are about alcohol. I've never heard of anyone going to a frat party without the intention of drinking. True, frat parties are also about socializing, but mostly the sort of socializing that alcohol promotes (that is, sex).

Without a doubt, the same things about drinking are true for dormitories. There can be no denying that drinking - and extremely excessive drinking - goes on in dormitories, too. But at least dormitories can boast some sort of personality. What is the fraternity equivalent of the murals in Senior House? Is it Delta Kappa Epsilon's rush week beer can display?

Honestly, the real difference is that fraternities make a pretty grand pretense of being societies of upstanding brotherhood when really they are more often than not places to party and drink and - let's face it - get laid. Is that what brotherhood is about? It sure looks like it. No dormitory - with whatever drinking and drugs and sex that go on there - makes the same hypocritical and silly claims about the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood and all the related tripe you read about in the rush booklets.

Interestingly, one doesn't have to go far to uncover frats' embarrassing hypocrisy. Look at their own celebrations - Greek Week is to a large extent a weekend-long drinking fest. One of its main events - progressive dinners - is commonly referred to as "progressive drunk." You can actually see a lot more for yourselves on some fraternities' World Wide Web pages. All of the pages boast somewhere or other about a strong brotherhood founded on a mutual esteem, etc., but they also contain rather interesting descriptions of their social programs:

Alpha Epsilon Pi (http://www.mit.edu/ activities/aepi/aepi.html): AEPi boasts that its "mixers give our brothers the opportunity to get to know women on a more personal level."

Delta Kappa Epsilon (http://www.mit.edu/ activities/dke/home.html): "Dekes are social animals!" this frat's page proclaims. The pages also features a picture of "Shandra, Amanda, and Jessica at the Christmas Formal" in low-cut dresses. On separate page, Deke assures us that "there is nothing that can break the bonds of brotherhood. Not even the Civil War."

Phi Kappa Theta (http://www.mit.edu/ activities/pkt/): PKT's social page makes promises of "uhŠ lots of partiesŠ social hour every weekŠ as many mixers as possibleŠ getting more women involved in the houseŠ"

Pi Lambda Phi (http://www.mit.edu/activities/plp/homepage.html): PLP - whose rush privileges were suspended several years ago for drug and alcohol violations - has a page that opens up with a Java applet producing the sound bite, "Go get drunk and play ping-pong!"

There's hazing, too. Every frat claims it doesn't do it, but many do. In fact, I was a witness (and, dare I say, a participant) in a hazing incident in late January, when many freshman fraternity members were going through initiation.

One evening when I was walking down the steps in the Student Center, two Zeta Psi freshmen asked me if I could sign my name on some part of their bodies. I was pretty shocked, and I asked them what the signing was for. They said, beamingly, that it was for their fraternity, Zeta Psi. I told them I thought it sounded like hazing, but they assured me it wasn't. But when I asked what would happen if I didn't sign, they told me that they would be in some kind of trouble if they didn't get enough girls to sign their bodies. So I signed each of their hands. Later, I saw other Zeta Psi brothers making similar explanations to other girls in the Student Center. I've also heard stories about a certain fraternity that makes its pledges scrub the house floor in the nude and then makes them streak in the streets.

Unbelievably, these are the same frats that MITrelies on for housing nearly half its male students; the same frats MIT pushes its freshmen to explore their first few days at MIT. What would it do if several hundred freshmen every year weren't willing to live in these places? It would be in big trouble, with an even bigger dormitory crowding problem than it already faces. But that's no excuse for MIT to be promoting these sort of living situations on a long-term basis.

I find it amazing that former Interfraternity Council President Jason D. Pride '97 can so stupidly comment that fraternity life is "based on alcohol" ["Frats Consider Dry R/O Week," Feb. 19, 1996], and MIT barely bats an eye. It is thoroughly embarrassing how administrators cave to IFC demands, virtually giving fraternities veto power over any potential changes to rush. An honest rush where fraternities can actually talk about each other? Nope. An R/O where dormitories can start rushing at the same time as frats? No way. Dry rush? Are you kidding?

