Frat Life: Behind the Scenes Michelle Lee | Guest Writer
| Published 12/12/03
Graphic By: Andrew Kinback
*The fraternity brothers that were interviewed asked for that their name
and fraternity to remain anonymous. Out of respect and confidentiality,
their wishes have been granted. I will refer to the fraternity as
"Alpha" and all the brother's will be "Bill".*
You would never know walking by what was really going on. It is like
your everyday house, but something is different. The floor is moldy, and
there is this vomit/sweat/body odor smell in the air. Also it is so
ridiculously hot that it is like the sun is right next door. Welcome to
a Friday night at a frat house.
"It is all about having fun," said Bill. "It is part of the whole party
experience."
College is supposed to be the most memorable time of your life. This is
where most meet their life-long friends, create connections and all the
while have the time of their lives. Fraternities are supposed to help
you fulfill the hype and give you the ultimate college experience. MTV
even has taken an interest in fraternities with their second season of
the reality show, "Fraternity Life." From partying, events to a social
life, the frat life will definitely give a college student experience,
but is that all there is to it?
Every week at Alpha, the party starts on Wednesday nights and continues
until Saturday night. On what seems to be a quiet Wednesday night at
Radford University, it is just the beginning of a crazy week for the
Alpha members. The area is very well secluded, hidden amongst the trees.
A line starts to form outside the average looking house, wrapping around
to the back.
Inside, the brothers of Alpha are bonding, standing around drinking
beers. They talk about women, classes and their over-all day. It looks
like they truly enjoy the company of each other. They can't wait to get
the party started.
It's 10 p.m., and the doors finally open. The fee for tonight is $4 per
person. Student ID's are checked before entering and hands are marked
with an "X" to ensure everyone paid the admission.
The house has three floors. On the first floor, drinks and stories are
served and swapped. The music is blaring from the central sound system
in the basement. People are everywhere, and everyone is moving to the
music. On the top level is where the air conditioner is on high, and
only elite frat members congregate.
Alcohol and fraternity parties have gone hand in hand ever since the
debut of "Animal House." There was an incident in Chapel Hill, N.C.,
where eighteen-year-old Scott Kruegar died during an annual fraternity
hazing event. His blood alcohol level was five times the legal limit.
The fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, was charged with wanton and reckless
conduct. According to newspaper articles, Kruegar drank "an inherently
dangerous amount of alcohol." However, this is not an isolated case.
Another very similar fraternity incident happened at UC Davis. Andrew
Weiman, a member of Kappa Sigma, was found in his fraternity house
stabbed in his neck and chest. No one knows exactly why this happened,
because investigation is still open. Incidents such as these are a prime
example of how fraternity members get their poor reputation for being
wild party animals.
Or is it just a stereotype? Bill is a member of Alpha. After a long week
of fraternity events, he sits on the couch with holes in his shirt and
is sluggish in his movements. There is more to Bill than what meets the
eye; in fact as a business marketing major as Virginia Tech, he
maintains above a 3.5 GPA. Despite the hectic schedule, he says that his
fraternity brings a more social atmosphere to the university.
He describes how the fraternity does around two community service
projects a semester, their latest project just completed at the nursing
home. The cost for being in a fraternity can range from $250 to $500.
They pay dues to their charter, who pays the Greek headquarters in order
for the fraternity to be nationally known. The charter is what allows
the frat to wear their Greek letters on campus. Without that permission,
they're not allowed to wear the letters.
Coming soon is an event called "Greek Week," which takes place during
the spring semester. This is where all the fraternities and sororities
try their best to make as much money for a particular charity event.
Alpha organized a polar plunge last year near a lake off route 81. The
brothers were challenged to do daring events, and in return they were
given money.
"It was definitely one of my most memorable events, because it was a
blast, and it made me feel good that we're doing our part to help out
our community," said Bill.
"I'm not going to lie. Pledging was pretty bad, but not in the sense
that the brothers did awful things but time managing wise," responded
Bill. He quickly added, "But I'll go through it all again in a
heartbeat."
A lot of the alumni from Alpha work in Richmond. They are mostly very
successful businessmen working with such companies as BMW, business
companies in Richmond, Va., and several are members of the army.
Fraternity brothers are just some friends who hang out, get involved,
have common interests and create memories to last a life time. All the
members of Alpha look very happy and content with themselves. The
brothers of Alpha do not regret joining, and all agree that they learned
something valuable. While some may not understand why they do what they
do, we should suppose that maybe that's part of the secrecy of
fraternity life. Maybe under the vomit, urine and loud music, they
really have a good thing going.
___
Michelle Lee is a freshman starting out.
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Responses: Refresh frame to view latest entries.
Name: Mark Year: Sophmore Comments:
I don't get the point of Frat's. If part of college life is getting shit faced so you don't remember what you did is fun...what is the point. If college is so memorable why do people enjoy wasting their time forgetting what they did the night before. Yes some frats do good but, stereotypically they do good deeds to cover-up underage drinking and other stupid high school pranks...Grow -up. Sorry for the rant but people need to hear this!!!!
Name: Dylan Lloyd Comments:
Shaggy, I think you just hit the nail right on the head.
p.s. Hey guys, let's stop writing stories about greek-life; I already feel dumber for having read this one.
Name: Shaggy Year: Alumni Comments:
The Greek system in my mind is nothing but a club for people who can't get over being out of High School. Surprisingly enough a good percentage of them act as such.
