"All But Two Presidents Born Since 1825" is no longer true

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by nyapbp

Forgive my copy and paste. I thought GCers might be interested in this post from my blog. While it once was true, it was before my time and I graduated college during the Jimmy Carter years.

I consider myself an advocate for fraternity life. As the start of a new academic year approaches and recruitment beckons on the horizon, a pesky statistic rears its head. Every time I see it on Greek Life websites or in a chapter's recruitment information, I cringe. The fact in question is "Every U.S. President and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social fraternity was founded in 1825, have been members of a fraternity."

Yep. This one rears its head (and gets debunked) every few years on GC. See here for example: Nifty Fun Fact. And yet it lives on.

[naraht]

1) I'd then add the word "Social" before "Fraternity men who" to reflect the way the list is structured.

2) Using NIC is just fine here, I believe. The only groups to leave the NIC other than by merger, as far as I know were those that formed the FLA, and with the changes to that, the only group no longer in the NIC is Kappa Sigma, which doesn't affect the list.

3) DDE became an honorary member of TEPhi during his time in office according to the TEPhi wikipedia article.

4) Having been involved in working with the offering of Honorary membership, saying that a President was given honorary membership says little in regards to the Leadership opportunities in GLO that the list is apparently supposed to show.

5) And as such, membership in Alpha Phi Omega as a student would show more in that regard than accepting membership in a Social Fraternity years *after* being president.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by naraht

2) Using NIC is just fine here, I believe. The only groups to leave the NIC other than by merger, as far as I know were those that formed the FLA, and with the changes to that, the only group no longer in the NIC is Kappa Sigma, which doesn't affect the list.

I don't think that Phi Delta Theta has rejoined the NIC.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I don't think that Phi Delta Theta has rejoined the NIC.

Ah, when I looked at the FLA article, I missed that while Phi Delta Theta had left at the same time those who joined the FLA did so, they didn't join the FLA. But I don't know if that effects Benj. Harrison given that he is listed with Phi Delta Theta and Delta Chi. (Though Delta Chi was a law fraternity at the time and didn't disallow dual membership until 1909)

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Yep. This one rears its head (and gets debunked) every few years on GC. See here for example: Nifty Fun Fact. And yet it lives on.

Like the Brothel Laws?