Search for New President

[keefe]

Well just to keep everybody updated Marquette just approved expansion for both fraternities and sororities so wether you like it or not Greek life will be growing a lot by this fall.

Where are the houses for these organizations? Frat Row in Ann Arbor or a U Dub has an impressive group of buildings. There isnothing like that around MU.


Michigan Frats, Ann Arbor










U Dub Frats, Seattle







Marquette Frat?

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Agreed 100%.  My best friends today are the guys that I lived with at McCormack and

Same here.  The guys I met in my McCormick wing freshmen year stayed the closest.

[mu03eng]

Same here.  The guys I met in my McCormick wing freshmen year stayed the closest.

Yep me too, even started a podcast with one of those guys in McCormick 

[🏀]

Well just to keep everybody updated Marquette just approved expansion for both fraternities and sororities so wether you like it or not Greek life will be growing a lot by this fall.

Yeeeeeeeah! More bros that still pretend to care about social issues when required and otherwise be general scumbags

Way to go!

[keefe]

Yeeeeeeeah! More bros that still pretend to care about social issues when required and otherwise be general scumbags

Way to go!

Wow...did a frat guy crap in your corn flakes, PTM??

I am personally neutral on Frats but they have their place. My dad was a Sigma Chi at USC and that seemed important to him. I have known a lot of great guys who did the frat thing in college. On some campuses it is absolving the university of capex in housing but in most it is social.

Marquette doesn't have that tradition, for whatever reason, and it lacks the infrastructure one associates with Greek Houses. The only similar organizations I recall from my days were the Rabbits, Evans Scholars, and the Rugby House. Rabbits socialized at Lenny's and were solid guys. I am unaware of any social justice genetics among them back then but I wouldn't have called them "scum bags."

Any idea why Greek never took hold at MU? All I can think is that Greek communities had an anti-Catholic bias more than a century ago which may have retarded their development in Catholic campus communities.   

[🏀]

Wow...did a frat guy crap in your corn flakes, PTM??

I am personally neutral on Frats but they have their place. My dad was a Sigma Chi at USC and that seemed important to him. I have known a lot of great guys who did the frat thing in college. On some campuses it is absolving the university of capex in housing but in most it is social.

Marquette doesn't have that tradition, for whatever reason, and it lacks the infrastructure one associates with Greek Houses. The only similar organizations I recall from my days were the Rabbits, Evans Scholars, and the Rugby House. Rabbits socialized at Lenny's and were solid guys. I am unaware of any social justice genetics among them back then but I wouldn't have called them "scum bags."

Any idea why Greek never took hold at MU? All I can think is that Greek communities had an anti-Catholic bias more than a century ago which may have retarded their development in Catholic campus communities.   

No, I don't see a reason to further develop these. I went to plenty of frat parties, had friends in them and was asked to join a couple.

The Greek system had it's use back in the day and still do on a lot of campuses, but I see then as unnecessary on a modern college campus that lacks the presence.

[mu_hilltopper]

Didn't we all learn from the hit ABC Family show 'Greek' that frats and sororities are quite awesome?

I mean, Cappie and Spitter .. the parties and pranks those guys did .. wow.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Oozma Kappa for life, bro!

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Yes Greek life is lacking at MU but it is a huge factor at other schools. Just look at this bid day video for Delta Gamma (a sorority) at FSU. Its not NSFW per say but I doubt your bosses would be pleased with you watching a video of 18-22 year old sorority girls dancing around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8v0YXIRnbU

[4everwarriors]

I dunno. Back in the day, I belonged to 2 frats: I Felta Thi and Tappa Kegga.

[Coleman]

The President and Greek life thing dovetail in a way...

Marquette needs to stay true to its culture. There has been a lot of change at MU in the past decade or so, most of it overwhelmingly for the good. A basketball renaissance, increased academic rigor, construction of new state of the art buildings, a rise in national prestige.

However, its an important time to remember that MU needs to stay true to its values, and its culture.

Greek life has never been a large part of MU's culture. I am ok if it is allowed a slightly larger niche, but it should never become what it is at larger schools. Part of the draw to MU for me was a small Greek life presence, and I know many, many people who expressed similar sentiments. I was glad that it did not dominate my undergrad experience. It is there if folks really want it, but it was never more than 5-10% of the student body. And that's the way it should stay. That is part of MU's unique culture. People looking for a larger Greek life experience should go elsewhere.

I really didn't ever see the value of fraternities at MU. But if its important to some people, I'm ok with allowing a half dozen of them to exist.

Keep in mind there have been a LOT of issues with fraternities at MU in the past. In the late 1990s/early 2000s, many of them were shut down for disciplinary and academic issues. They have a pretty lousy record overall. Perhaps this has changed, but given the track record I don't see much potential upside for the university community to allowing them to expand beyond their current niche.

Likewise, the Jesuit values are also part of MU's culture. Like Greek life, there is some wiggle room. A layperson can become President. But this person should stay true to the values and culture and MU's rich heritage. Things should not drastically change. You aren't going to get co-ed floors. You just aren't. And that's ok. It's part of the MU experience. We still had lots of ways to have fun without co-ed floors and fraternities. Believe me.  

