Research Blog #6

This is the cover of Caitlin Flanagan's The Dark Power of Fraternities. This visual represents fraternity life as a party. You have two people that we can assume are fraternity brothers celebrating something unknown to us. Yet we can see that they are clearly intoxicated from their facial expressions and their red solo cups. This picture is meant to depict fraternity members as crazy and irresponsible, which is the general consensus of this generation. I feel this picture can resonate with paper and whomever reads it.

Research Blog #9

Argument and Counter-Argument

Argument: Fraternities have been persecuted in the recent media for acts of alcohol-related incidents, sexual assault, and racism/discrimination. They received similar negative attention in the 60's and 80's for being too institutionally aligned with universities and too uptight/stuffy. These fundamentally opposite representations of fraternities are both negatively perceived by their respective mainstream cultures. The grand culture changes that occurred within Gen X, labelled fraternities as counter-culture, and perpetuated that stigma through the popular movie Animal House. In order to survive, fraternities adopted this misrepresentation, and became popular as a result. Fraternities are now again counter-culture, except in the opposite way-they party too much. Seeing as how fraternities have the ability to adapt and change, there should be ways to manage risk and ultimately ween them off of the "party pathway".

Counter-Argument: Fraternities are dangerous places that promote binge drinking, sexual assault and discrimination. On paper they make sizable donations to charities, perform generous amounts of volunteer hours and prepare their members for the workforce through leadership development and alumni network. Yet this falls into the mentality of "work hard, play harder". The positive contributions they make to society don't outweigh the negatives they do they frequently do. Alcohol-related deaths, hazing, and race discrimination shouldn't be permissible by any means. The Greek System should be done away with entirely in order to keep our students safe.

Research Blog #10

Abstract: This paper serves to explore the changes that occurred in fraternity life using a socio-cultural lens. We start by examining the founding of fraternities and the reasons behind their creation in the first place. By understanding the original culture that surrounded fraternities during their initial founding, we can better gauge the changes that led fraternities to today's representation. Furthermore Professor Castellano's research on generational cohorts allows us to deepen our knowledge of the fluctuating societal landscape, and the cultural differences of values and norms between them. As fraternities have retained their culture, independent of mainstream society for over 100 years, we can approach their profound changes through Social Darwinism. Animal House's misrepresentation of fraternities was so popular with the mainstream culture, that it usurped the original culture that fraternities were founded upon and maintained up until that point. Decades later, these "party fraternities" are not as popular (as depicted in the recent movie Neighbors), and we see a significant public push back. This is mainly due to a cultural shift in the generational values and norms that don't make "booze, sex and drugs" a priority as they once were. As Gen X was different from Baby Boomers, Millenials are that much different form Gen X. Today, a system of checks and balances are in place to reinstate some order into fraternities, including complete shut downs of local chapter. Fraternities as a whole shouldn't be abolished altogether, considering such measures are being taken.

Bibliography

Ackerman, Robert. "The Survival of Greek Life: Concerns and Solutions." NASPA

Journal 28 (1990): 78-81. Print.

Castellano, William G. Practices for Engaging the 21st Century Workforce: Challenges of Talent Management in a Changing Workplace. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Carter, Colleen. "The Efficacy of the Social Norms Approach to Substance Abuse

Prevention Applied to Fraternity Men." Journal of American College Health 49.2

(2002). Print.

Flanagan, Caitlin. "The Dark Power of Fraternities." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 May 2015.

Gray, Eliza. "Fraternity Row." Time 184.23 (2014): 42-45. Academic Search Premier.

García, Justin D., PhD. "Greek Life." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2013): Research

Starters. Web. 1 May 2015.

Hinton, David B. "Celluloid Ivy: Higher Education in Movies 1960-1990. David B. Hinton:." Web. 02 May 2015.

Holmer, Eric. "From Animal House to the White House." Greek Intervarsity. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. <www.http://greek.intervarsity.org>.

Josh, VerStandig. "Greek Life Not ‘Animal House’." The Breeze. 1 Jan. 2011. Web.

<www.breezejmu.org>.

Kretchmar, Jennifer. "Social Darwinism." Research Starters Sociology (Online Edition) (2009): Research Starters. Web. 1 May 2015.

Long Weaver, Sandra. "Policing The Greeks." Chronicle Of Higher Education (2015):

46-48. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 May 2015.

McWilliams, Wilson C. The Idea of Fraternity in America. Berkeley: U of California,

1973. Print.

"Is It Really Like “Animal House”? What to Do When Your Kid Joins the Greek Life."

Campus Talk Blog. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. <http://www.campustalkblog.com>.

The Myths. www.fraternityinfo.com. Web

McGregor, Michael. "The Way of Frat." Radix. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. <http://www.radixjournal.com>.

Whipple, Edward. "Greek Letter Organizations: Communities of Learners?" New

Directions for Student Services. 81 (1998). Print.

Literature Blog #4

Citation: Flanagan, Caitlin. "The Dark Power of Fraternities." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 May 2015.

