I Don't Like Frats!

My experience with fraternities has been very negative. In my first year, I wanted to see what frat parties were like so I went to a lot of them. They were lame but I kept hoping they would get better. They didn't. Just a bunch of drunk college kids bumping around in a crowded basement to really incredibly bad, loud music. It seemed that everyone’s goal at these parties was to get as drunk as they possibly could. Now I like to have fun but this just wasn’t my scene.

At this University, frats are big; students find it exciting to be a member because there are lots of other frats to compete with which many say can be fun. But at other universities, frats can be a dying culture. My best friend attends one of these universities and says there is no competition and their frat parties are boring, maybe five people sitting in the basement in their togas. What is it about frat parties and basements anyways?

Belonging to a frat is undesirable to me because it is just not my scene. It is undesirable to my friend because there is just nothing to do.

Not all fraternities are the same. Each one has a little bit of a different reputation and people tend to gravitate toward the one that suits them. Some are decent and more social, some are seedy and you wouldn’t ever go to parties there. In my sister’s freshman year here, she was given an introduction she never forgot. She was told which frats to avoid and why: over there is the date rape frat, that one is for coke-heads, and so on. People learn very quickly what happens where. And frats do tend to be labeled because each of them tends to have a specific reputation associated with it.

The process of joining a frat is supposed to be secret. Many don’t help themselves by what they do to their pledges ranging from pouring human waste or boiling water on them to promoting underage and binge drinking and drugs. Some even get shut down because of their hazing. Just last year, one frat was closed because of coke use in the hazing process. The University gave other reasons, but really, it was the coke that made them do it.

I have often found frat members irresponsible and not considerate of others. Some of these frat houses are quite nice yet you often see garbage lying around outside and hear of them getting trashed inside quite frequently. And during our finals, we often were forced to study late into the night but it was really hard to focus because some of the frats would blare their music very loud, despite us asking them many times to turn it down. They would turn it down for a little while, then they’d turn it back up.

I believe that you can have fun and party without seeking out a reputation such as this. It’s a lifestyle choice. In our second year, we came up with an alternative when we had our own house. We began to host our own parties and we were careful to keep the numbers low and the music level reasonable and keep an eye on the drinking. We even had activities. We had something called board games and booze, or we would do things like play checkers and monopoly and scrabble. And then after people had a few drinks, we would bring out the twister. I said we kept an eye on the drinking but I didn’t say that we didn’t do it at all.

Maybe others have had positive experiences with respect to fraternities. But I am glad I chose not to be a part of it. To each his own, I guess.