Texas A&M- Most Anti Greek School in the Country

Originally posted by justamom

I too have heard that Greeks take a lot of heat. My niece was a Theta there. She did seem to indicate students were much harder on the fraternities than the sororities.

That's what's funny.

Some of the most vigorous GDI's will brag about how many sorority parties they got crushed to, or how many sorority girls they've "hooked up" with.

It never ceases to amaze me.

Kitso
KS 361 times i feel sorry for the Kappas for their oversight.

[houstonchica]

"Maybe it's because I live in the South, but the reputation of A&M
is nothing but stellar. Everyone knows their requirements are more stringent than many other Southern schools, and the success stories of the graduates are so numerous that parents respect a student who graduates with a degree from A&M."

Well put, justamom!

I dated an Aggie throughout college and A&M is a top-notch institution. It's also probably one of the last true bastions of conservatism as well. LOL. At one time they had the largest chapter of College Republicans in the country---10,000 strong, I believe. Several years ago Texas Monthly magazine did a cover story on A&M. The magazine acknowledged what many people feel - that the University of Texas may have the more well-known reputation nationally, but that a lot of Texans see A&M as the better school academically.

(Please don't get mad at me if you don't agree...I'm only repeating what I read. Anyway, I went to Southwest Texas.
)

Gig 'Em!!!

[AnchorAlum]

A&M may not be the best example of anti-Greek sentiment since it has a tradition of a hide bound men's school - even though it's been coed since the late 60's I believe. You are an Ag first and that is a fraternal thing in itself. So many Aggies feel that a GLO membership is superflous at best. Thus the perception.
As far as anti-Greek, many administrators on college campuses were the so-called "freaks" during the 60's and are now running the place. They never left to go out into the "real world" like the rest of us.
But there is one thing they cannot overcome - a study done back in the mid 90's showed that over 66% of all dollars donated by alumni to their alma mater came from - Greeks! They need to be reminded from time to time not to bite the hands that feed them~

[AGDAlum]

Interesting that this comes up at the beginning of February. I think about A&M every year at this time, because:

In February, 1975 (before most of you were born, I expect), I was assigned to Texas A&M to start an Alpha Gam colony. (I was a chapter consultant for 1974-75.) There was one men's group, Sig Ep. Women were still new on campus; enrollment was skyrocketing. Not only was there no assistance from the University, technically I was were not supposed to conduct any fraternity business on campus. (The student center was newly renovated and expanded, which gives you an idea of how long ago this was.) In May Delta Zeta, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, and Phi Mu installed their colonies. We created a Panhellenic and by that fall there were (IIRC) seven NPC groups.
The first "houses" were in different neighborhoods around campus. (Back then the campus was all confined to the huge rectangle between Texas Ave. (is that right?) and the road behind the stadium. There was a lot of rental property in the areas to the east and west.) Then yet another apartment complex was built that allowed the NPC groups to customize adjacent apartments for an 8-person "suite."

I ended up living in the area after my consultant year, moved away at the end of 1979. The last time I was in College Station was driving through, in 1989. I expect it's changed a lot....

[sigmadiva]

Greek life at A&M has gotten ALOT better. The Greek system overall is much more organized now than when I was there, '87-'91. When I first got to campus there were only 2 NPHC sororities and 2 NPHC frats. Now all of the D9 have chapters on campus, there are MC GLOs and 2-3 more NPC groups.

When I was at A&M there was a slight anti-greek sentiment, but I think that is because some Aggies feel there is only one true fraternity and that is the Corps of Cadets. You have to experience A&M to understand.

[texas*princess]

Disclaimer -- please do not take this the wrong way, I'm just trying to get a feel of what the anti-greek people are feeling.

My older [biological] sister attended and graduated from A&M, and even though I only went to visit her a few times, it was enough to see how much the students love their school and it's traditions. When I was in high school, I went to visit her for the last bonfire that burned and I was amazed at how wonderful the comraderie (sp?) was between the students there.

I don't go to school there obviously, so I can't say for sure where the anti-greek sentiment stemmed from, but most of the anti-greek stuff that I have heard comes from greeks scheduling their social events on big Aggie tradition days -- like the Silver Taps day that the thread you linked to refers to.

Another incident I can recall is the panhellenic bid day scheduled on another Aggie tradition day (although I cannot readily recall what exactly that day was?)

And supposedly the Greeks there use publicity tag lines like "Aggies First" and that is where the problems begin -- when they claim to be "Aggies First" and then schedule things on traditions. I have friends who also attend A&M and they have nothing but love and pride for the school they attend and the traditions they try to carry on, so that is what bothers those people the most.

And I would guess the same would probably hold true for any other university that has such a rich history and traditions such as that.

