Running head: A CULTURE OF BROTHERHOOD

College Fraternities: A Culture of Brotherhood

William Haydon
University of Kentucky

Author Note
Throughout my research into the realm of college fraternities I have had the cooperation
of many of my fellow classmates who are involved in Greek life. Among the most helpful were
Tyler Thomas and Nick Nash, who provided me with an inside look into the lives of brothers.
Thank you.

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Abstract

This essay centers around my curiosity into the culture of the modern day college fraternity.
Through personal experience, investigation, research, and interviews, it is my intention to paint a
picture of how the modern day college fraternity is viewed and then prove and/or disprove the
claims made by each specific stereotype. Pop culture has ingrained stereotypes of many different
groups and organizations into the heads of Americans that, upon taking a closer look, turn out to
be false and/or exaggerated. Through debunking common stereotypes within this particular
group, it is my hope that more individuals will take interest in attempting to know the full story
and not just whats said in the media and gossip mills. This type of clarification is important in
this day in age particularly because of the connotations and associations made not only towards
the fraternity, but of the individual members within it that could wrongly suffer due to ignorance
of the subject. It is through this essay that I hope to paint a clearer picture of College Fraternities:
A Culture of Brotherhood.
Keywords: fraternity, college, brotherhood, media

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FINAL THOUGHTS/REVISIONS
Though not much feedback was given about this final draft of my culture speech, I did
notice the one of the lower areas I was scored in was in the conclusion. Because of this, I did
one last edit of that section of this paper. I received an A on this paper and though I feel that
this is an A paper, I do appreciate the fact the conclusion might have been lacking. To
improve the paragraph, I simply expanded on the conclusion and worked to further drive
home my original point of the essay.

College Fraternities: A Culture of Brotherhood

Like many groups and organizations within modern-day America, college fraternities are
shaped largely by stereotypes formed by media and the ill-informed opinion of the public. This is
not to classify a large sector of the country as stupid or uneducated by any means, but simply
to say that most Americans are misinformed and subject to unfair and biased news coverage of
college fraternities. More and more often in America today, we see clear-cut examples of willful
targeting of specific groups of people based upon exaggerated stereotypes. This is, unfortunately,
especially true when if comes to college fraternities. It seems like every time you we turn around
there is another story about a fraternity hazing or partying or exhibiting bad behavior, and with
exclusively negative press, how can we expect to get a full understanding and appreciation for
the concept of the fraternity as a whole? The answer is that we cant. As weve seen in historic
context that Americas perception and opinion on certain issues and/or organizations can be
swayed by news, and when the news is obviously biased, it is hard for many to form accurate and
informed judgment. We cant expect Americans to make sound and fair judgment on a group that
has been constantly berated by news media and public opinion. It is for this reason that it is our

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responsibility to investigate for ourselves the validity of the claims brought against college
fraternities and draw conclusions from an unbiased pool of information. Throughout the duration
of my inquiry into culture of the college fraternity I found inconsistencies in the perception of the
organizations as opposed to the reality of the organizations. College fraternities are sometimes
unfairly branded as a culture of nothing but hazing, partying, and bad behavior when in actuality
fraternities are important installments in college campuses and offer positive benefits the
campus, community, and country.

A Culture of Parties

My first fraternity experience was, admittedly, a party. It was your stereotypical

pounding music, dark room, and alcohol infused college fraternity party, so, like many would
have, I made a judgment right then and there as to what I believed a fraternity represented and
was all about: the party. Not surprisingly, I was not alone in this convection. Many Americans
associate college fraternities with parties and they are partially right. Yes, fraternities do their fair
share of partying, but what many dont realize is that what looks like just partying is actually
networking, socializing, and getting closer to others. Are mistakes made? Yes. However, you
must weigh the mistakes made by a few against the mostly safe practices of many.