Summary: The Dark Power of Fraternities was The Atlantic's March cover story that exposed the murky legal status of fraternity happenings and their influence towards the American college experience.

Author: Caitlin Flanagan is a writer for the Atlantic that got her start in 2001 in the magazine writing business. She has established herself as a highly entertaining social critic

Key Terms: FIPG-Fraternal Information and Programming Group--> A risk management system created for fraternities that is regularly updated.

Quotes:“In this newly forming culture, the drugs and personal liberation of the ’60s would be paired with the self-serving materialism of the ’80s, all of which made partying for its own sake—and not as a philosophical adjunct to solving some complicated problem in Southeast Asia—a righteous activity for the pampered young collegian. Fraternity life was reborn with a vengeance.”

Value: This highlights on the dark side of fraternities since having deviated from traditional fraternity culture, and gives credibility to the bad happenings that occur at certain fraternities

Literature Review Blog #3

Citation: Castellano, William G. Practices for Engaging the 21st Century Workforce: Challenges of Talent Management in a Changing Workplace. Print.
Summary: The book provides information on how to proficiently manage others in today's age given the challenges of increased technology, diversity, and a multi-generational workforce.
Author: William G. Castellano retired from Wall Street after 20 years to start his new career as a professor at Rutgers University. From his experiences and doctorate research in the HR field, he has compiled his findings within this book.
Key Terms: "New Normal"-The unprecedented work demographic and style that we see today
"Cohort"-A term used to identify a generational population
Quotes: "This is a new era in which... a new generation of workers can change the direction and fortunes of the old economic order"
Value: Professor Castellano's research on the different cultures of multiple generations of Americans allows me to accurately understand the social climate of the era and use that as a control to compare the change in fraternities to.

Literature Blog Review #5

Citation: McWilliams, Wilson C. The Idea of Fraternity in America. Berkeley: U of California, 1973. Print.
Summary:  In this book, McWilliams argued that there was an "alternative tradition" to the dominant liberal tradition in America, which he variously traced through the thought of the Puritans, the Anti-federalists, and various major and minor literary figures such as Hawthorne, Melville, Twain and Ellison. He argued that this tradition drew philosophical inspiration from ancient Greek and Christian sources manifested in an emphasis upon community and fraternity, which was properly the means to achieving a form of civic liberty. He contrasted this tradition with the liberal tradition, which conversely held that individual liberty was thought to culminate in political fraternity (Wikipedia).
Author: Wilson C. McWilliams. Was a political scientist at Rutgers University
Key terms: "Liberation"--> The popular public yearning to express the individual. "Counter-culture"--> That which is in opposition to the dominant societal culture.
Quotes: All from 621 "But the yearning for liberation apart from it's obvious roots in liberal individualism, indicates that fraternity in counter culture is a bond of embattlement, of unity against oppression"
"Less hopeful, even, is the belief that the common lifestyle provides the basis for brotherhood"
"It is sad that men who feel a desperate need for communion have been so deeply effected by a society whose life and thought deny it, that they can conceive of community only as an image, an illusion no less ephemeral for being willed"
 Value: This is a politically scientific approach to fraternity as counter culture around the time of individualism and liberation. Shows how a sense of community was frowned upon and exactly when fraternities began to be viewed as counter culture.

Research Blog #9

Fraternities have been coming under fire as of late for various different reasons. Between the UVA scandal and the Oklahoma racist chants, fraternities are setting up camp in the newspapers. My argument says that Fraternities never had inherent problems with racism, sexual assault or binge drinking at all. That the party stereotype was placed upon them during the time period that Animal House was released in theaters and gained tremendous amounts of national presence and popularity. My argument more specifically is that fraternities have become scapegoats of counterculture, that they have been created from the need to break stuffy traditions but have been ostracized when they get too out of control.

A counter-argument to my position where fraternities are seen as counter-culture would be to believe that fraternities have always had always had these inherent problems that persisted throughout time since their founding. So an argument that someone could make is that Southern fraternities hold strong ties to racism. Specifically, certain actions of the Kappa Alpha Order of University of Alabama have recently been suspended. Unlike distasteful themed-parties that are usually isolated occurrences, Kappa Alpha Order's "Old South" parade of dressing up in Confederate attire have been an inherently racist and historically persisting tradition.

Both sides recognize that there are problems with fraternities. This counter-argument serves to show that fraternities have persisting issues such as racism within their culture, whereas my argument tries to show fraternities went through a change within the relatively recent past because of public pressure.

Literature Review #2

Citation: Jackson, Brooks, and Kathleen Hall. Jamieson. UnSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007. Print.

Summary: This book explores and identifies different tactics media employs in order to trick the public into thinking a certain way. It shows warning signs to be wary of and gives the reader a set of procedures to follow in order to find trustworthy sources of information and create our own objective opinions.

