The “Voldemort” of College
So here’s a post that I’ve been thinking about writing for some time now. I know that there will be people that will strongly disagree with me, but I feel that it’s something that should be said.
Remember in the first Harry Potter book when people refused to say Voldemort’s name, and kept referring to him as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”? People were refusing to call him Voldemort simply because they were worried about him becoming more powerful. When Voldemort began to rise up towards the end of the series, it wasn’t because people were saying his name, it was because nobody was asserting a full on force against him. They let him become powerful again.
Here’s my point: I use the term “frat”. I am a member of the Delta Chi chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity at Elmhurst College. I am proud to be in a brotherhood with 40 other men. So why can’t I use the term “frat”? I’ve heard it countless times, that “frat boys” give the image of “fraternities” a bad reputation. Well then why are we shying away from the word?
Isn’t it our duty as “fraternity men” to keep negative images of fraternities away, rather than ignore them? Should we be changing the “frat boy” reputation, rather than leaving it alone? People make a big deal about how all frat boys do is party and drink. I party. I drink. I would make a bet that the majority of college students do drink and party. But since the “frat boy” image is a supposedly a drinker, does that mean that you can’t drink if you’re in a fraternity? Not at all.
How can this be changed? Stop shying away from the word or getting offended when somebody uses “frat”. Tell people about the brotherhood, about how you do community service and raise money for charities. Tell them about how the fraternity gives you connections later in life.
You can call it a fraternity, a frat, a brotherhood, a boys club, you can call it whatever. We know who we are, and we know what we stand for. We need to start showing people the upsides of frats, and stop letting the people that give us the bad reputation continue to give us a bad rep.