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In the Chicago Tribune, William Hageman states in his article, Embracing the Greek life.
Or not., One of the traditional selling points for Greek life is the connections one can make, not
just with current chapter members, but with the network of former fraternity or sorority members
in the business world. Fraternities provide a built-in network of future collogues and life long
friends that allow young adults to cultivate relationships and partnerships with individuals who
they will likely run into again in the professional world. It is from these types of organizations
that successful and well-established professionals emerge. USA Todays article, Examining the
benefits of Greek life, by Nicole Glass boasts 85% of Fortune 500 executives were part of Greek
life. So certainly we cannot say that Fraternities represent just one stereotype of an individual.
Obviously many Fraternity members experience not only personal and social successes, but
professional success as well.
Nick Nash, a member of the University of Kentucky chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa, said in
our exclusive interview, You know what, its kind of sad, some of the stereotypes that are cast
on us. Particularly that we dont care about school and that were just here to party. Nash,
majoring in Political Science with a concentration in constitutional law has admitted to
participating in his fraternities as well as other fraternities parties, however is still able to
maintain good grades and succeed in his field of study. Nash insisted that through all the nasty
misconceptions of the fraternity he believes, people who are in fraternities and community
organizations in college [are] stronger than people who are on their own because when you
have people that have your back and force you to be accountable to yourself, you do better.
It would be inaccurate to assume that all fraternity brothers drink, however, as proven by
Tyler Thomas who is a proud member of the Morehead Statue University chapter of the
Academic-based fraternity, Sig Ep. When I asked him if his fraternity partied, he said, Yes we

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do, but I dont participate in the events that are associated with partying, no. This meaning he
doesnt drink or participate in any mischievous activities taking place at the parties that he
attends. In fact, he later said, he serves as the designated driver for most fraternity parties. An
admiral and brotherly thing to do, ensuring the safety of not only his brothers, but of others on
the road. When asked specifically of the most prevalent stereotypes associated with college
fraternities, Thomas said, just the perception of partying all the time in reality its not
always about that. I mean theres a lot of that that goes on but thats not all that its about.
Mainstream media plays a large role in portraying the college fraternity as nothing but a
partying organization, when in fact, throwing parties is only a small part of what they are about
and represent. So, yes, some fraternities do, indeed, party. And yes, once in a while a party will
get carried away, but if we as Americans start judging whole organizations by individual
incidents, we will fool ourselves into thinking that fraternities are nothing but wild groups of
drunk guys on the campuses of college, which is simply not the case.
A Culture of Hazing

I was certainly curious during the course of my research and study to discover how
accurate the Hazing problem is within different colleges within. I want to preface this section by

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defining hazing, which can mean very different things to different people. Hazing as defined in
the dictionary as the imposition of strenuous, often humiliating, tasks as part of a program of
rigorous physical training and initiation. It is no secret that even though the subject may be
slightly over-reported by media, any amount or type of hazing is reprehensible. Hazing can have
gruesome outcomes that can involve serious injury and/or death. An article in the New York
Times by Katherine Schulten entitled Should Colleges Ban Fraternities? says, Fraternities have
been in the news this school year for problems like racism, sexual harassment and violence, and
hazing-related injuries and deaths.
When confronted with the topic of hazing my interviewees grew noticeably
uncomfortable which led me to believe that they had experienced at least a little bit of hazing
within their own organizations. This suspicion certainly wasnt eased by the fact that Tyler
Thomas, after having just been initiated to his fraternity, had a large bruise on one of his legs that
he would not discuss. When asked about whether or not he had been a victim of hazing, Thomas
quickly responded, I have not been hazed. I do not think I will be hazed in the future. Clearly a
guarded answer, I realized I wasnt going to get much more out of him in that regard so I decided
to switch gear and question whether or not he would be willing to initiate a pledge by means of
hazing. To that Thomas responded, No. So I pushed further, asking if he believes that hazing is
part of the fraternity tradition, to which he responded, Some fraternities, yes, but not ours.
Inquiring whether or not he believes that tradition is important, Thomas admitted, Yes it is
[but hazing] is not part of our tradition.
Many who are hazed within the boundaries of a fraternity, I expect, are told not to tell
others about what really goes on, which is why I suspect I received a very guarded and careful
answer from the usually very honest Mr. Thomas. I believe that he was, in fact, hazed, and that

