Comments on: Brownstone Finalists are Mostly Frats

By: You don't know anything

You don't know anything — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:13:55 +0000

Pike (45 brothers) raised $25,000+ this year at Relay for Life. SigEp and DG came in second, with the combined power of both houses (100+ people). This is not even including Cycle for Life and other smaller community service projects throughout the year.

They ARE the top philanthropic contributors to the community by far. Go look up the numbers yourself.

By: Van Owen

Van Owen — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 04:36:40 +0000

We have our own house…sorry. Delta Psi, biatches!!!

By: Thank God

Thank God — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:02:12 +0000

I’ve seriously had to limit my coke with AEPi and Pike gone

By: THANK YOU

THANK YOU — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 02:02:27 +0000

for mentioning the Music House. does nobody realize how much potential that had?

By: You continue to miss the point

You continue to miss the point — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:55:08 +0000

I don’t understand how you continue to hate on frats when everyone defending them says they PROVIDE the community at Columbia which you, apparently, lack. You want to deprive hundreds of people of their communities because their interests are different from your own?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:06:19 +0000

My question is, why are there so many gay subcategories? I think we need to stop defining people’s differences and ascribing some label to them. What the hell is gender queer? That doesn’t exist. This is what’s wrong with liberals: they feel the need to make up these, more or less, excuses for a man putting on panties or liking cock. Whoever says gay conservatives are traitors is wrong. We just don’t want any part in this name game. There is no need to create this otherness through this constant categorization of this guy or that. Can’t gay just be “gay”? Furthermore, I have never seen a tranny on campus, nor have I seen one be socially abused. Transgender peoples are a minority–of COURSE they’re going to be discriminated against. Yet here I am, a Hispanic, openly gay, first generation college athlete who is in one of these fraternities. If you knew the overwhelming support that I got from my brothers when I came out last year, you would be singing a different tune. Fraternities are not evil. There is nothing wrong with participating in any Greek letter society. If anything, going Greek teaches you how to strive for success as a communal entity. In a city that is so lonely, it’s nice to know you’re never alone. There is no need to punish sixty-some odd men just because one, unbeknownst to the rest of the brotherhood, was a bad apple. Having dealt with Operation Ivy League personally, I’ll have you know that we were just as incredulous and unaware of these shenanigans as anyone else was. The house is rightfully ours. It should have never have even been taken away from us to begin with. The nerve of you people–sitting here behind your computer screens, judging a situation of which you have little to no knowledge. Shame on you.

By: that guy

that guy — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 19:42:05 +0000

PIKE, AEPi and all the others have degrading processes.

Let’s be real.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 06:43:41 +0000

Q-House serves more than cis gay men. What about trans students? What about gender queer students? It’s great that you haven’t felt the need for a designated safe space, but don’t assume that your experience is everyone’s, especially for people who are trans, a group historically fucked over both in society in general and in gay rights movements.

By: recent greek alum

recent greek alum — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 05:41:57 +0000

@recent greek alum: meh... messed up my post. oh well.

By: recent greek alum

recent greek alum — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 05:40:50 +0000

@Ace: I think most of the people hating on greek life would feel differently if they understood what greek life means to many of us who were part of it. It isn’t about parties at all. I stopped going to our own house parties after my sophomore year. It isn’t about superficial stuff like “looks” or “status”. I think most of people in my org are ugly as hell, and judging from the comments on bwog and spec, it doesn’t look like being greek is much of a status symbol at Columbia anyway.

For me, being greek was about the amazing people I met, befriended, and shared 4 years with – from the seniors and alums who mentored me as a first-year, to the freshmen who joined the house my final year.

Regarding drinking and parties, for me, drinking and partying was a completely inconsequential part of my experience as a greek. I barely attended any of my org’s own house parties, but I still found greek life to be an incredibly rewarding and amazing experience.

Regarding exclusivity, I can’t speak for other orgs out there, but we were selective because we wanted to AVOID the people who just wanted to join for superficial reasons. We tried to choose people who would voluntarily be there for us and the organization when we needed them, not just when there was alcohol or girls or parties. Was our selection process perfect? Definitely not. I can look back and remember so many great people we missed out on. I can also look back and remember many people we shouldn’t have bidded. But we try our best to get the right people.

Regarding cohesiveness and community, out of all the clubs and activities I joined (I joined a ton), I can easily state that the place I felt most comfortable was with my fraternity members. In no other campus groups will you find so many members who will voluntarily wake up at 5am to run an event or will readily stay up all night mentoring younger members or helping them with a difficult problem set. Unlike with other activities, there wasn’t any attendance or grade for doing this. It didn’t pad our resumes or help us find a job. We did it because we genuinely believed in our cause, and we truly wanted to help our community, our organization, and our members.

Your post states so many things that are completely incongruous with my own personal experience as a member of greek life that I cannot help but wonder what shaped your view of greek life. I hope my comments can provide you with some positive perspective on greek life.

By: BC

BC — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 01:49:12 +0000

“rape scandal?” Let’s remind ourselves what libel is…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 01:45:50 +0000

I think this post changed my life

By: McLala

McLala — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 01:22:05 +0000

Yet again, another line straight from the MLIB handbook…thanks Van O!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 23:47:58 +0000

You should probably look around more if you’ve never seen Greek life do anything but throw parties. Theta hosts Breakfast at our CASA to benefit court appointed special advocates, axo just held an entire week for awareness for domestic abuse, delta gamma just raised thousands of dollars to help the blind through their national organization. sdt just held eat your heart out and raised money for prevent child abuse america. pike just held their event “cycle for life” to raise money for leukemia research in honor of a brother who passed away from the disease. delta sig/ sig ep/ dg just held an event to benefit community impact.

The larger any group becomes, the more likely conflict is to arise, and the more likely it is that someone may do something bad. this is not exclusive to greek life. but big groups are also capable of doing great things. please stop being so myopic.

By: The Beige Buttcrack

The Beige Buttcrack — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 23:18:02 +0000

Wut?