So fraternity rush started tonight..

[UFGatorGuy]

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Um I went to UF and was in a fraternity. TKE is by the worst fraternity on campus. I think they have like 10 members.

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When'd you graduate man, 1998? And which fraternity were you in? Don't be scared now, have pride and let us know.

[Rigel]

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I think I'm the only one that ever took the creed and oaths seriously. They were more than just words you had to say so you could drink and scam on skanks.

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It's been a long time since I was in a frat, but I still laugh when I recall the "hell week" prior to becoming a "brother." We had the usual crap- jogging, getting yelled at etc then the last night we all had to sleep at the frat house.

Around 3 am I was awakened by a couple of brothers in robes and brought down in front of a table where three other brothers were sitting, in front of the fireplace, with only burning embers. The brothers told me "this pledge class is too big. We need to blackball one pledge and we want you to give us the name of the pledge we should cut."

Well, it didn't take a genius to see that this was a loyalty test to see if I was going to sell out one of my pledge mates. So I said I didn't know anyone who should be blackballed. But then the lead brother said "if you don't give us a name you yourself will be blackballed."

Well, that got me worried a little bit, but I still decided I had to stand by my guns so I said "ok, then blackball me." The lead brother then bellowed out "SO BE IT!" and some brother who apparently had been kneeling behind the table poured a cup of gasoline on the burning embers in the fireplace behind the table. A huge ROAR of flame went into the fireplace, signalling my membership in the frat going up in flames. A couple of brothers picked me up saying "you're out of here, you piece of sh*t" and literally threw me out the door of the frat.

I waited outside in the cold for someone to come out and say it was all a joke. But no one did and so I started to walk away thinking "well, that didn't go very well." But as I did the brothers ran out and welcomed me to the frat. The first pledge who actually gave the name of another pledge to be blackballed was blackballed himself.

Years later, I still admire the theatrical skill they brothers had in putting on the whole production- I laugh thinking about that "SO BE IT!" being yelled out with the fire roaring in the fireplace. Good times.

[Ribsauce]

2 things I'm gonna say in here

1) I considered joining a frat but at my school less than 10% of the campus was greek so everyone who did go and rush was the super stereotype fratboy so I couldn't take it seriously

2) I bet the guy who he mentioned in the OP never goes back now. I wouldn't

[steel108]

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that stuff doesn't happen. why do people hate fraternities so much on this forum? a real answer would be appreciated

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Havent you figured out that 90% of people on these forums are complete tools with no social skills and no personality? Most were probably never invited a rush event and feel resentment towards the whole group. Sad, but true.

[dedmoney]

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People are silly.

here's my 2 (or more) cents.

Background: i went to college summer pre-frosh admission thingy and met some guys from a few frats. we partied, drank and smoked. i got along best with some guys from this one frat (yes, i do call my country a [censored]). i pledged that frat and got hazed. relative to what is being talked about here and all the non-hazing sentiment, i recon i got hazed pretty freaking hard. no nudity, no starvation, no beatings. just running/pushups/wallsits/drinking songs/more pushups/ hellweek (involved 2 days of no talking...which, if you did talk, resulted in more of the above...also, we had one muslim who didn't drink so he was excused from all drinking games).

that process took me from an egotistical as*hole to a much more humble and respectful individual. it also brought me very close with the brothers in the house. i took a semester and did nothing for the house. after that i got very involved. i held a bunch of positions including president and social chair.

we had mixers, some kick*ass parties and did some community service work. one semester we even had the fluke occurance of having the highest GPA among the greeks. hazing was an institution for us and never had any real incidents. it does take work to make sure it doesn't get out of control though and that conscious effort probably separates the bad frats (hazing wise) from the good ones.

Thoughts: i dont think any blanket statement can be made about frats in general as they are an institution formed around individuals. those individuals determine the degree/extent to which events and other stuff occurrs. other stuff includes hazing and if handled in a responsible manner, hazing is a useful tool to shape boys into men in conjunction with the responsibility associated with joining an organization like a frat.

i'm sure i'll chime in but feel free to ask clarifying questions.

thanks for listening and having an open mind.

Barron

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This pretty much sums up my thoughts on the whole greek thing. I was in a fraternity, was 'hazed' and all that, but I look back on hell week as one of the more fun weeks in college, i never fondled anyones balls and the first time someone stuck anything up my ass was last year during my physical.

My house was a great house on campus, we won the intramural trophy every year, were top 3 (of 25 or so houses) in grades and were one of the top houses socially. I pledged there because of the fact that it was one of the only places you could tell was close knit and embodied a true sense of what I thought a fraternity should be.

One of the reasons I did rush was because I went to a huge state school, 500 miles from home, where I knew no one. In a school of 35k (my HS had 500), I met a lot of guys in the dorms, but at the same time, the fraternity was something more like I was used to in HS.

I had a lot of friends both in the greek system and outside, and dated chicks on both sides as well. I understand why people have negative views of the fraternity system as a whole, but it boils down to the same reason that people have racist, sexist or other prejudicial views, ignorance.

Considering this guy is a TKE, I understand the hatred. Everyone knows the best houses nationally are Beta, PhiDelt, SAE, and Sigma Chi. TKE and SigEP are like the Walmarts of fraternities.

[EmpireMaker2]

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altho i advise you to talk about ur money when ur completely wasted so u make an ass out of urself.

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Yes or No? Yelling SHIP IT HOLLA! after every sentence when wasted

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Cant say ive ever done it prob cause no normal person would understand it.

[digables-]

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But why all the anti-greek sentiment here? Going TKE was the best decision I've ever made.

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GL graduating with that determination.

Beat: In 10 years still spending every Friday night on his frat's front porch handing out beers to 18 year olds talking about the 2p2er who once pledged with him and beat 2/4 NL.

[KingNeo]

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Um I went to UF and was in a fraternity. TKE is by the worst fraternity on campus. I think they have like 10 members.

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When'd you graduate man, 1998? And which fraternity were you in? Don't be scared now, have pride and let us know.

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2004, Sig Ep

[DING-DONG YO]

Beta?

Leeee-awl

[88jayhawks]

Considering this guy is a TKE, I understand the hatred. Everyone knows the best houses nationally are Beta, PhiDelt, SAE, and Sigma Chi. TKE and SigEP are like the Walmarts of fraternities.

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Much respect for that list, as I am a Phi Delt. What school did you go to?