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Running Head: SO FRAT !

So Frat
Britney Doran
University of Kentucky

Running Head: SO FRAT !

So Frat
Totally Frat, Frat Life, So Frat, are typical sayings that are used when referring to a
fraternity. Being in a fraternity allows individuals to gain communication skills, make friendships
that last a lifetime, and to make connections for future jobs and opportunities. There are many
ways in which a fraternity can affect both new members and active members as a whole.
Fraternity life can be found to affect a member through brotherhood relationships, leader- ship
roles, stereotypes, and charitable events.
Fraternity life can be found to affect a member through brotherhood relationships. Brotherhood is something that specifically affects a members life as a whole. Brotherhood in a fraternity is one thing that can end up making or breaking a person. All the way down to the history, a
fraternity is comprised totally on brotherhood. In todays modern age in time, ones unique and
individual chapter focuses the same amount on brotherhood. Just like modern forms of music,
television, and entertainment brotherhood has evolved and caught up to modern times. It is what
most young men whom make appearances at rush week look for when examining chapters to potentially pledge. Of course social events such as mixers with sororities, or parties (yes, the cliche
frat party) are fun and whoever can throw good social events will get a strong number of
pledges. However, brotherhood is the defining factor for why one officially accepts a bid to
pledge. To test if this was actually a viable and true statement I sat down with Alec Szparaga, a
pledge of Beta Theta Pi, a relatively new, but well-known and respected, fraternity on the
University of Kentucky campus. When asked what fraternity life was expected to be like he
candidly answered I

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expected there to definitely be a fun social scene, but I expected a strong brotherhood out of it,
people that I could actually rely on to call true brothers and also a group of people that could
hold me accountable(A. Szparaga, personal communication, September 26, 2014). If one does not
fit into the classification of the specific fraternity chapter, they could be harassed (hazed) or not
included into things that the chapter does as a whole. Something like this would result in the
potential member dropping himself from pledging. Although this is something that happens
frequently, it only happens for a reason. Fraternity life is not for everyone; there- fore, weeding
out the potential members that obviously would not fit under the chapters overall needs
ultimately helps the chapter meet standards and helps raise the bar for future recruitment. Even
though fraternity life can end up breaking someone, it can also end up building someone up. A
Fraternity can offer many types of relationships and connections which can ultimately al- low
both active members and new members to grow as individuals. Individuals affiliated with a
fraternity are expected to be good brothers and support each other in everything that [they] do,
and to [ultimately] get a good experience out of college and bring the best out of each
other (J.Noe, personal communication, September 26, 2014). At the end of the day a fraternity
with a strong sense of brotherhood will always be remembered and cherished, as it is the most
important and revered aspect of fraternity life.
Fraternity life can be found to affect a member through leadership roles. Leadership roles
are one of many ways that can allow an individual to get involved in their fraternity. A leadership
role al- lows an individual to have a say in how they want the fraternity to grow. Within a
fraternity, there are many different options for one to get involved and make a difference.
Although leader- ship roles vary from fraternity to fraternity, most of the leadership opportunities

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remain the same.

Some of these leadership opportunities within a fraternity include being the
president, vice presi- dent, social chair, etc. These leadership roles often are not open to freshmen
(pledges) due to the fact that they are new to the whole fraternity experience. Leadership roles
often require a lot of time commitment, which can range from three to 10 hours a week. Although
it takes up quite a bit of time, it is important for an individual to put in a lot of time so they can
really get some- thing out of it. As a whole, leadership roles really [allow individuals to] get out
of it what [they] put into it (Jeremy Noe, Beta Theta Pi Active Member, September 26 2014).
Being an active member can be very time consuming, but being a pledge is even more time
consuming. I had the opportunity to hear a little about what the Beta Theta Pi pledge process first
hand. When asked about the pledge process Pledge Szparaga noted that it (pledging) is pretty
time consuming, be- cause you have to show that you are an that youre worthy enough of being
initiated He also noted, however, that Once you get through the pledge process you wont have
as much workload. (A. Szparaga, personal communication, September 26, 2014). When the
aspect of time consumption arises many fraternity men consider pledging like taking another
class. However. if considered in that way it is a class that those whom decide to partake in it
have nothing but the best to say about their respective chapters. Through learning the history and
discovering all there is to possibly know about ones respective fraternity, many members always
claim that all the time that was consumed during their tenure as a member of his individual
fraternity was completely reasonable. When time is put into an organization that betters off each
man he considers it to be full heartily worthwhile.
Fraternity life can be found to affect a member through stereotypes. Stereotypes vary
from fraternity to fraternity but being in a fraternity comes with stereotypes that all chapters