Authors: Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Key Terms: Scare Tactics--> The media's emotional appeal to content that does not allow for objective analysis; Framing--> A way of organizing a reality that has readers locate, perceive, identify and label information. Usually includes the use of "buzz words".

Quotes: "Spinners mislead by means of subtle omissions to outright lies. Spin paints to false picture of reality by bending facts, mischaracterizing the words of others, ignoring or denying crucial evidence, or just 'spinning a yarn'-making things up" (Jackson 1)

"He accused his former employer of using 'FUD'-his acronym meaning 'fear, uncertainty and doubt-to discourage consumers from his new brand" (Jackson 26)

"Darman had explained the basic principle of the 'eye candy' effect: pictures tend to overpower spoken word. It's just the way we human beings are wired" (Jackson 52)

Value: This material helps me with my research by showing the power that media has. By documenting the different tactics used by media outlets, it will be easier to show the influence that they had in the UVA story by the Rolling Stone.

Literature Review Blog #1

Citation: David De Camp The Journal, Gazette. "CHARTING A NEW COURSE FRATERNITIES START RECRUITING AGGRESSIVELY AS DEMOGRAPHICS CHANGE, MEMBERSHIPS SLIP." Journal Gazette, The (Fort Wayne, IN) 23 Mar. 1997: NewsBank - Archives. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Summary: De Camp talks about the difference demographic changes and how it is effecting the student market for Greek Life to pull from. The traditional "18-22 party goers" are becoming less prevalent on campus and Greek Life is readjusting.

Author: David De Camp

Key Terms: 
Diversity --> The state of being diverse; a range of different things.
Philanthropy--> etymologically means "love of humanity" in the sense of caring, nourishing, developing and enhancing "what it is to be human" on both the benefactors' (by identifying and exercising their values in giving and volunteering) and beneficiaries' (by benefiting) parts.

Quotes:
"Mere interest in joining chapters also is less than in past generations. National studies by UCLA show that in 1967, 30.8 percent of entering freshmen were interested in joining a chapter. By fall 1996, it was 16.3 percent".
"Experts say the reason for the lukewarm interest is traditional fraternity and sorority members - white, 22 or younger, and interested in partying - are harder to find. Various studies show college students are older and more ethnically diverse than they were 20 years ago".
"In 1976, 15.7 percent of American college students were minorities, according to the center. By 1993, 23.4 percent were minorities".

Value: This article shows the demographic changes occurring within colleges and Greek Life focusing more on philanthropy and community service to attract the increasing minorities on campus rather that traditional "Animal House" party goers. This clearly shows a difference in how Greek Life has changed in the past few decades and I can use this to show how old stereotypes of fraternities are now misplaced.

How Might Privatization Connect to Your Topic

Privatization is the process of educational institutions weening away from public funding. Privatization is seeing significant growth; a notable effect being increased tuition for students. My topic concerns the history of fraternity life, and the change in perception since the mid-19th century, when most fraternities were founded. Since privatization is an emerging trend, certain demographics of people are beginning to be excluded from fraternity life, solely because they cannot take on the financial burden of both school and a fraternity. A decreasing diversity of persons can alter the perception of fraternity life as a whole. If only those who are financially stable are able to partake fraternities, they are subject to indulging themselves to many more opportunities (that their wealth permits), and may end up misrepresenting fraternities as a whole. It may be a generalization that wealthy college kids make bad decisions, but it is true that poorer students are forced to make decisions based on their finances, because they aren't able to partake in every opportunity presented to them.

Scouting the Territory

After reviewing my topic I definitely want to stay with my general theme of the changes in perception of fraternities in a historical context. Additionally, it may prove worthwhile to look into the change in drinking age, which occurred relatively recently when compared to the original founding of most fraternities. After reading an article The Dark Power of Fraternities by Caitlin Flanagan, I have a clearer idea of how I want to structure my paper and certain areas that I wish to discuss or expand on. This includes highlighting the positives and original intent of founding and the differences between fraternities at different schools. After typing in fraternities on Google, most immediate results are those with negative opinions and defamation, as one would expect. But after some moderate searching on the Rutgers libraries website I found UNCHALLENGED, PROFESSED CORE VALUES: Do Undergraduate Fraternity/Sorority Members Actually Benefit in the Areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Friendship. This shows the different areas that create a positive and lasting impact that Greek Life creates and is seldom the types of attributes associated with them. There is clearly a controversy to my topic, because there are two clashing perceptions of Greek Life: 1. That Greek Life only has negative impacts and has no place in college life and 2. That Greek Life has a positive and lasting impact on individuals as well as society through active membership development, volunteering and philanthropy.

Final Project

A possible topic that I wish to pursue for my final project has to do with the culture of Greek Life with regards to Fraternities. Specifically how Frat life has changed over the years and I want to explore why the perception of Greek Life has become so negative over time. For example how Rolling Stone published their article but later retracted it due to unsubstantiated evidence or facts. People are so quick to assume and judge, even though the original missions of fraternity life, such as gentleman development, community outreach and philanthropy persist to this day.