Fraternity life on the SFA campus is what people my age call “LIT”. I spent time observing the fraternity Theta Chi on SFA’s campus. Earlier this year I was a rush help for Theta Chi, they allowed me to be an observer and write what I saw and how they acted. I researched this community not only their nature but also their history and all the positive benefits and negative effects that come from being a part of a fraternity. My goal is to give a different viewpoint on the stereotypes of a typical “frat boy”.
Coming into college I had a certain stereotype of the fraternities. Most of those views stem from today’s media, they are negatively portrayed on everything from social media to mainstream television. The stereotypes I found are very much the same across the United States, and are especially popular at the bigger school such as Baylor, TCU, LSU, ext. Mostly classified as douchebags, cocky, womanizer, alcoholics, lack of drive. Media has portrayed that all college fraternities do is drink and when they pass out from drinking they wake up and drink some more. On top of that many tv shows portray them as using and abusing women. Of course fraternities boys drink and it would be very incorrect to say otherwise but so do a majority of college students. In a survey given out to over twenty underage college students they all anonymously admitted to drinking. INSERT QUOTE ABOUT THE FRATURNITY ISSUES THAT HAVE BEEN ON SOCIAL MEDIA Although some of these aspects are true not all fraternities reflect this nature and this shadow of stereotypes should not be cast over all Greek life because of the actions of few.
Certain articles of clothing are usually statement pieces for a fraternity, they see it as their first impression to the public. To help me with making sure I get this look completely right I interviewed the president of the Theta Chi Fraternity, Javier Gonzales. He said “It usually consist of a white polo hat is usually worn backwards, these can be seen on the boys walking around campus or at tailgates. Especially at tailgates you can see the boys wearing sunglasses attached to croakies. For people who are new to a frat boy lingo, croakies are straps that attach to the ends of sunglasses. All of this followed by a classic polo button down and some khaki pants or shorts and to top of the entire look are a nice pair of Sperry’s” (Javier Gonzales). To these boys looking good is feeling good and they like to stand out with their classic style. Also the boys occasionally wear clean blue blazers, the older ranking in the fraternity say it is good for the younger ones to learn to look professional.
Most of the observing I did came to the result that Theta Chi is all about the brotherhood. These men really treat each other like brothers, whether its football games, community service, to even talking about girl problems. One of the events that the boys participate in is the flag football games. Theta Chi is not known for their athletic ability but they boys were still having a great time getting beat by a co-ed sorority team. There were jokes, trash talk, and when it started to rain there was even mud fights. I couldn’t get my mind off the fact that every time they stopped playing or a timeout was called they all had smiles on their faces. Cole Abroten is the treasure of Theta Chi and he said “its really not about winning, we just come out here to have a great time and its good bonding for us.” These boys come in all different shapes and sizes, they come from different backgrounds and have different goals in life but regardless of all of that, they find a way to work together and support each other. Javier the president of Theta Chi told me how much of a fan of this rapper named logic he is and that there is a quote that describes how he tries to shape this fraternity he said “I don’t care if your black white or anything in-between, I don’t care if your Christian, Muslim, straight, or gay, we are all hear to fight for equality and come together and if you believe in this message of peace, love, and positivity then this is where you belong, it is not only about us but about the foundation that we are laying for our children- logic” (Javier). This is the example of a fraternity I was searching for, to these men and especially the ones graduating soon it is about so much more than the parties and the girls. Its about laying a foundation, its about learning more about your brothers, its about growing together surrounded by the right people.