Fraternities rule R/O, and it's because MIT doesn't have enough places for all its freshmen. It's no wonder MIT runs away from the idea of changing R/O. At the same time, it encourages idiotic programs like Leadershape - almost all of whose attendees are in fraternities or sororities - that promote the silly cliches like unity and activism, managing to convince attendees that their unique leadership is making the world a better place.

The fraternity system is one of MIT's most embarrassing sides. Last week's very disturbing accident - in which Lambda Chi Alpha's president, after drinking, fell four floors down an elevator shaft - seems to demonstrate that fraternities can barely control themselves. If they can't clean up their own act, then MIT should do it for them.

[aephi alum]

I remember that article from my undergrad days. It's pretty old.

More later.

[FuzzieAlum]

He's never been to a party by his own admission, so it's hard for me to take his criticism of them seriously. But ...

If the Pi Lambda Phi website really says "get drunk and play ping pong," if the IFC president really said "Greek life is centered around alcohol," if the Greeks actually call progressive dinners "progressive drunks," they've dug their own grave. I don't agree with the writer's conclusions, but I can't blame him for reaching them.

[Moxie]

true. from the linked page, at the bottom:
"This story was published on February 25, 1997."

[aephi alum]

Here are some of the letters to the editor that were in the next edition of The Tech:

Fraternities Provide Family, Community

The particular occasion for the most recent shallow fraternity-bashing column by Stacey E. Blau '98 ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 25] was the accident which befell the president of Lambda Chi Alpha. The column blamed it on the alcoholism and general lack of control demonstrated by fraternity males. Leaving aside the unbelievable poor manners apparent in insulting a family, which the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha do consider themselves, the author suggests a surprising ignorance (or not so surprising if one read Tuesday's column) of the historical record.

The last president of an MIT living group to have fallen and sustained a serious injury was the former president of Senior House, David G. Moore '91. In 1990, Moore fell off a balcony and died. Was it a drug overdose? People wonder, but Senior House, which was understandably sad, at least was not blamed as a whole for not looking out after one another. Fraternities do aspire to this ideal of looking out for each other, and accusing the brothers of LCA of negligence is akin to yelling at a parent about after their child ran into traffic and was hit by a car.

Now I am given to understand from last week's column that the Sunday "vomit trail" tells the whole story about the irresponsible drunken sex that fraternities promote. I must admit that most of my brothers would be happy if their Dionysian fantasies were played out on a regular basis, but this doesn't relate to whether or not brothers care about each other. Blau claims as much when she says dormitories are just like fraternities, minus the self-righteous and unsubstantiated claims of brotherly love. I could point to a host of examples, like Chocolate City, which suggest fraternities are not unique in their quest for close friendship. However, I prefer to present my second thesis, which subsumes the first and is broader in its explanatory power.

My thesis is that fraternities give people a constructive outlet for their desire to take part in a community. This explains why so few fraternity members write for The Tech; they already have friends and do not need another bunch of people to hang out with. This also explains why the fraternity GPA is higher than the campus average - fraternity males are on average happier, and so it is easier for them to get their work done. This thesis also explains why fraternity members give back more money per student to their alma mater than average - fraternity members feel more closely connected to MIT through the group of people that they have met here whom they are close to.

This thesis also explains why people write letters to the The Tech - the people who are unhappy are those without anything better to do than write a letter. I am almost embarrassed to be writing myself, but I think Blau's column demands a response.

I don't think The Tech would have printed a letter insulting all the black and hispanic men on campus. This is too broad a group to have anything real to say about them, negative or positive, that could not be said about all people. The Tech similarly erred in printing Blau's letter, which caricatured all fraternity males as irrational drunken maniacs.

John D. Dunagan '98

All Living Groups Have Equal Share of Problems

Tuesday's column by Stacey E. Blau '98 ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 25] demonstrated a lack of journalistic pride and integrity. To instigate and provoke heated crossfire is irresponsible. Considering Blau writes for a paper which is, in principle, a fairly centered and honorably intentioned periodical. Are you out to turn The Tech into the second tabloid campus rag?

