Pledged

Pledged
Author: Alexandra Robbins
Publisher: Hachette Books
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2011-05-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1401304052

Alexandra Robbins wanted to find out if the stereotypes about sorority girls were actually true, so she spent a year with a group of girls in a typical sorority. The sordid behavior of sorority girls exceeded her worst expectations -- drugs, psychological abuse, extreme promiscuity, racism, violence, and rampant eating disorders are just a few of the problems. But even more surprising was the fact that these abuses were inflicted and endured by intelligent, successful, and attractive women. Why is the desire to belong to a sorority so powerful that women are willing to engage in this type of behavior -- especially when the women involved are supposed to be considered 'sisters'? What definition of sisterhood do many women embrace? Pledged combines a sharp-eyed narrative with extensive reporting and the fly-on-the-wall voyeurism of reality shows to provide the answer.

Inside Greek U.

Inside Greek U.
Author: Alan D. DeSantis
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2007-10-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0813172772

Popular culture portrays college Greek organizations as a training ground for malevolent young aristocrats. Films such as Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, Old School, and Legally Blonde reinforce this stereotype, but they fail to depict the enduring influence of these organizations on their members. Inside Greek U. provides an in-depth investigation of how fraternities and sororities bolster traditional, and potentially damaging, definitions of gender and sexuality. Using evidence gathered in hundreds of focus group sessions and personal interviews, as well as his years of experience as a faculty advisor to Greek organizations, Alan D. DeSantis offers unprecedented access to the world of fraternities and sororities. DeSantis, himself once a member of a fraternity, shows the profoundly limited gender roles available to Greeks: "real men" are taught to be unemotional, sexually promiscuous, and violent; "nice girls," to be nurturing, domestic, and pure. These rigid formulations often lead to destructive attitudes and behaviors, such as eating disorders, date rape, sexual misconduct, and homophobia. Inside Greek U. shows that the Greek experience does not end on graduation day, but that these narrow definitions of gender and sexuality impede students' intellectual and emotional development and limit their range of choices long after graduation. Ten percent of all college students join a Greek organization, and many of the nation's business and political leaders are former members. DeSantis acknowledges that thousands of students join Greek organizations each year in search of meaning, acceptance, friendship, and engagement, and he illuminates the pressures and challenges that contemporary college students face. Inside Greek U. demonstrates how deeply Greek organizations influence their members and suggests how, with reform the worst excesses of the system, fraternities and sororities could serve as a positive influence on individuals and campus life.

The American Fraternity

The American Fraternity
Author: Cynthia Robinson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Artists' books
ISBN: 9781942084556

"The American Fraternity is a photobook that provides an intimate and provocative look at Greek culture on college campuses by combining contemporary photographs with scanned pages from a wax-stained 60 year old ritual manual. This book will shed new light on the peculiarities of the fraternal orders which count seventy-five percent of modern U.S. presidents, senators, justices, and executives among their members. These mysterious campus organizations are filled with arcane oaths and ceremonies and this book attempts to capture within its pages some of this dark power"--Publisher's website, January 23, 2019.

Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind

Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind
Author: Edith Hall
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2014-06-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0393244121

"Wonderful…a thoughtful discussion of what made [the Greeks] so important, in their own time and in ours." —Natalie Haynes, Independent The ancient Greeks invented democracy, theater, rational science, and philosophy. They built the Parthenon and the Library of Alexandria. Yet this accomplished people never formed a single unified social or political identity. In Introducing the Ancient Greeks, acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall offers a bold synthesis of the full 2,000 years of Hellenic history to show how the ancient Greeks were the right people, at the right time, to take up the baton of human progress. Hall portrays a uniquely rebellious, inquisitive, individualistic people whose ideas and creations continue to enthrall thinkers centuries after the Greek world was conquered by Rome. These are the Greeks as you’ve never seen them before.

Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens

Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens
Author: Robin Waterfield
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 542
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198727887

A fascinating, accessible, and up-to-date history of the Ancient Greeks. Covering the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, and centred around the disunity of the Greeks, their underlying cultural unity, and their eventual political unification.

African American Fraternities and Sororities

African American Fraternities and Sororities
Author: Tamara L. Brown
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 744
Release: 2012-02-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813140730

The rich history and social significance of the “Divine Nine” African American Greek-letter organizations is explored in this comprehensive anthology. In the long tradition of African American benevolent and secret societies, intercollegiate African American fraternities and sororities have strong traditions of fostering brotherhood and sisterhood among their members, exerting considerable influence in the African American community and being in the forefront of civic action, community service, and philanthropy. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Toni Morrison, Arthur Ashe, and Sarah Vaughn are just a few of the trailblazing members of these organizations. African American Fraternities and Sororities places the history of these organizations in context, linking them to other movements and organizations that predated them and tying their history to the Civil Rights movement. It explores various cultural aspects of the organizations, such as auxiliary groups, branding, calls, and stepping, and highlights the unique role of African American sororities.

My Little Skinny Greek Life

My Little Skinny Greek Life
Author: Michael H. Skopes
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008
Genre: Greek Americans
ISBN: 9780595485314

"As seen through he eyes of a maturing first generation Greek boy, "My Little Skinny Greek Life" paints a multi-faceted picture of immigrants adapting to life in Middle America with both success and failure ..."--

True Gentlemen

True Gentlemen
Author: John Hechinger
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2017-09-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1610396839

An exclusive look inside the power and politics of college fraternities in America as they struggle to survive despite growing waves of criticism and outrage. College fraternity culture has never been more embattled. Once a mainstay of campus life, fraternities are now subject to withering criticism for reinforcing white male privilege and undermining the lasting social and economic value of a college education. No fraternity embodies this problem more than Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a national organization with more than 15,000 undergraduate brothers spread over 230 chapters nationwide. While SAE enrollment is still strong, it has been pilloried for what John Hechinger calls "the unholy trinity of fraternity life": racism, deadly drinking, and misogyny. Hazing rituals have killed ten undergraduates in its chapters since 2005, and, in 2015, a video of a racist chant breaking out among its Oklahoma University members went viral. That same year, SAE was singled out by a documentary on campus rape, The Hunting Ground. Yet despite these problems and others, SAE remains a large institution with strong ties to Wall Street and significant political reach. In True Gentlemen, Hechinger embarks on a deep investigation of SAE and fraternity culture generally, exposing the vast gulf between its founding ideals and the realities of its impact on colleges and the world at large. He shows how national fraternities are reacting to a slowly dawning new reality, and asks what the rest of us should do about it. Should we ban them outright, or will they only be driven underground? Can an institution this broken be saved? With rare access and skillful storytelling, Hechinger draws a fascinating and necessary portrait of an institution in deep need of reform, and makes a case for how it can happen.

Black Greek 101

Black Greek 101
Author: Walter M. Kimbrough
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2023-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1493081985

Black Greek 101 analyzes the customs, culture, and challenges facing historically Black fraternal organizations. The text provides a history of Black Greek organizations beyond the nine major organizations, examining the pledging practice, the growth of fraternalism outside of the mainstream organizations, the vivid culture and practices of the groups, and challenges for the future.