From the Rose Law Group Growlery
By Phil Riske | Managing Editor
If you were in college in 1960, you had to be in a fraternity or sorority to be a player.
If you are in a fraternity in 2015, you’re likely looked at with a jaundiced eye.
From ASU, UA to Oklahoma, frat brats have cast a shadow over the Greek system with gratuitous drinking, hazing, sex crimes and racisist acts. The system is not what it was when I was a member of a fraternity. Its decline has led rather to being a proud GDI (expletive, expletive, independent), something in 1960 that was the equivalent of being a social nerd.
My fraternity had its problems with the administration of the university, although minor compared to recent situations resulting in certain fraternities being evicted from campus.
Mine went bankrupt during the decline in fraternity popularity, but has worked its way back to recolonization. And I have donated money to that effort.
Given the current climate, why would I do that?
It provided me a family away from home.
It taught me discipline and respect beyond what my parents could teach.
It supported my academic efforts.
It brought me together with people from all locations and walks of life.
It judged me as a leader or follower.
It spawned what are now lifetime friendships.
A fraternity is a reflection of society. It has its leaders and it has its bad actors.
We learned to support the good things our society has to offer and reject—even eliminate—that which runs counter to acceptable speech, behavior and morals.
Some would throw the baby out with the bathwater, but there are babies today who in 18 years would benefit from membership in a stable Greek system.