What inspired this? Face it. At MIT, there are people who drink a lot, smoke pot, snort coke, drop acid, rape, lie, steal, harass, commit hate crimes, haze, have unprotected sex, vandalize, destroy, swear, eat pork during Passover - people here committed offenses of all types that range all the way from maybe innocent fun, differences of morality, or lapses of maturity, to serious trespasses and illicit activities.

In fact, you might say MIT students are a lot like the rest of the population, except you tend to find more intelligence among them. I'll admit to you that in the past, I have not always been a model student. As a result, I have been around the block at this institution more than a few times. Guess what? More of the stuff I list above happens among those living off campus and in some dormitories than in all fraternities. But putting dormitories on the spot or comparing them to fraternities is not my goal. My point is that people are people. Those are the things that statistically some of them do. No matter where they live. So go ahead, try to point the finger at fraternities. Now make a scientific study. Get a control group. Spend time at a school without fraternities and tell me if you encounter any less immorality.

As a matter of fact, MIT is a fairly upstanding school in general, our fraternities are damn fine, and they contain plenty of intelligent conversation.

If most of what Blau knows about fraternities is hearsay, where does she get off on leveling accusations at them, let alone criticizing them and branding them as hypocritical? If Blau worked at my newspaper, she'd be out of a job.

Christopher L. Kausel '98

Alcohol Is Part Of All MIT Life

The only thing I could do after reading the column by Stacey E. Blau '98 ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 25] was hold my head in consternation. I was astounded that a girl, who openly claims never to have attended a fraternity party and whose only claim of fraternity contact was talking to two Zeta Psi brothers, could possibly expect the intelligent members of the MIT population to give any credence whatsoever to her polemic. She claims that she has never heard of anyone going to a fraternity party without the intention of drinking.

Welcome to MIT. A good percentage of people that I know go to frats not intending to drink the all-to-often served beer. I am not some super-social being that knows everyone on campus, so surely if Blau had put any time at all in to talking to people before she wrote her "column," she would have discovered this truth. Her statement that dorms can boast some personality whereas frats cannot is way out there and should be taken with a grain of salt.

What I cannot understand is the obvious problem she has with fraternities openly discussing mixers, socials, and other events to aid in meeting women. What is the problem here? Is there something wrong with a group of guys inviting women to their fraternity house to meet and greet them? Certainly, there are undeniable sexual overtones in doing so, but no one twists these young ladies arms' to attend these parties. The potential these mixers create to meet people at other universities is a hell of a lot better than sitting around Senior House staring at murals all day and playing video games all night wondering when all the girls are coming over.

And so what if former Interfraternity Council President Jason D. Pride '97 admitted that fraternity life is "based on alcohol"? Does Blau really suspect that MIT should do anything about this? She does point out that MIT needs the fraternity system due to inadequate student housing, but she doesn't really get the whole picture. MIT doesn't have to bat an eye at the frats, because MIT needs them. Drinking is a part of college life. The sooner she can swallow and understand this statement, the sooner we won't have to put up with unnecessary flame columns.

Although I am not a member of fraternity, my brother is. He had an enjoyable rush this past fall and very much likes his new house and brothers. I have been able to meet his brothers, and I think that they area great bunch of guys. This fact makes me even more indignant that someone so unfamiliar with the fraternity system feels it is her duty to write such an article to cheapen the fraternity experience. I can find some solace in the fact that my letter here is going to be one of many received by The Tech in angry response to the column.

John A. Modzelewski '98

Blau Presents Skewed Perception of FSILGs

In response to the column by Stacey E. Blau '98 ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 25], I feel that Blau has presented a skewed perception of MIT fraternities to the public. I find it interesting first of all that the author admits to having "never [gone] to a frat party" and yet proceeds to provide an extensive examination of fraternities based upon stereotypes and first-hand research from analytical commentaries such as Animal House.

