minorities in traditional fraternities

Faline2
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:34:58 +0000

OK…I will comment. I have a son at Vandy who is a rising sophomore with a ridiculously busy happy social life and only a little time on Greek Row when invited on dates or whatever…he is not interested in Greek Life at all. But he does have friends from an amazing array of backgrounds, some are fond of their frats, others independent and his friends are quite a huge range…not only in race but in religion and region of the country…all of them hard workers and interesting people with lots of talent. Independent life is really quite excellent at Vandy because of the way the campus is so well integrated with Nashville…there are plenty of places to go besides Greek Row for fun which you can’t say about say…Dartmouth. And Durham where Duke is located also pales compared to Nashville, making Greek life more attractive there…so again, I think independents at Vanderbilt have a pretty great lifestyle.

that said, my son at Duke went Greek and this was a decision that has been very rewarding for him on many levels. He really responds to the whole brotherhood thing, and he had many great supports as he went through academic challenges among his brothers…and got a lot of emotional support and even career support from going Greek. Since no Vandy student has commented yet…and I think it is more because people are away this time of year…I do know that my son’s frat really wanted to be diverse and they were always sad if they were runners up when they hit it off socially with African American prospective brothers who attended their final parties and got bids. My son had three bids at Duke and he was not really a social supernova or anything…he simply was good at introducing himself and getting to know people…and I used to think he was reserved. (!!). It takes a lot of discipline to attend events for more than one group and to focus on getting to know a lot of strangers…but the rewards can be excellent. Of course he had to drop a course after attending that many parties and he came home with mono…but hopefully you will not burn the candles on both ends.

If you are good at introducing yourself, and at getting to know others…and you can manage to stay focused on your studies enough during rush (highly advise not blowing your sleep and study cycles as my son did during rush)…I think you will find yourself with more than one bid at the end and that you will be not only welcomed, you will be sought after, and you will have to disappoint and decline another offer or two from guys who sincerely want you to join their frat.

I hope you will have a wonderful first year at Vanderbilt and highly suspect you will be part of a frat before the year is up where you, too, will find support and friendship on campus. You will find yourself in the decision seat with open doors.