Originally Posted by Firehouse
I'll take a run at it, but I'm sure there is a wide range of opinion. My guess is that "southern" is a word used by those of us in the south to define a specific culture within fraternity life. I doubt that the word is used outside the south as a definitive term.
There are very "southern" campuses like Alabama and Ole Miss where the predominant campus culture is defined by a specific style of dress and behavior. Within fraternities at those schools, for instance, there is often a racial (but not necessarily racist) element to the "southern" definition.
If I was to define what a "southern" fraternity is like, I'd say they dress in whatever style is considered preppy (today that means pastel polos and certain brands of shoes and khakis and blazers), they are very social, not overly concerned with athletic competition (nor perhaps competition of any kind), and tend to have very rigorous pledge programs. They are large chapters, very successful, tend to pledge boys from the best families concentrated in specific cities, and benefit from the loyalty of generous alumni.
My observation is that there are schools in the deep south where the entire fraternity atmosphere is overwhelmingly "southern". Any fraternity that deviates from that will find it very difficult to be considered among the selective elite on that campus. And when I say "to be considered" I mean by elite peers and by the best sororities.
That said, there are also campuses in the south (I'm familiar with all the public universities in Florida) with large, prosperous greek systems where different types of fraternities pursue different but parallel cultures, and you don't have to be "southern" to be counted among the elite by the top sororities and other elite peers.
I was asked by national officers of another fraternity about the campus fraternity culture at Florida State, to help them evaluate the approach they'll take when they colonize. I told them the system is very strong, but FSU is not a purely "southern" campus and there are different paths to the elite circle. If you want to get to the top here, you have a lot of cultural flexibility but there are things you must not do.
Here's what I said,
First, do not pledge openly homo members. It is probably acceptable in the northeast and on the west coast but not in the south. And it's not unacceptable in just "southern" fraternities, but in all elite fraternities on major campuses in the south. I watched that issue help destroy one the strongsest FSU fraternities four or five years ago. I imagine that any large group of handsome, well-dressed undergrads possibly has some homosexual members, but in the elite chapters these men have enough grace and sense of loyalty to their brothers to conceal that behavior, at least until after college.
Second, the "south Florida" influence is strong in all Florida schools in terms of hair, clothes and lifestyle. This is very different than the look of the "southern fraternities"; however fraternities with both styles are accepted into the elite.
Third, racial diversity is OK. You're not going to see blacks in the "southern fraternities"; or if they are there its certainly not in any numbers. On a campus where the social atmosphere is entirely "southern", recruiting a racially diverse membership will damage a chapter's chance of being taken seriously by the top-rated peers and sororities. However, at FSU "southern" and non-southern fraternities are equally accepted in the elite circles. These attitudes probably reflect the attitude of the broad culture of this state.
So, among the twenty IFC fraternities at FSU, the top tier includes both "southern" (Sigma Chi, Lambda Chi, KA) as well as the less culturally southern chapters who stress sports and leadership and have some racial diversity (Pike, Delt, Phi Sig, and Sig Ep before they got kicked off) and non-southern fraternities that emphasize [I don't know what to call it] "involvement" in campus organizations and winning community service awards, like Phi Tau and Theta Chi.
To the poster who said he generally observed Pike as the athlete fraternity on the campuses he's seen: yes that's true but I have no idea why. Jay Langhammer, an alumnus of Delta Tau Delta who writes articles on greek athletes for various fraternities' magazines, says that Pike has by far more major varsity athletes at D-I schools...but he doesn't know why and no one else seems to know either.
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