Blau claims that "Greek Week is to a large extent a weekend-long drinking fest." And yet, I seem to recall many Greek Week events such as the chicken wing eating contest, the Greek Week Ball, the fund-raiser for the Cambridge Family and Children's Services (a charity for orphans and abused children), and the newly introduced community service day. In fact, the Greek Week Co-Chair Waleed Anbar '99 is quoted as saying that the emphasis in events has moved away from alcohol ["Greek Week Focuses on Social, Community Events," Sept. 24, 1996].

So, perhaps, there is a little bit of truth to the statement that fraternity life is about service and brotherhood.

Blau also asserts that one thing that ties the fraternities together is the absence of intelligent conversation. I find this a bit hard to swallow given that we are all at one of the nation's best universities. But, then again, I suppose the Admissions Office is not perfect. Perhaps 50 percent of the male MIT undergraduate population are complete morons. Perhaps not.

Blau also asserts that fraternity social events are generally centered around sex. I find this to be quite an amazing discovery for a person who admits she has never been to a fraternity party. Furthermore, the author presents no evidence for this erroneous claim with the possible exception of the Delta Kappa Epsilon homepage with pictures of girls in "low-cut dresses" (an obvious indication of wild sexual activity).

I am thoroughly confused by Blau's statement that fraternities rule Residence and Orientation Week, given the long lists of Interfraterntiy Council regulations that are imposed on fraternities every year. For example, just this last year, the IFC collected $5,375 in rush violation fines. In fact, the dormitories were at an advantage this year since they were not forced to use the Clearinghouse system.

However, what disturbed me the most about the article was the misquote of Jason D. Pride '97 of saying that "fraternity life is based on alcohol.'" In reality, the quote was "Even though [a completely dry rush] is a really beautiful idea, it would seem to me an idealistic goal to have the fraternities not based on alcohol." The two statements are nowhere near similar in connotation.

In my opinion, it is not the fraternity system that is one of MIT's most embarrassing sides, but rather it is those students who believe they know everything there is to know about fraternity life without ever once experiencing it. If the ethics and morality of the individuals in the 30-some fraternities is going to be judged by the actions of one individual, then perhaps MIT students are a bit more ignorant than they may think.

Murthy Mathiprakasam '00

FSILGs Serve Community

The column by Stacey E. Blau '98 ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 27] caused a great disturbance among the Greek community at MIT. It portrays Greeks in an unfair manner, completely based on false assumptions and gossip. I am a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and as such, a member of the Greek system. Therefore, it is my responsibility to state all the positive points of our system.

Although, it was impossible to contact every single living group in a short time, I was able to obtain a list of many community service events in our Greek system including Lambda Chi Alpha's sponsorship of the North America Food Drive, Sigma Alpha Epsilon's help at the Bay Back Community Rally, and Alpha Phi's annual Alpha Phlea Market which raises money for local charities and Cardiac Care Research, to name just a few.

Besides organizing, volunteering, and participating in a great number of community service events, members of the Greek system are involved in a good number of clubs, sports, and civic groups. There is a true bond of sisterhood and brotherhood in our organizations. I guess it's difficult to see this if you haven't taken time to meet somebody in the Greek system. We have personalities, we care about our members truly, and we consider them a family.

On a personal account, I was in a bad car wreck a few days before rush and had to miss some days of it. There wasn't one day in which I didn't get a get well call from one of my sisters and even flowers sent all the way to Puerto Rico. I have experienced and witnessed the true value of respect and love that a sorority and fraternity has to offer.

There are many social events that the Greek system has, which don't include alcohol, like dry rush (yes, it exists already), Sigma Chi's weekly Tea social (open to everyone), and intramural sports. It hurts when people who aren't even acquainted with our system demoralize it with false statements.

Anna P. Orenstein-Cardona '99

Blau's Column Promotes Unfair Stereotypes

In response to the column by Stacey E. Blau '98 ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 25], if I were to say that all Tech opinion writers were bigoted, stupid, rabidly anti-fraternity hatemongers, I would be incorrect. If I were to use such a statement to support a claim that they were hypocrites in their writing practices, I might be approaching hypocrisy myself. Fortunately, I would not make such a statement, because I have actually bothered to gather some data myself, and have experimentally determined that not all Tech opinion writers are the same.

