Underground Fraternities - The Risk

[LaneSig]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ng/2178676001/

An article in USAToday about underground fraternities. It discusses the recent investigation at Colby College(ME) into rumors that discovered 4 underground fraternities operating.

I thought the article was fairly well-balanced and the acknowledgement that if fraternities are banned at colleges, underground fraternities will spring up that the administration has zero control over.


Article discussing Colby College's investigation: http://colbyechonews.com/outside-inv...ties-at-colby/

[Rod D]

Interesting comments about publishing the rules violations and how vague it is. While true, that is probably by design as most violations are minor and categorizing them makes them sound worse than they are. For example, having new members do a house project is considered hazing. If they said AZY hazed by making their new members paint a room in the house, they would look silly. Saying they hazed, makes the GLO evil.

[naraht]

is there a general term for fraternity chapters recognized by their national, but not by the school? (For example, I believe that one national social fraternity currently has a Morgantown, West Virginia chapter because WVU doesn't recognize the fraternity on campus, but their national does.)

[Tom Earp]

Wow, to me, Underground means they have something to hide!

So, what do they have to hide? Drinking, Hazing, or No True Reason for being a Group of sensible people who do conform to some record of senility and common sense.

Roust and oust them!

Just say By By!

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by naraht

is there a general term for fraternity chapters recognized by their national, but not by the school? (For example, I believe that one national social fraternity currently has a Morgantown, West Virginia chapter because WVU doesn't recognize the fraternity on campus, but their national does.)

In the cases of Sigma Chi chapters that are recognized by our HQ but not the university, we refer to them as "A Chapter at a College in Morgantown, WV".

FWIW- there are at least 4 chapters that decided to not join the IFC at WVU.

[GreekOne]

Originally Posted by naraht

is there a general term for fraternity chapters recognized by their national, but not by the school? (For example, I believe that one national social fraternity currently has a Morgantown, West Virginia chapter because WVU doesn't recognize the fraternity on campus, but their national does.)

There are a couple of fraternities at Penn State that match this description. With the university clamping down on infractions that the nationals' don't consider worthy of pulling a charter over it will likely continue to be a trend.

[33girl]

There’s not really a term - just “unrecognized by the school.” Despite what some people might say, they can NOT be referred to as underground organizations, since the school and everyone else is perfectly aware they’re there. When things are underground you can’t see them (hence the term).

[psy]

There are, IIRC, two NPC memberss that have chapters that are functionally at Georgetown but are unrecognized by the university. I think that they are just referred to by their chapter designation.

[navane]

Originally Posted by psy

There are, IIRC, two NPC memberss that have chapters that are functionally at Georgetown but are unrecognized by the university. I think that they are just referred to by their chapter designation.

If I understand correctly, Georgetown doesn't formally recognize GLOs, but Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta operate under their full names and do conduct recruitment. That said, KKG does list a "Georgetown" chapter on their website; but, Theta omits the university name and lists only the chapter designation.

[Sister Havana]

Originally Posted by navane

If I understand correctly, Georgetown doesn't formally recognize GLOs, but Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta operate under their full names and do conduct recruitment. That said, KKG does list a "Georgetown" chapter on their website; but, Theta omits the university name and lists only the chapter designation.

Brandeis is like this too. They don't officially recognize GLOs, but there are ten of them there. (Five fraternities and five sororities.)

[thetalady]

Georgetown's Greek Life page is interesting... Greek organizations are unrecognized and unsupported, but an important part of the community.

About 10% of Hoyas belong to fraternities and sororities, which are non-access-to-benefits and officially unrecognized by the university but which serve an important role in our campus community.


Greek Life

[navane]

Originally Posted by navane

If I understand correctly, Georgetown doesn't formally recognize GLOs, but Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta operate under their full names and do conduct recruitment. That said, KKG does list a "Georgetown" chapter on their website; but, Theta omits the university name and lists only the chapter designation.

And, actually, Kappa Alpha Theta *does* list a "Gerogetown" on their list of chapters by university name; but, when you select it, it says "no results found". Then, if you search by geographic location (D.C), Theta Iota chapter, with no university name mentioned, comes up. Sooooo convenient that they just happen to have a misspelled university name on their list.

Originally Posted by thetalady

Georgetown's Greek Life page is interesting... Greek organizations are unrecognized and unsupported, but an important part of the community.

The page you linked to is for the Georgetown University Student Association. I think GUSA (notice the .org?) is not the same thing as the university having an employee-led Greek Life Office. Which, as far as I can tell, they don't have a GL office. I agree that GUSA's statement was odd - it's like they are trying to be everything and nothing all at the same time.

[TheGreenHeart]

Originally Posted by navane

Which, as far as I can tell, they don't have a GL office.

That is correct. They have some *L*O*V*E*L*Y* volunteers from the GL offices of other universities nearby, who, out of the kindness of their hearts, work with the Theta and Kappa chapters in their free time to organize and run their recruitment. I helped out two years ago with formal recruitment and was amazed at how well everything was orchestrated--truly wonderful chapter members, exec boards, and student life professional volunteers, all around!

[Sen's Revenge]

Originally Posted by TheGreenHeart

That is correct. They have some *L*O*V*E*L*Y* volunteers from the GL offices of other universities nearby, who, out of the kindness of their hearts, work with the Theta and Kappa chapters in their free time to organize and run their recruitment. I helped out two years ago with formal recruitment and was amazed at how well everything was orchestrated--truly wonderful chapter members, exec boards, and student life professional volunteers, all around!

Georgetown is my alma mater and you have taught me something new today. That's really good to hear. Is there any interest in a third NPC org on campus?

And as stated above, GUSA is pro-Greek, but the university is anti-greek.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by navane

If I understand correctly, Georgetown doesn't formally recognize GLOs, but Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta operate under their full names and do conduct recruitment. That said, KKG does list a "Georgetown" chapter on their website; but, Theta omits the university name and lists only the chapter designation.

Georgetown doesn't formally recognize *social* GLOs, *many* other GLOs are recognized, including two that pledge: Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity (the chapter that Bill Clinton was a brother of during his time there, chapter chartered in 1956) and the Founding chapter of the Delta Phi Epsilon Foreign Service Fraternity (founded in 1920).

Note, Alpha Phi Omega doesn't allow chapters to exist in the "Unrecognized" state. If the school stops recognizing the chapter, that automatically pulls the charter.