Sorority: No fat chicks, minorities

Being an independent, I loved Frat guys, because I dated so many effing sorority girls because they were tired of the frat boy bullshit that it was insane.

 

I pledged a fraternity. After about three or four weeks, I realized that I was not cut out for the regimentation of a fraternity--I didn't like being told when to study, when to party, etc. I depledged (after being asked several times to stay) but never had any hard feelings toward the house. Nice guys--the life just wasn't for me.

I did notice that there weren't too many people in J-school who were in fraternities. Experience since then has shown that newspaper people tend not to be "joiners," which might account for that.

 

UPDATE: DePauw has kicked them out
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/education/13sorority.html?ref=us

DePauw University severed ties yesterday with a national sorority that evicted two-thirds of the university’s chapter members last year in what the sorority called an effort to improve its image for recruitment, but which the evicted women described as a purge of the unattractive or the uncool.

 

I don't like falling on this side of the issue, but this suggests that the Times engaged in some rather slanted reporting on this subject.

http://crisisblogger.wordpress.com/2007/02/28/a-media-created-crisis-the-delta-zeta-sorority-problem/

 

You Beech Grove snobs are all the same!

To me, frats always boiled down to this: you're paying for your friends. As long as you pay, all is well. But when you cease to pay, not only do you risk losing friends, but also subject yourself to ostracism for letting the frat down. That always struck me as the most transparent thing about the Greek system. And it can instituionalize a pack superiority complex which I find detestable.

And the philanthropic stuff? Please. I can name all the people I knew who joined the Greek system for the philanthropy on zero hands.

But the drinking and sex? I think anyone with half a brain knows that's not exclusive to a frat. Lord knows it wasn't for me, particularly my sophomore year, where the debauchary in the house my buddies and I rented rivaled any frat.

 

I would disagree with this take. This story piqued my interest and I read several other articles from different publications. Newsweek quoted a few of the ousted girls as saying they had responded favorably when asked by the national organization if they were committed to recruiting. They were released regardless. One of them was the current chapter president.

To me, the damning fact is that only the "really hot" girls, and none above a size 8, were left in. No matter how you spin the ousting process, that fact remains.

 

A good point, Cadet.

 

And here I thought Greek complaints about being misunderstood and undercovered were confined to the college paper.

 

that's one hell of a post-secondary education system you have there.

And did anyone consult the Greeks before co-opting their history as an excuse to have a kegger?

 

hmmm....you're right. Should have gone with the Romans instead.

 

Wow, there are some judgmental people on this board. I think if a sorority wants to kick out girls for being ugly, that's their business. You don't have to agree with it. I don't, but I have no problems with it. It like cutting someone not good enough to make the basketball team or firing a writer who isn't producing quality enough work. The basketball team is looking for the best basketball players, the newspaper is looking for the best writers and the sorority is looking for the best looking girls.

Here's my take: If you're a non-sorority girl criticizing a sorority the way some people have on this thread, you have self-esteem issues and you're jealous because you'll never look as good as the girls in the sorority, get as good-looking of guys, etc.

If you're a sorority girl criticizing a "GDI," you have self-esteem issues and you're jealous because you're lacking in something the GDI has over you, whether it's smarts, personality, career prospects, friendship and relationships, or whatever else.

If you're a (non-sorority girl who chose not to join a sorority because you prefer a different lifestyle but have no judgements against sororities), or if you're a (sorority girl who chose to join because you preferred the lifestyle but have no judgements against GDI's), then you're a truly happy, successful and confident person. (I put the long clauses in parentheses to make this last paragraph easier to read.)

Same goes with fraternities.

There are plenty of good frat guys and sorority girls, plenty of bad frat guys and sorority girls, plenty of good independents and plenty of bad independents.

 

And people who have to not only pay to have friends, but allow the new friends to haze them first have no self-esteem issues at all. How do I do that damn blue font, anyway?