PKT25: Who Joined the Fraternity?
As mentioned when I discussed bids, two views that cropped up a lot in college were:
- "it's a bunch of people who party all the time"
- "it's people paying money to have friends"
The former was not true as discussed, and the latter still feels like a really weird criticism that doesn't take into account all the other groups in the world that have dues of some kinds. I mean, nobody every said my parents synagogue was "a bunch of people paying money to have friends" because they all get that if you've got a building and events they have to be paid for somehow. The fraternity was no different, and the rent, meal plan and dues combined were usually on par with what it cost to live in the dorms anyway, so it's not like it was really a big expense.
After college, the assumption I got from a fair number of people was that a fraternity was bunch of rich white guys partying. This statement might true at some fancy Ivy League schools with WASPy memberships, but for both our traditionally Catholic fraternity and the other Greeks at a Midwestern engineering school, it was definitely not.
Well, the rich part wasn't anyway. The Greek system was definitely mostly white people, although I think this was less racism in the Greek system and more the Greek system reflecting the undergraduate population at CWRU, which was overwhelming white. I don't have precise numbers, but I'd guess CWRU's undergraduate student body from 1996-2001 largely fell into two buckets - perhaps 10-15% international students, mostly from India and China, and the rest American students. The percentage was totally flipped for graduate students with the vast majority of them coming from overseas, but since graduates students couldn't join fraternities anyway it's not relevant for this discussion.
The international students very, very rarely joined fraternities. This might be in part because of a language barrier, or because the concept of fraternities didn't exist in their home countries, so they probably knew even less about them than I did. Whatever the reason, the only international student who I can remember having joined any fraternity was our own brother Ralph, who was from Singapore and who I think called himself Ralph because he got tired of Americans butchering his actual name.
That left the American born students. The vast majority of them were white as well, with a decent number of Indian-American and assorted Asian-American students and a very small number of African-Americans. I don't think there was any large variance in how much each of these groups joined fraternities, but given sheer numbers most of the Greek system was as white as the undergraduate student body. Our chapter was possibly slightly less white than the campus as a whole, but only slightly. It's fair to say that most of the ethnic groups at CWRU were represented in our chapter at one time or another, but usually not by more than 1 or 2 brothers at a time.
As far as other kinds of diversity:
- We had a lot of religious diversity for a nominally Catholic fraternity, with a lot of Jews, a lot of atheists, a lot of Jewish atheists, assorted not particularly religious Catholics, at least one guy who was raised in what I think he'd describe as evangelical or fundamentalist Christianity, at least one Buddhist, at least one person who followed some pagan practices, and oh yes, some practicing Catholics. Since college students are not typically renowned for being super religious, I haven't the faintest idea whether or not this mirrored the campus at large. I mean, I'm guessing we were less religious on average than the traditionally Jewish AEPi chapter (quite a few of them wore yarmulkes, which tends to indicate active beliefs), but probably not that much less.
- Thanks to a whole lot of civil rights progress, the 1990s seems like a totally different era compared to today with respect to LGBTQ+. Growing up in rural North Dakota at that time I was sort by default moderately homophobic, and I certainly wasn't the only one. Thankfully, I got better, mostly through encountering an awful lot of LGBTQ+ people and a general developing of empathy. See, education is beneficial. Anyway, quite a few of those LGBTQ+ people were in my chapter. Some were out at the time and others came out in the years after. I have no idea how we compared to the campus as a whole. I'm sure we were better than some chapters; some of the other houses were definitely temples of toxic masculinity when I look back with 25 years experience. Beyond that, I have truly no idea.
- That brings us to the money. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the kids at a supposedly topflight engineering school went to the expensive suburban school districts that are the domain of the upper middle class, and that was definitely reflected in our membership. However, CWRU offered a LOT of financial aid (at least for American students), so we did have brothers who'd grown up with less money, and a couple (at most) who'd grown up close to the poverty line. We had plenty of brothers whose parents worked blue collar jobs and at least a couple who were the first in their family to go to college.
Most of us were pretty poor in college regardless of how we'd grown up, and I don't really remember anyone who fit the stereotype of a spoiled rich kid with no regard for money. I mean, some of us had no regard for money, but it was the "I'm a college student living on my own for the first time" sort of financial failure, not the "I've got 5 million in the trust fund" stupidity.
- Beyond the big census categorizations, we tended to collect people in the same major - computer science and music education were both popular while I was there. I don't think that was particularly intentional so much as that we'd get one or two rushees who were enthusiastic and who'd drag all their classmates along for future rush events. We mostly didn't have serious drug or booze users. Our members were in an incredibly wide variety of other student organizations - there were always brothers in assorted bands (University Winds comes to mind), choirs (Glee Club) and theater groups (Footlighters), we had a bunch of members in Alpha Phi Omega, there was guys in any number of different honor societies, we had a bunch of people with shows at WRUW (including three consecutive Program Directors), we had a handful of varsity athletes. We also had people who as far as I can tell never belonged to anything in college but Phi Kappa Theta.
