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To ASTAlumna06
OK. I say with respect, I think you probably do understand what I'm saying, you just do not care for the narrative.
The truth is that 'programming' is not what differentiates one fraternity chapter from another. The truth is that individual fraternity reputations flow from the composition of their memberships. College men are drawn toward fraternities composed of men like themselves.
Here are two chapters on the same campus: AAA and Tri-Chi. The AAA fraternity is large, well housed with powerful alumni support, strong in athletics and campus leadership. Their members are aggressive, confident, ambitious. They sustain their standing by recruiting men who want the same things
Tri-Chi is very different. They are not a large fraternity and see no reason to grow. The play intramurals for fun not for glory. If a member happens to win some office on campus they are happy for him but they don't particularly attach that achievement to the chapter at large. They tend to be low key, non-competitive, non-aggressive.
Who has the better college Greek experience? Well, that depends on the individual. AAA and XXX both draw specific types of individuals to their chapters, and those guys WANT to be in THOSE chapters. All of the members in both chapters can have rewarding Greek Life expereicnes if they make the effort.
Now...Go back to the original premise. If you desire to be the Governor or a corporate CEO or a pro quarterback or a lion of Wall Street, you are going to be drawn to AAA. If you are just a laid-back type with little compelling ambition to be in the limelight, then XXX my be for you.
The movie 'Animal House' illustrated both types. The author Chris Miller was a member of Alpha Delta Phi at Dartmouth where his chapter was very much like Delta Tau Chi of the movie. I'm guessing that every fraternity in Amercia could cast that wonderful movie with emmebrs from their own individual chapter. But Miller, needing a foil to make the story work, and being from an Animal House chapter himself, made the Omegas to be the guys whose stories ended badly and the Deltas into the later-in-life success stories.
But that's not the way it really works. Sure, Miller is a great success, but in real life it is the Omegas who end up running the show. In the movie, the hero John Belushi ends up as a United States Senator. In the real world, as we know, Belushi dies of a drug overdose.
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