I think all the bad PR could be avoided... But that's just my .02

[Optimist Prime]

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

[g41965]

Just had to reply to this thread. Like a lot of U-T Austin Grads I have had many friends go to A&M. The anti Greek thing at A&M really comes from the Aggie attitude that Fraternities and Sororities are an SMU and T-Sip(UT-Austin to all non Aggies ) thing, a lot lot of people go to A&M specifically because it is so different from Texas, Texas Tech etc. these folks don't like the fact that A&M has lost some of its distictiveness as it has grown from 15,000 to 45,000 students.
Face it Greeks will always have a place at A&M but it will be way below the corp of cadets, the fighting aggie band, yell leaders , fish camp and all those other weird, goofy traditions that so many of my friend loved.
Personally give me Austin; Barton Springs, Lake Travis, 6th Street and the most beautiful girls in the world...

[aggieAXO]

I attended A&M from 90-97. When I was a freshman greeks were not very visible and if a greek organization was mentioned it was usually in a negative way. In the 7 years I was there I think the attitude changed. Greeks started becoming involved in many aspects of aggie life-it wasn't just corp members holding offices anymore. We became more visible and I think more accepted (but of course not by all). I became greek in 92 and wish I had rushed sooner.

As far as school reputation goes before I attended Texas A&M I had heard nothing but positive comments about the programs offered. It is one of the best veterinary schools in the nation and I am proud to have a degree from there.

[ZetaGirl22]

My school, University of MD, was also very anti-greek. Usually around the time of SGA elections, there would be a party that was primarily representative of greeks, and that party would get flamed mericilessly in the Diamondback (our school paper), which would then lead to flaming of greeks. In fact, when I was a Rho Chi doing recruitment sign ups, people would be so awful to me when I asked thm if they were interested in sororites that I would go home and cry. Anyway, my freshman year when there was major flaming of GLO's in the Diamondback, I wrote a letter to the editor about how positive I though Greek Life was, and it got printed. But I def. feel sympathy to all of those who are consitantly at war w/ the rest of the student body

[Pi Kapp 142]

My chapter advisor is form Texas A&M and he said that, for Fraternities, that it has gotten a lot better when his chapter and a few other Fraternities on campus started really picking it up. He attended in '93-'97 I believe. Now our Texas A&M chapter is one of those chapters that Nationals points to and says, "Be like them". He is also super loyal to his school too.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Optimist Prime
There's no such thing as bad publicity.

There's an old saw that says, "I don't care what you say about me, as long as you spell the name right."

I don't agree. Bad news is bad news. I think people remember bad things longer and more easily than good ones.

I can't prove that. Maybe one of you could do a thesis or dissertation on it and prove me right or wrong.

On another subject, I'm a little surprized to hear that MD is such an anti-Greek school. One of your recent presidents (don't know the name, but the one who left to go to Ohio State) is a Delt.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by Optimist Prime
There's no such thing as bad publicity.

I'm with Delt on that one. Bad things stick around in people's mind. For businesses it can cost you lots of money to get bad publicity resulting in boycotts, etc. For a fraternity, bad publicity could cut into our recruitment numbers or even result in a negative bias from the administration.

[texas*princess]

Originally posted by g41965
The anti Greek thing at A&M really comes from the Aggie attitude that Fraternities and Sororities are an SMU and T-Sip(UT-Austin to all non Aggies ) thing, a lot lot of people go to A&M specifically because it is so different from Texas, Texas Tech etc. these folks don't like the fact that A&M has lost some of its distictiveness as it has grown from 15,000 to 45,000 students.

This part of g41965's post reminds me of a conversation I had with my older sister's boyfriend and some of his friends that week they had Bonfire in '98. They all attended A&M, and I remember a couple of days before that bonfire, he and all his friends wore identical shirts that were maroon with white lettering that said something like "NO FRATS, it's A&M Tradition" or something like that on the back of the shirt... so g4 could possibly be right when he said what some of the anti-sentiment stems from.

Yeah, a lot of the GDI's who live on the Northside part of campus wear those shirts.

On the front they say: NO FRATS: A tradition since the beginning; and on the back they say" Rent a Friend, Join a Frat.

A couple of years ago the Sig Ep's made copies that said the same thing on the front and on the back they just had big Sig Ep letters. I'd like to make similar shirts with the line from my sig that says, Fightin Texas Aggie Sigma Nu's - The Best Dollar to Friend Ratio on campus.

All in all i understand that i go to a school where Greeks are unpopular. I know that whenever i tell other Ags of my Greek affiliation, for the most part they will respond negatively. What's sad is that Aggies are supposed to be a tight-knit group, and are supposed to support each other, but i don't get that feeling from the GDI's.

A lot of it is just ignorant people who aren't open-minded enough to form their own opinions about Greek Life, they just hate it because their dorm leaders tell them to.

Kitso
KS 361