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Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:57 pm
Pard94
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 762
Location: Weare, NH
The Maroon wrote:
The faternities vs. administration war has been going on since at least the early 90's. There were 12 fraternities then but given that the demographics of the campus had changed--like women---it wasn't surprising that some fraternities dies. I felt like 12 was a healthy number--even thouth I was independant.
Who are the casualties? I haven't kept up--but I think Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi, T-Delt, DU, Phi-Delt, Chi Phi, DTD, SAE and Theta Chi have all closed and I don't think they've been replaced.
I wasn't a huge fan of the greek system, but the social alternative was drinking in a small dorm room. Kind of ridiculous. Also the fraternities did some great fundraisers for local charities.
I never bought the "anti-intellectual" argument. The smartest guy I knew at Lafayette was a DKE---and those dudes were as "Animal House" as it got back in those days. I also knew plenty of sharp T-Delts even though their label was the "dumb football players."
Actually, in a nutshell that's what I didn't like about the greek system--all of a sudden you were chategorized. Also, although I never fully understood it, I guess there was a sort of rivalry between the Fiji football players and the T-Delts...
Kinda stupid....I can see why Frank discouraged membership. Although 94 could shed a lot more light on it than I could.
Fraternities are on the decline nationwide---it's not just Lafayette. One of the things that drives the politically correct crowd crazy is they are segregated by gender and that is apparently armageddon.
When they changed it to make it that freshmen couldn't join, that was a huge blow. To me there was no reason behind that except to deal a blow to the knees of the fraternities.
I do wonder what kind of effect this has on giving. I did some alumni surveys and virtually everyone said that their association with a fraternity was the most positive aspect of their college experience.
The only additional insight I can provide is that despite a healthy rivalry off the field. T-Delt and FIJI were both rowing in the same direction once the pads were put on. Aside from an occasional incident here and there I can honestly not remember any animosty in the locker room or on the field. We were, for the most part, all friends. Even off the field it was pretty much a given that just about all football players were going to get bids from both fraternities. Whose bid you chose to accept depended largely on where your friends were. Except for closed events T-Delts were always welcome at our house and vice versa. Didn't always happen that way because more often than not both houses had things going on simultaneoulsy. As for Tavani banning fraternities to the players I was always under the assumption that was done to monitor drinking and keeep the off field incidents to a minimum. Unless things changed drastically after 1994 there was certainly no fued between the two houses to quell by banning them both. I suppose you could make the argument that he has successfully transplanted any loyalty to greek houses with loyalty to the team. Hard to argue with the results...unless you're Carney . _________________ Pard94
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:04 pm
Franks Tanks
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 532
Pard94 wrote:
The Maroon wrote:
The faternities vs. administration war has been going on since at least the early 90's. There were 12 fraternities then but given that the demographics of the campus had changed--like women---it wasn't surprising that some fraternities dies. I felt like 12 was a healthy number--even thouth I was independant.
Who are the casualties? I haven't kept up--but I think Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi, T-Delt, DU, Phi-Delt, Chi Phi, DTD, SAE and Theta Chi have all closed and I don't think they've been replaced.
I wasn't a huge fan of the greek system, but the social alternative was drinking in a small dorm room. Kind of ridiculous. Also the fraternities did some great fundraisers for local charities.
I never bought the "anti-intellectual" argument. The smartest guy I knew at Lafayette was a DKE---and those dudes were as "Animal House" as it got back in those days. I also knew plenty of sharp T-Delts even though their label was the "dumb football players."
Actually, in a nutshell that's what I didn't like about the greek system--all of a sudden you were chategorized. Also, although I never fully understood it, I guess there was a sort of rivalry between the Fiji football players and the T-Delts...
Kinda stupid....I can see why Frank discouraged membership. Although 94 could shed a lot more light on it than I could.
Fraternities are on the decline nationwide---it's not just Lafayette. One of the things that drives the politically correct crowd crazy is they are segregated by gender and that is apparently armageddon.
When they changed it to make it that freshmen couldn't join, that was a huge blow. To me there was no reason behind that except to deal a blow to the knees of the fraternities.
I do wonder what kind of effect this has on giving. I did some alumni surveys and virtually everyone said that their association with a fraternity was the most positive aspect of their college experience.
The only additional insight I can provide is that despite a healthy rivalry off the field. T-Delt and FIJI were both rowing in the same direction once the pads were put on. Aside from an occasional incident here and there I can honestly not remember any animosty in the locker room or on the field. We were, for the most part, all friends. Even off the field it was pretty much a given that just about all football players were going to get bids from both fraternities. Whose bid you chose to accept depended largely on where your friends were. Except for closed events T-Delts were always welcome at our house and vice versa. Didn't always happen that way because more often than not both houses had things going on simultaneoulsy. As for Tavani banning fraternities to the players I was always under the assumption that was done to monitor drinking and keeep the off field incidents to a minimum. Unless things changed drastically after 1994 there was certainly no fued between the two houses to quell by banning them both. I suppose you could make the argument that he has successfully transplanted any loyalty to greek houses with loyalty to the team. Hard to argue with the results...unless you're Carney .
I agree 94. Until T-Delt got the boot in 2001 the players in both frats still had the same relationship you describe. Friends on and off the field, and you chose one over the other based on fit.
In my time Frank never expressely forbid joining a frat, but it was clear he didnt like it. He often said "The Football Fraternity is the only fraternity you need". After I graduated in 2003 the tradition of FB players pledging pretty much died and only a few are in frats today I would estimate.
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