What exactly is a fraternity?

bob247
Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:11:25 +0000

No, this is not a generic “Oh, is my social life going to be **** if I don’t join a frat”. I’ve gone through the archives and read enough of those.

Basically, as an international student, my knowledge of the greek system is limited. All I know is that ‘fraternity’ means ‘brotherhood’ and they are named with greek letters. Anything else I know comes from Beta House.

What do you do in a fraternity? Like, what’s day to day life like?

Do you all have to live together in a big house?

What is rushing/pledging? Do they involve any forms of hazing or ■■■■■■■■ initiations (Tying a brick to your *****).

Could I join if I don’t drink alcohol?

Basically, I’ve read that after the first semester, the party scene for freshman/sophmores goes tits up because of some elitist, selective ********. People aren’t really welcome to house parties anymore because they are no longer part of a frat. I just find this ridiculous, especially considering the lack of a clubbing scene in cornell, and don’t really want to miss out on one of the biggest parts of student life.