Has anyone heard of this fraternity?

[ladygreek]

U of M frat suspended in hazing case
The University of Minnesota has suspended a fraternity on the St. Paul campus for hazing.
Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune

The FarmHouse Fraternity, which has had a chapter on the St. Paul campus since 1931, is suspended as a registered student organization through spring semester 2007. The university and the fraternity's international organization are investigating, and if the hazing was severe enough, the chapter could be closed.

Two fraternity members who had been hazed complained to U officials on Feb. 23.

"It appears to be a pattern of behaviors in how new members were treated during their initiation, over a period of months," said Jerry Rinehart, university vice provost for student affairs. "Students were put in physically dangerous positions, and there was emotional degradation associated with that. We're very fortunate no physical harm was done and we could intervene."

The fraternity prohibits alcohol and its 25 to 30 members are cooperating with the investigation, Rinehart said. In fact, leaders of the fraternity acknowledged that the behavior had been going on "but didn't know how to stop this tradition. There was recognition that they can't get where they want to go without stopping this."

Over the next two weeks, about 15 residents of the house will be interviewed, Rinehart said. Appropriate sanctions for students will be proposed, and students have the right to appeal those through the student judicial system.

If the violations are bad enough, either the university or FarmHouse Fraternity International could close the chapter. For now, Rinehart said, the chapter is prohibited until the end of spring semester 2007 from participating in Interfraternity Council recruitment events or sending mass mailings through the university. It also will not be able to sponsor or participate in social events.

[ZZ-kai-]

Farmhouse? Yeah. What about them?

[AlphaFrog]

FarmHouse, Triangle, Ceres (I'm sure there's more) are all non-Greek letter fraternities/sororities. I believe they are all agriculturally based.

[aopirose]

Yes, we have a good friend who is a FH from South Dakota. They were/are agriculturally based like Alpha Gamma Rho.

http://www.farmhouse.org/

[honeychile]

Triangle is for engineers, AFAIK.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally posted by honeychile
Triangle is for engineers, AFAIK.

That's right...I had forgotten. Do we even have and FH/Triangle/Ceres that still post?

[ladygreek]

Wow, learn something new everyday. When I read the article, I couldn't help but think about Animal House.

[irishpipes]

I am pretty sure Ceres is FH for girls - I think the national organizations are linked in some way. Does FH have a requirement to operate a working farm on each chapter's campus, or is that AGR? Can't remember. Also, along the lines of non-Greek letter fraternities, we could add Acacia to that list.

[PhrozenGod01]

I've heard of them. I officiated them in intramural softball and flag football. They all came out to that stuff like it was a prime time professional event; new jerseys, underarmour gear, the works. Never hung out with them though. The St. Paul campus is too far to stumble home from.

[VandalSquirrel]

We have both Alpha Gamma Rho and FarmHouse at Idaho for the men, and Sigma Alpha for the women. Washington State has both of the mens groups, and Ceres for women. One difference is that Ceres operates with the NPC groups at Wazzu, but Sigma Alpha doesn't at UI as they are considered a professional organization. AGR still has the requirement of being a Natural Resources of Agricultural major, but FH doesn't anymore.

The school operates many different farms, labs, and areas around the states students work with. The groups are also involved with Future Farmers of America and 4H locally, and recruit incoming students that way. The AGRs have been having a stellar year, with the highest grades out of all the fraternities (3.34), with no member being deficient (below a 2.0) in grades. The only group to have higher grades was a sorority with a 3.38, and every other groufraternity or sorority had at least one member deficient. Not too shabby for a group with a limited pool of applicants, and the last installed fraternity (Sigma Phi Epsilon is still a colony).

ladygreek - many people outside the greek system can't remember FarmHouse's name, and call it Animal House.

[33girl]

GC poster FHWKU is in FarmHouse at (duh) WKU, I believe.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by AlphaFrog
FarmHouse, Triangle, Ceres (I'm sure there's more) are all non-Greek letter fraternities/sororities. I believe they are all agriculturally based.

Acacia is another. Not agriculturally based to my knowledge, though.

[ladygreek]

Originally posted by PhrozenGod01
I've heard of them. I officiated them in intramural softball and flag football. They all came out to that stuff like it was a prime time professional event; new jerseys, underarmour gear, the works. Never hung out with them though. The St. Paul campus is too far to stumble home from.

West Bank, East Bank, St. Paul Campus, come on now they all aren't that far apart--if you have a car.

[Tom Earp]

Yep, AGRs got in trouble at Un. Mo. over an animal problem. Go figure and they "Had" an Agricultural background.

Most of the Fraternitys of this nature while had Husbandry backgrounds have become more Social and are Members of NIC.

[macallan25]

Pat Green was in Farmhouse at Texas Tech