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he simply couldnt tell me about it. It might not have been as bad as some fraternities but I am
sure that there was some sort of strenuous initiation process that pledges were forced to go
through.
With the careful answers I received from Thomas, I was curious to compare his response
to that of Mr. Nashs, who is a member of a fraternity much more notorious for hazing than that
of Mr. Thomass. When I asked Nash the same question, it was notable that he had prepared an
answer, and to his credit it was extensive and strategic in nature. He went on record of saying,
Hazing is a serious problem and is something that should be condemned, and something that
should be ended right now. But what people have to understand is that fraternities, some, are
very old, and very rooted in their history and as a part of their history, people have to do certain
things. Back when they were founded, maybe people didnt think these were as bad, but in
todays age, they have a very negative effect on human beings confidence, attitude, and mental
health. So I think we have to be progressive and change some things. A fraternity is all about
earning respect, not about getting respect. Because you have to show that you are one of the
brothers and so I dont believe its good to beat anybody up or deprive them of food for a week
or, you know, having a kid drink till he blacks out and possibly die. These are just At this
point I interjected with my opinion that none of these things sound good and/or conducive to a
healthy environment, to which he responded, I think tradition is important to the fraternity, not
those specific traditions. I think having traditions is important but I dont think those specific
ones are important. You can create new traditions, thats the thing about that is that yeah, you
might have to end it, but the great part is, you know, after a generation or two, five, six years, it
becomes a legacy and you, your able to create your new and possibly safer traditions.

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I was then ready to ask the big question: did his fraternity haze him? He predictably
responded, I have not been hazed, no sir. I didnt quite think I received the whole story, but I
had to respect his answer and draw my conclusions from what I was given, and that conclusion is
that from the responses I received from both of my interviewees, hazing was not an issue for
them. Unfortunately, both of their answers were contrary to popular belief and many claims by
many people and credible sources from around the country. Hazing is one issue that I still
believe is prevalent and active in todays society and in college fraternity life in particular. It
must be put to an end.
A Culture of Bad Behavior
From hazing, to rape, to drinking, etc. it is pretty fair to say that college fraternities across
the nation have a notorious reputation for less than attractive behavior. But, perhaps its because
the public is only exposed to one side of the story that such a dark veil is cast over such a large
group of individuals. Believe it or not, there are instances of good behavior within the ranks of
Greek life. From philanthropy to fund-raising to tutoring one another, most brotherhoods,
however wild they might be on the weekends, genuinely care for one another. Douglas Belkin
says in his article, College Fraternities Drawing More Scrutiny, Still, fraternities remain wary
of the pendulum swinging too far. "You hear a lot about drinking, but no one talks about the
fraternity brothers staying up until 3 in the morning to tutor each other," Mr. Kuhn said.
We as a nation are all too familiar with the negative press associated with college
fraternities, but it is also important to see the good in them as well. Nick Nash said of his
fraternity, Im from a family of four, and I have a sister thats five years older than me, so Ive
never had a brother before. Ive had close friends and guys that I would do anything for in high
school but, um, what I have to say is that Im really excited to be in a room where I can say, all

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these guys have my back, they are truly my brothers. Similarly, Tyler Thomas praised his
fraternity and exposed what it has done for him: I dont see it as a negative thing anymore. I
see it as a way to meet new people and get connections with people that could help you get a job
latter on. Or just make life long friendships.
In conclusion, college fraternities represent a plethora of varying sub-cultures: some bad,
some good. But at the end of the day all of those sub-cultures fall under the over-arching
umbrella of brotherhood, and like any brothers, they can sometimes get into trouble, fall down,
act up, etc. but the love they have for each other and the since of belonging that they offer to so
many men around the country almost overshadows the negative press shoved upon them by news
media and other forms of mass communication. The next time you see a negative story in the
news about a particular action of a particular fraternity, I would encourage you to try to find
something positive that a fraternity has done and give them the due credit they deserve. With
hundreds of thousands of dollars given to charity annually and thousands of hours of time given
to community service projects, it wouldnt be hard to find something good.
In conclusion, the over arching theme of a college fraternity, if you havent realized by
now, is family. The unique dynamic of a group of people who live and dwell in the confines of
close quarters, who laugh and cry together, who give each other a hard time, who pick each other
up when theyre feeling down This is the true picture of a college fraternity, not the graffiti
sprayed on the screens of television across the nation by news stations hoping to boost ratings
and incite disdain. It is not the parties or hazing or bad behavior that should define all of the
members of fraternities, but the character of most of the individuals within these organizations. If
you dont have a large family, you will find that that can easily change within the ranks of a
college fraternity: a true culture of brotherhood.

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References
Belkin, D. (2014, August 17). College Fraternities Drawing More Scrutiny Greek Traditions and
Culture Might Be Changed Significantly. Retrieved October 20, 2014.

Schulten, K. (2014, March 13). Should Colleges Ban Fraternities? Retrieved October 20, 2014.

Glass, N. (2012, May 8). Examining the benefits of Greek Life. Retrieved October 29, 2014.

Hageman, W. (2013, August 6). Pros and cons of choosing fraternity or sorority. Retrieved
October 29, 2014.