[tower912]

Well said, Bleuteax.   The lack of a strong Greek system was a draw for me.   As was the setting in downtown Milwaukee, a fascinating city with a wonderful lakefront.   As opposed to DePauw, a school in a tiny town on the Indiana prairie with a strong Greek system and nothing to do. 

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

I understand that MU has a culture I really do. When I came to MU I was very anti-greek as well and never thought I would join a fraternity. I completely understand that it just isnt for people I guess the point im trying to get across is that I just hate that people go by the stereotypes they hear in mainstream media who really dont understand what Greek life is all about. Thats all.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Oozma Kappa for life, bro!

When the movie came out, my kids constantly told me that they are stealing the Marquette name.

[Spotcheck Billy]

Yes Greek life is lacking at MU but it is a huge factor at other schools. Just look at this bid day video for Delta Gamma (a sorority) at FSU. Its not NSFW per say but I doubt your bosses would be pleased with you watching a video of 18-22 year old sorority girls dancing around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8v0YXIRnbU

where are the fat chicks?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

where are the fat chicks?

Exactly.

[4everwarriors]

Here I thought this thread was sayin' Obama resigned.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I understand that MU has a culture I really do. When I came to MU I was very anti-greek as well and never thought I would join a fraternity. I completely understand that it just isnt for people I guess the point im trying to get across is that I just hate that people go by the stereotypes they hear in mainstream media who really dont understand what Greek life is all about. Thats all.

That's fair.

Even if we strip away all of the fraternity cliches and BS, I'm still not sure how adding more Greek life really benefits MU.

MU doesn't have a huge student population, and it seems to me that there are already plenty of service opportunities and social organizations to join.

I'm not sure that sub-dividing the student body into smaller groups is a great idea.

At UW-Madison, I see the benefit of the greek organizations. I'm not sure I see it for MU.

However, I've never been in a frat, so maybe I'm really missing something.

[keefe]

Didn't we all learn from the hit ABC Family show 'Greek' that frats and sororities are quite awesome?

I mean, Cappie and Spitter .. the parties and pranks those guys did .. wow.

I'm not a tv watcher so I don't know that show but I do know Animal House. Faber College Greek Life was really a metaphor for American society in the pre-Beatle '60's.

[🏀]

That's fair.

Even if we strip away all of the fraternity cliches and BS, I'm still not sure how adding more Greek life really benefits MU.

MU doesn't have a huge student population, and it seems to me that there are already plenty of service opportunities and social organizations to join.

I'm not sure that sub-dividing the student body into smaller groups is a great idea.

At UW-Madison, I see the benefit of the greek organizations. I'm not sure I see it for MU.

However, I've never been in a frat, so maybe I'm really missing something.

These are my thoughts, summed up much better.

[LloydMooresLegs]

where are the fat chicks?

How about anyone with short hair?  Like, 60 plus girls, and all with hair the same length.  That's just weird.  Maybe not as weird as a 50 year old man watching the video and noticing the hair length, but still...

[GGGG]

There has been a decline in Greek participation at a lot of schools.  Part of that has to do with schools putting the clamps down on them due to the aforementioned behavior, but part of that is that many in this generation really aren't "joiners."  Or if they are going to join something, it will be a student group associated with their major or with an issue that really drives them.

And in general it's good for students to join *something.*  Students who join student groups are retained and graduate at a higher rate, and generally report feeling better about their college experience.

That being said, I have no idea why MU would be promoting this more.  Perhaps to be more competitive with school out east that have a more robust Greek system?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

There has been a decline in Greek participation at a lot of schools.  Part of that has to do with schools putting the clamps down on them due to the aforementioned behavior, but part of that is that many in this generation really aren't "joiners."  Or if they are going to join something, it will be a student group associated with their major or with an issue that really drives them.

And in general it's good for students to join *something.*  Students who join student groups are retained and graduate at a higher rate, and generally report feeling better about their college experience.

That being said, I have no idea why MU would be promoting this more.  Perhaps to be more competitive with school out east that have a more robust Greek system?

Well for Sororities its out of need. The sororities that we have are very saturated and there are more girls looking to join then there are available. For the new fraternity its because Scott Walkers son pitched a fit that he didnt like any of the fraternities (when he only even looked into 2 of them) so he probably talked to dear old dad and got his way.

[GGGG]

Well for Sororities its out of need. The sororities that we have are very saturated and there are more girls looking to join then there are available. For the new fraternity its because Scott Walkers son pitched a fit that he didnt like any of the fraternities (when he only even looked into 2 of them) so he probably talked to dear old dad and got his way.

So you're saying that Scott Walker pulled strings so that Marquette would create more frats?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

So you're saying that Scott Walker pulled strings so that Marquette would create more frats?

I dont think there was string pulling there are complex rules for expansion that I dont know but I think that if the IFC didnt open up for expansion voluntarily then Walker would have played a far bigger role.