10 Stupid Things Fraternities Do
1 – Party too much, study too little
Some of the best fraternity brothers I know never made it to graduation. They were great brothers, but their time with the fraternity is too short. It was such a waste.
2 – Spend all their money on recruitment events
Fraternities spend gobs of money in forced-fun events at the beginning of every semester. The intent is to impress enough naïve freshman to join the fraternity. The reality is guys don’t join because of events, and the money could be better spent on the brotherhood later in the semester.
3 – Allow brothers to become thousands of dollars delinquent
It always amazed me how fraternities allow some brothers to become thousand in debt to the fraternity. More times than not, the fraternity will never see this money. Don’t let deadbeat brothers take advantage of the chapter!
4 – Try to do too much
Guys who join fraternities are scholars and leaders. Chances are, they have busy academic loads to go with a girlfriend, work, other organizations, family and fraternity. Sometimes, less is more. The fraternity should limit the mandatory functions and focus on quality instead of quantity out of respect to the brothers busy schedules.
5 – Drive Drunk
I have buried a brother due to a drunk driving accident. This is an epidemic for all college students – not just guys in fraternities. If you need a ride, call the house and get someone to pick you up. The alternative just isn’t worth it.
6 – Have Messy Houses
Beer cans, dirty dishes, nasty bathrooms, dirty clothes, empty pizza boxes, beer cans, cigarette butts, over flowing trash cans, beer cans, and sticky floors are just a few of the nasty things you can find at a fraternity house. This isn’t the environment that anyone should live in, and is a poor reflection of our quality organizations.
7 – Feed the Trolls
Every Greek hates the ‘Why Buy Your Friends’ and ‘Greeks Just Party’ crowds. These people are either jealous of your organization or ignorant to all the good things you do. Don’t feed into their stereotype by doing something stupid in public. That type of news spreads 100x faster than the news of all the great things you do.
8 – Under utilize their chapter website
Your chapter website is one of the most powerful tools your fraternity has to show how great your organization is. It can become a fantastic recruitment tool and can even earn you a few bucks. However, chances are your site is out of date and no one knows about it. The solution is simple – post tons of pictures and spread the word about your site. You can start by getting your site listed on our chapter roll.
9 –Not provide good value to their brotherhood
College guys don’t have money. Unfortunately, being a brother in a fraternity isn’t cheap (even though it could be). The leadership team needs to be good stewards of the fraternity finances to ensure that every brother feels they are getting tremendous value for their dues.
10 – Haze
Hazing is bad on a bunch of different levels. Besides being against university, fraternity and federal law – it also isn’t really that much fun. If your fraternity hazes, think about your last pledge period. Was is like pulling teeth to get brothers to come to pledge events? That is because hazing isn’t much fun for the brothers.
As a leader – you are better than that. Become creative and come up with pledge events that build and teach your class while providing a good time for both pledges and brothers. Participation will increase, and your brotherhood will become stronger as a result.
+ 1 – Let me know what I missed!
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Ah, I do wish fraternities were more considerate of their probationary member’s time.
Staying out until 1:30 with a class only seven hours away? I know there is little sleep in college, but it shouldn’t be from fraternities (or parties, go study!)
You forgot to add:
11. Join a fraternity
Fraternities are outdated, archaic and really inclusive groups of young, naive men who adopt a group think mentality assuming it will enable them onto a path of self-preservation. In reality, they would do fine joining any other non-inclusive student club that is available at their universities, and focusing their efforts towards their communities and family.
Very interesting comment on #11.
Your opinion seems to miss the fact that Greek organizations have cultivated an overwhelming number of the corporate and civil leaders in this country. You also forget that Greeks donate 75% of all money donated to universities. Studies have shown that Greeks are more likely to participate in community service activities than non-Greeks.
Finally, and most importantly, members of Greek organizations have a 10% higher graduation rate than their peers.
It is very dangerous when you try to stereotype an entire group of people like you have tried to do. Your comment comes off as ignorant and misinformed.