So as far as "rich white guys partying" - mostly not very rich, slightly less white as the campus as a whole, plenty of partying. If there was ever a formula beyond that to identify who joined my fraternity, we never cracked it reliably enough to use it for rush purposes.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout
- "it's a bunch of people who party all the time"
- "it's people paying money to have friends"
The former was not true as discussed, and the latter still feels like a really weird criticism that doesn't take into account all the other groups in the world that have dues of some kinds. I mean, nobody every said my parents synagogue was "a bunch of people paying money to have friends" because they all get that if you've got a building and events they have to be paid for somehow. The fraternity was no different, and the rent, meal plan and dues combined were usually on par with what it cost to live in the dorms anyway, so it's not like it was really a big expense.
After college, the assumption I got from a fair number of people was that a fraternity was bunch of rich white guys partying. This statement might true at some fancy Ivy League schools with WASPy memberships, but for both our traditionally Catholic fraternity and the other Greeks at a Midwestern engineering school, it was definitely not.
Well, the rich part wasn't anyway. The Greek system was definitely mostly white people, although I think this was less racism in the Greek system and more the Greek system reflecting the undergraduate population at CWRU, which was overwhelming white. I don't have precise numbers, but I'd guess CWRU's undergraduate student body from 1996-2001 largely fell into two buckets - perhaps 10-15% international students, mostly from India and China, and the rest American students. The percentage was totally flipped for graduate students with the vast majority of them coming from overseas, but since graduates students couldn't join fraternities anyway it's not relevant for this discussion.
The international students very, very rarely joined fraternities. This might be in part because of a language barrier, or because the concept of fraternities didn't exist in their home countries, so they probably knew even less about them than I did. Whatever the reason, the only international student who I can remember having joined any fraternity was our own brother Ralph, who was from Singapore and who I think called himself Ralph because he got tired of Americans butchering his actual name.
That left the American born students. The vast majority of them were white as well, with a decent number of Indian-American and assorted Asian-American students and a very small number of African-Americans. I don't think there was any large variance in how much each of these groups joined fraternities, but given sheer numbers most of the Greek system was as white as the undergraduate student body. Our chapter was possibly slightly less white than the campus as a whole, but only slightly. It's fair to say that most of the ethnic groups at CWRU were represented in our chapter at one time or another, but usually not by more than 1 or 2 brothers at a time.
As far as other kinds of diversity:
- We had a lot of religious diversity for a nominally Catholic fraternity, with a lot of Jews, a lot of atheists, a lot of Jewish atheists, assorted not particularly religious Catholics, at least one guy who was raised in what I think he'd describe as evangelical or fundamentalist Christianity, at least one Buddhist, at least one person who followed some pagan practices, and oh yes, some practicing Catholics. Since college students are not typically renowned for being super religious, I haven't the faintest idea whether or not this mirrored the campus at large. I mean, I'm guessing we were less religious on average than the traditionally Jewish AEPi chapter (quite a few of them wore yarmulkes, which tends to indicate active beliefs), but probably not that much less.
- Thanks to a whole lot of civil rights progress, the 1990s seems like a totally different era compared to today with respect to LGBTQ+. Growing up in rural North Dakota at that time I was sort by default moderately homophobic, and I certainly wasn't the only one. Thankfully, I got better, mostly through encountering an awful lot of LGBTQ+ people and a general developing of empathy. See, education is beneficial. Anyway, quite a few of those LGBTQ+ people were in my chapter. Some were out at the time and others came out in the years after. I have no idea how we compared to the campus as a whole. I'm sure we were better than some chapters; some of the other houses were definitely temples of toxic masculinity when I look back with 25 years experience. Beyond that, I have truly no idea.
- That brings us to the money. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the kids at a supposedly topflight engineering school went to the expensive suburban school districts that are the domain of the upper middle class, and that was definitely reflected in our membership. However, CWRU offered a LOT of financial aid (at least for American students), so we did have brothers who'd grown up with less money, and a couple (at most) who'd grown up close to the poverty line. We had plenty of brothers whose parents worked blue collar jobs and at least a couple who were the first in their family to go to college.
Most of us were pretty poor in college regardless of how we'd grown up, and I don't really remember anyone who fit the stereotype of a spoiled rich kid with no regard for money. I mean, some of us had no regard for money, but it was the "I'm a college student living on my own for the first time" sort of financial failure, not the "I've got 5 million in the trust fund" stupidity.
- Beyond the big census categorizations, we tended to collect people in the same major - computer science and music education were both popular while I was there. I don't think that was particularly intentional so much as that we'd get one or two rushees who were enthusiastic and who'd drag all their classmates along for future rush events. We mostly didn't have serious drug or booze users. Our members were in an incredibly wide variety of other student organizations - there were always brothers in assorted bands (University Winds comes to mind), choirs (Glee Club) and theater groups (Footlighters), we had a bunch of members in Alpha Phi Omega, there was guys in any number of different honor societies, we had a bunch of people with shows at WRUW (including three consecutive Program Directors), we had a handful of varsity athletes. We also had people who as far as I can tell never belonged to anything in college but Phi Kappa Theta.
So as far as "rich white guys partying" - mostly not very rich, slightly less white as the campus as a whole, plenty of partying. If there was ever a formula beyond that to identify who joined my fraternity, we never cracked it reliably enough to use it for rush purposes.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout