Why Fraternity?
Your first year at the university, either as
a freshman or transfer, you are surrounded by a sea of new faces, names and challenges
that may make you feel a little lost, especially without the many friends you had enjoyed
all throughout your high school years. One of the many observations you will make in your
first few college days is the spirit of belonging most fraternity men already seem to take
for granted. As the saying goes, they have places to go, things to do, and friends who
care. Like most fraternities, Sigma Alpha Epsilon has many strong ties ,with the past and
has grown through the years because of the enduring strength of our traditions;
leadership, scholarship and friendship. We think these principles are just as important in
helping us serve your needs today as they were when SAE was founded.
LEADERSHIP
Fraternal living is an education in itself. Each chapter has a responsibility of services
to its members, the college and the community. It is well known that fraternity members
enjoy a much higher level of involvement in campus and community life than non-fraternity
members. For this reason there are more than enough challenges to keep every member active
in the daily operations of the chapter. Whether it is organizing a winning intramural
team, balancing the chapter books, or helping a brother with his homework, all the jobs
are important to the chapter. In addition they help you develop leadership skills through
experiences. Sigma Alpha Epsilon promotes pledge education programs designed to help new
members develop their own leadership potential and adopt effective scholarship habits.
Helping each man discover and cultivate his particular talents develops strong individuals
-- not the misconceived "every fraternity an alike" stereotype. Sigma Alpha
Epsilon realizes the importance of leadership development and annually hosts a nationwide
leadership school and conclaves are held throughout the country to provide even more
brothers with leadership experience.
SCHOLARSHIP
A study conducted by the Department of Health and Welfare has shown that "Fraternity
membership has been clearly associated with persistence to graduation." Numerous
other studies have shown that a greater percentage of Greek men receive degrees than their
independent counterparts. SAE has progressively initiated programs to aid the
undergraduate in the field of scholarship. Hundreds of brothers are currently
participating in our student loan program which provides $3,000.00 loans at 6% interest,
with the first principle payment due one full year after graduation. Our foundation also
sponsors the Tutor-in-Residence Program, employing graduate students annually to serve as
educational advisers in our chapters.
FRIENDSHIP
Still questioning the value of a Fraternity? To many outsiders, fraternity membership is
viewed as just a short four-year experience before embarking on a professional career. The
fact that SAE has over 170 Alumni Associations throughout the nation greatly deflates this
assumption. To these brothers in over 180 cities, the bond of fraternal friendship begun
as an undergraduate remains unbroken throughout the years. To those of you yet to
experience this deep and lasting friendship, that we more often refer to as brotherhood,
it undoubtedly remains intangible. Perhaps it is unforgettable social events, or the
thrill of competing on a championship intramural team, or the mutual reward that follows
the agony of brothers "pulling late nighters" for finals, it can't be stated in
specifics. But we know one thing, over 216,000 young men have tried SAE and loved it. We
think you will too.
WHY
FRATERNITY?
Each fall season for decades, on campuses all over the country, thousands of young men,
most of them fresh out of high school. have joined college fraternities. The vast majority
of these new pledge members, happy with their choice of fraternity, they have enjoyed
their weeks or months of pledgeship and have been initiated into full active membership as
a matter of course. Few of them have ever paused even for a moment to examine the reason,
real or imagined. for adopting a badge of a particular Greek letter organization. much
less to ask themselves why they pledged a fraternity at all.
The generation of the nineties is different. Many young men of this age are still joining
fraternities.. but they are more thoughtful, more deliberate.. more inclined to reject the
cliches once readily accepted as validators of fraternity membership. They are less guided
by the herd instinct, less enamored of the prospect of four undergraduate years of
fratemal hell-raising, and more anxious to "do their own thing." They disdain
the image of the beer guzzling, raccoon coated, utterly irresponsible "frat man"
of an earlier day as a pathetic caricature. which it is. They sense. nevertheless. that
the fraternity experience may be worthwhile. At least they hope so, yet they are not at
all sure. For many of them, joining a fraternity represents an act of faith.
"Why did I pledge a fraternity, anyway? Why should I join any college
fraternity" is a question heard more often nowadays on every campus. It is a
legitimate question. and it deserves a thoughtful. honest answer. Let us first define our
terms. A college fraternity chapter is an organized group of undergraduate men bound
together by ties of close friendship. Customarily the chapter is part of a larger
national. international or regional organization- which includes in its membership other
undergraduates, and a body of alumni.
A college fraternity exists on the premise that man is by nature a social being and wants
to associate with his fellow man. He cannot associate equally with all of them, or even
many of them, but he may enjoy a close relationship with some of them. And fraternity
provides a structure, an environment in which intimate friendships can flourish. It is by
no means the only kind of organization in which a student may find friends. Indeed, the
typical student requires no organization at all to make friends, nor does anyone in a
fraternity confine his friendships exclusively to fellow members of the group. But a
fraternity does foster brotherhood in an extremely effective way, its members drawn to
ether by shared goals and common experiences. It is also. more likely than not, that a
young man will find in a fraternity friends whose interests and background are different
from his own. Learning to live in close relationships with members of a large group is a
thoroughly valuable experience. Social action anywhere requires organization and on-campus
fraternities are among the most effective promoters of group activity because they are
organized.
Not everyone. to be sure. finds fraternity membership desirable. But fraternities should
remain for any student. a real option on the campus, an involvement and "life
style" worth serious consideration.
Fraternities are a peculiarly American institution. While comparable student organizations
exist abroad. the college fraternity in the United States and Canada has grown up as a
response to real needs among students in American institutions of higher education.
Students created them, and they will survive so long as they serve the needs of
undergraduates. A college fraternity not unlike any other worthwhile human institution-
encourages its members to make a commitment to something outside themselves. to something
larger than themselves. In fraternity the commitment is directed in part to the program of
the organization. to the things the group does as a group, but mostly it is a commitment
to people. To friends.
As students make their commitment to others, fraternity provides a structure within which
this commitment can be acted out. Their dedication may be formalized in rituals of
pledging and initiation ' as well as a renewal of these vows in formal meetings from week
to week. Nowadays there is a tendency to eschew ritual as an outdated carry-over of
"nineteenth-century hocus pocos." But this writer has made the observation
directly on today's campuses, large and small. that ritual, well done and seriously
approached, makes a profound impact upon those who participate in it. Ritual is but one
way of expressing a fraternity's ideals and aspirations. Closely associated with it is
symbolism. We all live much by symbols. They persist as graphic, comprehensible reminders
of a man's commitments in life. A fraternity's name, badge, coat-of-arms, songs,
publications, and choicest traditions, whether local or national, are symbolic and can
have much importance if a member is willing to permit his life to be touched by them.
Fraternities make possible a unique experience in corporate living. The fraternity member
knows that there are many things that only individuals can do, things for which no
organization of people is necessary or even desirable. He knows too, however, that there
are many worthwhile enterprises - on and off the college campus - which can be
accomplished only, or best, by groups of people working together. Such cooperative effort
is a hallmark of fraternity living. To be sure, fraternities are not the only campus
organizations where one can find effective group action, but they are often the most
natural ones, and are, in many ways, supremely well adapted to the life of the campus.
And, most importantly. fraternities stand almost alone as groups organized by students and
still exclusively run by students.
Because fraternities foster group involvement and emphasize group loyalty, they are
commonly accused of imposing conformity on their members. Fraternity men, say critics of
the system, are trapped in a lock-step of conformity in dress, attitude, and behavior.
Sometimes this is true, but it is also true that nearly all students tend toward
conformist appearance and behavior. In the 1950's nearly all college men wore crew cuts
and dressed according to prevailing fashion; today hairstyles are very individual but they
still dress according to prevailing fashion. This is said neither to praise nor condemn-
it is merely an observation. The point is that no one need be a conformist unless he wants
to be, whether he is a fraternity man or an independent student. Peer group pressure is
powerful on the campus, and intensely so in fraternities, but the notion that fraternities
force their members into a mold of conformity is largely a myth.
In fact, a fraternity provides striking opportunities for self-development. Upon
examination, members of the same fraternity prove to be remarkablv diverse in tastes and
talents. in thought and behavior. if for no other reason than that it is advantageous to
the fraternity as a whole that members are encouraged to exercise their talents, make
their personal unique contributions, to "do their own thing." Each of them can
find ways to implement the potential within the chapter and to develop his own potential
as a member of the group. Members are afforded an opportunity to give of themselves in
their own way. This is the road to self-realization. Because the fraternity is a
structured organization. opportunities for leadership are many. A fraternity can provide
its members a means of finding a humanizing experience in the midst of the crowds and
masses of modem day institutions of higher learning. In fraternity they find rich personal
involvement in an increasingly depersonalized world.
Fraternity teaches. From fraternity the members can learn much that supplements the
instruction he receives in the classroom. And what is learned is by no, means frivolous.
For, in addition to encouraging good scholarship, a fraternity helps the member to
understand more about human relations and about himself The lessons learned in this
laboratory of social education can serve a man for a lifetime. But after all has been said
and done, friendship and brotherhood in the context of a meaningful, manageable group
relationships are what a fraternity is all about. It should come as no surprise to anyone
that fraternity's remarkable capacity to foster the making and keeping of friends is the
chief reason for its existence and the best assurance for its survival.
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