What makes Greek life "hot" in the south?

[Leslie Anne]

Yes, there's a big difference but I would take being Greek at my own college over being Greek in the South any day.

Originally Posted by PhiGam

"its not the grades you make, its the hands you shake."

That's nauseating.

And while I'm at it, there are plenty of university presidents who are Greek. Big deal.

[PhiGam]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Yes, there's a big difference but I would take being Greek at my own college over being Greek in the South any day.



That's nauseating.

And while I'm at it, there are plenty of university presidents who are Greek. Big deal.

To each their own. I'll take a letter of recommendation from Charlie Crist over a 4.0 any day.

[Tippiechick]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Yes, there's a big difference but I would take being Greek at my own college over being Greek in the South any day.

And, us Southerners are thanking God right now for that!

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Yes, there's a big difference but I would take being Greek at my own college over being Greek in the South any day.

Well, that was a stupid thing for me to say. I must have been in a really pissy mood. My apologies to the Southerners. I do have to agree with Benzgirl that you only know what you know. Since I only know being Greek in the North, I should have kept my mouth shut.

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Well, that was a stupid thing for me to say. I must have been in a really pissy mood. My apologies to the Southerners. I do have to agree with Benzgirl that you only know what you know. Since I only know being Greek in the North, I should have kept my mouth shut.

If I had gone to school with a competitive rush like those at many southern campuses, I probably wouldn't even consider wanting to be Greek.

There's a lot of stuff about southern recruitment and "traditions" that I'll never understand (see my posts in kitemom's Texas Recruitment thread) because I never went through one and what I know about how it's like is from GC and my southern sisters I've met over the years.

To those who are slowly turning this into a pissing contest: our experiences are different, and I really don't think it's fair to believe that certain chapters are better than others based on geographics.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by OTW

To those who are slowly turning this into a pissing contest: our experiences are different, and I really don't think it's fair to believe that certain chapters are better than others based on geographics.

Especially when people get their heads out of their asses and meet members from across the country (and from other countries) who don't care about these exaggerated geographic/school size/school type/whatever else differences.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by OTW

If I had gone to school with a competitive rush like those at many southern campuses, I probably wouldn't even consider wanting to be Greek.

^^^^ Ditto.

KenUDiggit should consider that one fraternity on one northern campus is not the "be all end all". My alma mater has over 60 fraternities and I can't say all of them get drunk on every weekend. He is using one experience to generalize Greek life the north to be somewhat Animal House.

We could start a new thread on "What is the dumbest thing you have ever heard a non-GDI say"

[OWTLAW63]

In my experiance and I am well traveled and also well rooted in the south, It seems to me that in the "southern" states education is to be expected its not as if We attend college with the hopes of graduating. Our parents have allready instilled in us great determination and a high level of expectation, so we allready know what we are there for. Where the greek thing comes into play in most southern schools either HBCU or otheris its seem that "greeks" Have more of an impact on the student body at their particular universities. The are usually in the "know" of whats going on on campus. The more popular and generally accepted amongst most students in college. With saying that most freshman and sophmores in college in school are looking to be in those type of arena, or looked at in that type of manner. Well at least in the south. Or maybe its just attitude, in my travels to the north Ie. Baltimore, NY, NJ, The whole greek attitude was just so unbarable That my communication with my OWn fraternity was brief.

Who knows?
Just my 63 cents

[oldu]

Until after World War II, almost every fraternity and sorority (including those founded in the south) was dominated by chapters and alumni from the north. The chapter houses in the south were pathetic compared to those at the large universities and private colleges in the north. Following the "melt-down" of the late 1960s that role began to reverse. Today those nice houses in the north are deteriorating and the grand new homes are being built in the south. My question, which has yet to be answered, is why? Surely a fraternity or sorority can fill the same need in the north that such a higher percentage of students in the south deem to be a benefit.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by oldu

Following the "melt-down" of the late 1960s that role began to reverse.

You call it a meltdown, we call it the civil rights movement.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by 33girl

You call it a meltdown, we call it the civil rights movement.

I think he was talking about the war or something. He has referenced the late 1960s before and wasn't talking about the Civil Rights Movement.

The Civil Rights Movement obviously didn't have an impact on anyone or anything.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

I think he was talking about the war or something. He has referenced the late 1960s before and wasn't talking about the Civil Rights Movement.

The Civil Rights Movement obviously didn't have an impact on anyone or anything.

LOL.

I think there were more than a few chapters at private colleges in the North that either turned in their charters or went local over white clauses.

[bejazd]

Originally Posted by oldu

Today those nice houses in the north are deteriorating and the grand new homes are being built in the south. My question, which has yet to be answered, is why? .

Is it because colleges in the South (public and private) are willing to provide land for GLOs to build on? They obviously see that social orgs are a draw for students. I see a lot of articles out here about growing campuses that want to add Greek life because they know that it is a draw for some students, but I doubt we'll ever see another public campus in Calif providing land for building Greek housing. (The newest on campus Greek housing I know of is at UC Irvine. and that's unusual because most Greek housing in CA is privately owned. off campus.) The cost of the land is astronomical compared to the cost of building a house. So I don't know if we'll ever see any new Greek housing here, despite rising enrollments and growth in membership, esp at schools like CSULB, SDSU, UCSB etc.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by bejazd

Is it because colleges in the South (public and private) are willing to provide land for GLOs to build on? They obviously see that social orgs are a draw for students. I see a lot of articles out here about growing campuses that want to add Greek life because they know that it is a draw for some students, but I doubt we'll ever see another public campus in Calif providing land for building Greek housing. (The newest on campus Greek housing I know of is at UC Irvine. and that's unusual because most Greek housing in CA is privately owned. off campus.) The cost of the land is astronomical compared to the cost of building a house. So I don't know if we'll ever see any new Greek housing here, despite rising enrollments and growth in membership, esp at schools like CSULB, SDSU, UCSB etc.

While I agree the whole basis of this question/argument is flawed, I can see that the above may be a good point about housing for greeks in the north. There just isn't a lot of room for new building around a lot of the big schools up north, so building a "grand" new fraternity or sorority house just may not be possible space- (or zoning) wise. I remember at Penn State, where sororities are in the dorms, space was already so tight that when they brought new chapters on campus, they had to stick them up in East Halls. The FRESHMAN dorms -- agh!!

[honeychile]

For some reason, I can't quote today, but my own take:

-First of all, Georgia Wesleyan College for Females (now Georgia Wesleyan) was the first college in the US which even allowed women to earn a degree, period. So, of course the first two sororities were founded there, in the South. I highly doubt that the "control" of either ADPi or Phi Mu was ever in the North, even if ADPi had a few years of a national headquarters in Iowa. The influence was always Southern in tradition.

-For the most part, unless one's a legacy, more youngsters hear about Greek life in the South prior to middle school, as opposed to in the North, where few non-legacies hear about it until high school or even college. A few of the teachers in our elementary school were Southern Greeks and told us all about it; my sixth grade teacher made us memorize the Greek alphabet frontwards and backwards! There could have been Greeks who went to school in the North, I just never heard about them.

-I graduated from high school with over 700 people. The one reunion I went to, the Greeks seemed to hang together, and it was a goodly number of the formerly college prep/advanced placement classes. Notice that I don't mention the, "oh, I decided to go to college" people" - it was mostly those who really planned it out.

-I'm still not wild about the 6-8 week new member period. I can understand it for individual GLO purposes, but I think the Panhellenic concept gets lost. Does any school still have Junior Panhel?