A Fraternity Experience

by Hoang “John” Do, Saad Riaz, and Eric Solorzano

Fraternity Stigmas: True or False?

We have all heard of a college party gone wild or a few too many rules broken from movies and TV shows. After all, college is about self-discovery and gaining independence so why wouldn’t the boundaries be pushed? In some films Greek life is the good guy, yet, in most it is the bad guy, consistently breaking the rules and getting people hurt. Students come to college with preconceptions about Greek life, many may be untrue, yet many are ones that get reinforced by fraternities and sororities on their respective campus.

Greek life has faced many issues, including hazing. Hazing often gets the reputation of being the most powerful bond-making activity an organization can offer. Some Greek alumni relive their hazing period as a funny story or happy memory, while many still carry lingering scars and trauma, speaking about it exclusively in hushed tones. However, young people now understand the negative consequences and trauma outweigh the possible gains of hazing. While the media still represents the fraternal thought of the last decade, Greek life is evolving into bands of brotherhood that uplift and encourage the youth of tomorrow.

Fraternities have a list of values they adhere to, secrets they hold dear, and a list of items every member proclaims to accept and embrace. While traditionally, fraternities stand out as organizations that recruit students according to these standards, there has been a massive cultural shift within colleges over the past few years. Now, fraternities do not choose people who already fit into these standards best, instead, fraternities recruit people who the feel can grow into a person who lives these values. These values are developed through education programs and over years of hard work and experience. Fraternities give members opportunities to grow and network, and they help members be their best self, and they help the understand how to operate ethically and cohesively in an ever divisive and individualistic world.

As a fraternal organization, we offer new college students the additional elements for success beyond college or even career, but a success that lasts throughout life. Fraternities and sororities are the pixie dust to the dull collage, they are the final touches to the educational growth, and the epilogue to the college graduation.

A Beta Experience

While Greek life has its fair share of stereotypes and commonalities across different fraternities, what defines Beta is hardly its rules and regulations, but its members. Beta Theta Pi is where people matter: members uplift the fraternity standards by continuously growing and understanding who they are, they create the fraternity culture, they evolve with time and learn from their past, and they learn to understand the love and respect it takes to call someone a ‘brother’. People are what make up the entirety of the Beta Theta Pi experience.

Members will learn the values we live by and the morals we adhere to, because Beta offers a united front to not only learning and growing, but also maintaining that growth throughout college and beyond. Fraternal culture talks about life during college, but Beta is a journey through life, one that only begins in college. When one chapter ends, another begins, and Beta can open a world of vision, opportunity, and vigor. Being a Beta brother is not a commitment but an understanding, it is not a stringent rule book but an amalgamation of ideas and agreements that use the core of ethical characters to build new and enlightening paths for brothers to follow.

We listen to our history, we learn, we grow. Beta Theta Pi began in 1839 but we have evolved into an organization that encourages self-love, understands the moral high ground, believes in its members, and that develops a perspective of surviving the world with the support and love of an extended family of brothers. Beta Theta Pi can be your vault of secrecy, your trusted companion, your energy, your book of ethics, or your family; it can be what you want it to be.

An Interview with Cody Golden

Cody Golden, UT Arlington '17

As the former Leadership Consultant to the North Eastern Region, Cody Golden is a Beta brother who has developed a special bond with the fraternity. He joined the Delta Rho chapter in 2015 as an undergraduate member, interned for the General Fraternity in 2017, and became a Beta staff member soon after. To Cody, his Beta experience was "awesome", and filled with "once in a lifetime opportunities”.

The concept of fraternities was familiar to Cody when he started college in 2011, through his family members’ involvement in Greek life. However, he did not decide to join a fraternity till a few years later. During the earlier years, he struggled to adapt to the college environment. “I did not care very much then. I was not very passionate about my major, my academic works showed, and I changed my major a few times. I was also not very active on campus.”, shared Cody. But it was also during this period that he met some brothers, through a score guessing event leading up to the Super Bowl. He got to know them, and they became friends. “They helped me find my passion to do something I really like. I finally switched to sociology.” But Cody did not join Greek life right away. He knew it would not be a good idea to join before he could get back on track. Eventually, in February 2015, Cody accepted a bid, and subsequently, was initiated in May 2015. Reflecting on his journey with Beta, Cody could not imagine how his college experience would have turned out without the brothers having reached out to him earlier to offer help. The reasons Cody joined Greek life, and Beta specifically, was that he felt he was a brother even before joining, that he was treated with respect and dignity.

Throughout his time as an undergraduate, Cody had the opportunity to attend the Wooden Institute, Keystone Conference, and General Convention, where he made some connections with the staff members of the General Fraternity. Ultimately, he had the chance to work as the Leadership and Education Intern during the Summer of 2017. Eventually, Cody became a staff member at the Administrative Office in Ohio, working in a culture that he loved. In his words, “Because Beta has given me so much, joining staff was an opportunity for me to continue to give back to the fraternity.” Being a part of the fraternity, especially as a staff

Being a part of the fraternity, especially as a staff member, Cody expressed his appreciation toward the awesome experiences he had. During the General Convention in Norfolk, VA, Cody was thrilled to serve as the on-site host for the late Senator Richard Lugar (Denison ‘54). Cody had the “once in a lifetime” chance to converse with and listen to the speeches delivered by the senator, and to help him with his convention schedule. Moreover, having the opportunity to travel for work, he has observed how the fraternity has grown tremendously over the past few years. “The amount of integrity (Beta has) is impressive. When an incident happens, Beta is more than determined to work toward a solution. And the fraternity is becoming more comfortable with hard topics. The Men of Principle Initiative is one example of how Beta wants to change fraternity culture for the better.”

During his time working for the fraternity, he was occasionally questioned about the darker sides of Greek life. To those, he replied “It’s a fact that hazing is not tolerated. It has been used as an easy way out to create a sense of brotherhood. However, it is not a healthy or effective way to create a sense of brotherhood and it is unfortunate that hazing still occurs within Greek Life. However, there are a lot of good people working against hazing, both at colleges and within Greek organizations. Similarly, there are still incidents of sexual assault that occur on college campuses, and unfortunately Greek Life is not immune to it. Universities provide resources for victims that need to be more widely communicated. Greek chapters need to make sure that their members know what resources are available on campus. I think Beta has done well in terms of informing chapters of resources that they can use when faced with these incidents. When talking about diversity and inclusion, Beta continues to have conversations about it at conventions, and the new commission on diversity, inclusion, and racial equity shows that the fraternity is moving in the right direction.”

Before concluding the interview, Cody has some pieces of advice to give: “For those who are in Greek life, continue to hold each other accountable, and make Greek life better for future generations. Talk to the Greek professionals and leaders on campus, sit down with them and learn about things that go on behind the scene. For those who are considering joining Greek life, I can say that Greek life is something worth exploring. If you feel uncomfortable, then do not feel urged to join. However, if you have found a group that makes you want to be a better person, where you can improve yourself, then by all means, pursue it.”