Many of us who live in coed or dry (or both) fraternities resent being called alcoholics who are only out to get laid. I assure you that my roommate at Epsilon Theta is not very happy at the insinuation that all she's after in life is to get drunk and bag a sorority chick.

As for not having personality, while I agree that not every fraternity can have a mural in Senior House, some of us manage to have murals in our own houses. What's more, some of us have managed to create a house personality that is a little bit more involved than some paint on the wall and which goes far beyond the surface that can be seen by someone who has never even bothered to visit one of the places that she bathes in vitriol.

Blau should remember that when she makes extremely broad comments, especially when she put as little effort into acquiring facts as she for her column, she will certainly catch some people who do not in any way fit the stereotype you describe. A wide variety of people live at MIT fraternities, and many of us are not the alcoholic, rutting animals she portrays.

And if Blau is looking for some intelligent conversation, sans drinking and fornicating, she should feel free to drop by one of my house's parties some time. If she truly believes what she wrote, she will be quite surprised.

Jay Muchnij '97

Column Errors Show Little Research

I was absolutely enraged by Tuesday's column by Stacey E. Blau '98, "Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT." Did she not do the most basic research? Our name is Tau Epsilon Phi not Tau Epsilon Pi. I have noticed that The Tech has been gradually increasing the frequency of these spelling errors, perhaps in the hope that we wouldn't notice until it was too late. Don't think that we Teps are unaware of your insidious plot.

Aneel Nazareth '98

Chancellor, Tau Epsilon Phi

FSILG Brotherhood Not Hypocritical

I think that the column by Stacey E. Blau '98 in Tuesday's issue ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 25] was a personal insult to every member of an MIT fraternity. To say that brotherhood doesn't exist is an outright lie. Maybe if Blau had taken some time to talk to fraternity members, rather than letting Java applets at fraternity homepages do our talking for us, she would have discovered this.

Brotherhood is a very real thing. I know because I've been a part of it and continue to be to this day. Sadly, I no longer live in a fraternity, but in the four years that I did, I lived with over 80 different people. Some I didn't get along with, and some became my closest friends. But I'm proud to call all of them my brothers. If one of them needed me for anything at all, I wouldn't hesitate to help him out. To suggest that brotherhood is no more than "parties, drinking, and sorority chicks" is absurd. Those guys are my family, as much as any real brother would be.

When I first came to MIT, I never even thought about living in a fraternity. I was just looking for a place to live. But what I found was a home. I fear that Blau will never understand that, mainly because she has made no attempt to try. She hasn't been to a fraternity party and apparently hasn't been inside many fraternities at all if she really believes that the dorms have more character. To criticize fraternities and the idea of brotherhood without first attempting to understand us is like me claiming that PMS doesn't exist even though I've never menstruated. You've got to experience it to know what it's like. And you've got to talk to someone who's been through it to even hope to understand it.

Adam Wilson '96

Theta Delta Chi alumnus

Fraternity Life Not Based On Alcohol

I have a few things to say about the column by Stacey E. Blau '98 ["Hypocritical Fraternities Embarrass MIT," Feb. 25]. I'd like to tell her about a certain fraternity and the respect and courtesy they've extended me. I'm a recovering alcoholic, and on my two-year sobriety date the fraternity had a sober party for me. No one in this frat has ever asked me to drink, instead they watch out for me.

Some of the brothers have even come to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with me. During the parties I hang out with the sober brothers (yes, there is such a thing). Now, would Blau like to tell me again that fraternities are only about alcohol? I feel so safe and trust these guys so much I brought my little sister over to the house during a party. In my opinion, Blau should keep your mouth shut unless she knows what she's talking about. Obviously, by the way she described fraternities, she knows nothing about them.

Jane Murray

Sophomore, Lesley College

[Moxie]

those are some awesome responses. i'm glad you posted them, thanks!

[CatStarESP4]

This person admitted to never going to a frat party and makes these assumptions. Don't knock until you try it!

[33girl]

Just want to say that it continues to amaze me how people that are so book-smart can be so fucking stupid.

I would love to know what this beeyotch is doing now...