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share. Some of these stereotypes include the way that the fraternity members dress and act. Although not all fraternities fall under the same typical stereotype, the majority of them typically
do. Within most universities or colleges, a fraternity member is often classified by the clothes
that he wears, such as Sperry Topsiders, Vineyard-vines, Ralph-Lauren, J. Crew, North-face, and
Ray-bans sunglasses. This may be true within some members of a fraternity organization on
campus. However, many fraternity men not only consider this a stereotype but take this issue
very seriously. Because one is a member of the Greek system and peers may notice certain
individuals wearing these brand names they label all fraternity men to be the same. It adds a
generic and negative connotation to members of fraternity organizations and they frown greatly
on this topic. Members are also classified by dressing up in coat and ties on specific days,
which also varies depending on the fraternity. Another stereotype that exists for fraternity
members is the way that the individuals act. Usually it depends on the fraternity, however
common stereotypes for frat guys are rude, stuck up, and self-centered. Although members of
Beta Theta Pi might fall under the dress code stereotype, they are not known to fall under the
action stereotype here at the University of Kentucky. All fraternities hold their men to a higher
standard than the general campus population. Granted there are some in every crowd that choose
not to fully partake in this, but the greater part of all chapters do. Beta Theta Pi for example has
their fraternity label as Men of Principle as their pillars of ethics all derive off of this common

topic.

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Beta Theta Pis moto is Men of Principle in which this picture displays.
http://uky.beta.org/alumni

Fraternity life can be found to affect a member through charitable events. Besides the
various social events that accompany fraternity life many men have their most fun during these
philanthropic events. Two strong events this year alone that have been at the University of Kentucky have been Bonna Mu, a battle of the bands-esque competition pinning various fraternities
against one another, and Beta Bring It On, a cheerleading competition. Both had very large
showings and raised an exponential amount of money for their various specific charities. Charitable events allow fraternities to reach out to different organizations and build up their reputation
throughout the university or college in which they are affiliated with. Charitable events are one
of the main reasons why people refer to fraternities as good or bad. A fraternity can be referred to
as good if they put on effective philanthropy (charitable) events that are fun for people to attend.
Besides the obvious fact that a lot of parse and respect comes when a fraternity hosts an effective
philanthropy event. But it builds a strong cohesive inter fraternal relationship with the other
greek fraternity organizations on campus. If all the fraternity chapter on campus can come
together as one to support a common goal all previous issues can be forgave and forgotten. So
not only do they build a strong bond between other chapters but among non-Greek organizations as ones organization gets a strong, good image thorough it. Beta Theta Pi specifically, hosts
multiple philanthropy events that end up being very successful each year that they are put
on. One philanthropy event specifically that Beta Theta Pi puts on is called Beta Bring it On
which is a cheerleading event. For this event, Beta pairs up fraternities with sororities to make
teams where they end up competing in the cheerleading event/competition against each other. By

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the end of the event, Beta Theta Pi donates all of the proceeds to a charity of [their] choice and
this year [2014] [they're] doing Susan G Komen, Breast Cancer (Jeremy Noe, Beta Theta Pi Active Member, September 26 2014).

Bring it On is Beta Theta Pis Philanthropy event. This picture displays the two organization in
which the proceeds from the philanthropy event goes to.
mbasic.facebook.com
As a whole, it is important for one to understand that not all individuals in a fraternity are
the same. Each individual makes up the overall image of who the fraternity really is and ultimately helps bring out the best in each member. Although stereotypes may exist, it is important
for one to understand that not all fraternities are alike and that each and every one of them is
different in their own special way. Regardless of the social events put on by various fraternities
most members or brothers have their most fun at these sober and charitable philanthropic
events. When looking at a fraternity from the outside one may perceive them as a plethora of
different stereotypes. However, from the inside many fraternity men try to eliminate these stereotypes in non-fraternity mens eyes to show them that there is no large stereotype amongst them.
This is because when these stereotypes arise it very strongly makes the entire organization de-

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velop a label that isnt necessarily true. The real meaning and formation of a fraternity is based
off of the simple principle of brotherhood. Regardless of the chapter brotherhood is the most
important aspect and will forever be the basis of a fraternity organization.

Running Head: SO FRAT !

References
Isacco, Anthony, Ashlee Warnecke, Miguel Ampuero, Lindsay Donofrio, and Jonathan A. Davies.
"Evaluation of a Leadership Program for Fraternity Men." The Journal of Men's Studies 21.3
(2013): 217-235. Print.
Micheal, H., & A, B. D. (2014). New Directions for Student Services. Research-Driven Practice in
Fraternity and Sorority Life, Vol. 2014 (Issue 147), p23-36. 14p. Print.
Noe, Jeremy . Personal interview. 26 Sept. 2014.
Szparaga , Alec. Personal interview. 26 Sept. 2014.(2012).
BETA THETA PI FRATERNITY CORNERSTONE HOUSING PROGRAM SAMPLE
ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION. Beta Theta Pi Housing , 1. http://www.betathetapi.org/documents/resources/housing/hc_incorp.doc
(2014). Constitution . ByLaws , 1-16. https://
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