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.
Bob shares with students, parents and educators his insights gained from a lifetime involved in Greek life serving four college campuses, leadership in the professional Fraternity/Sorority Advisors associations and volunteer leadership in his fraternity. The book opens up resources and tools that can help students make an informed decision regarding “Going Greek”. Among the insights revealed include: • The historical timeline of the founding of fraternities and sororities. • A time management tool to help entering students understand their time demands as college students. • Specific life skills Greek life offers. • Tips for parents with students joining Greek life. This is what some educators are saying about the value of this book. …. In my 32 years as a campus advisor, I wish this resource had been around specifically to provide to parents and students. — Scott Reikofski, Director of Student Affairs, University of Arizona College of MedicinePhoenix
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • FINALIST FOR THE 2023 JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE • From the author of the award-winning debut story collection We Show What We Have Learned, an "atoundingly original” (The New York Times Book Review) work of historical fiction with shocking and eerie connections to our own time. At their newly founded school, Samuel Hood and his daughter, Caroline, promise a groundbreaking education for young women. But Caroline has grave misgivings. After all, her own unconventional education has left her unmarriageable and isolated, unsuited to the narrow roles afforded women in nineteenth-century New England. When a mysterious flock of red birds descends on the town, Caroline alone seems to find them unsettling. But it’s not long before the assembled students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms: rashes, seizures, headaches, verbal tics, night wanderings. One by one, they sicken. Fearing ruin for the school, Samuel overrules Caroline’s pleas to inform the girls’ parents and turns instead to a noted physician, a man whose sinister ministrations—based on a shocking historic treatment—horrify Caroline. As the men around her continue to dictate, disastrously, all terms of the girls’ experience, Caroline’s own body begins to betray her. To save herself and her young charges, she will have to defy every rule that has governed her life, her mind, her body, and her world.
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.
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.
* A Real Simple Best Book of 2019: "An essential read for parents and students." * The New York Times bestselling author of Pledged is back with an unprecedented fly-on-the-wall look inside fraternity houses from current brothers’ perspectives—and a fresh, riveting must-read about what it’s like to be a college guy today. Two real-life stories. One stunning twist. Meet Jake, a studious freshman weighing how far to go to find a brotherhood that will introduce him to lifelong friends and help conquer his social awkwardness; and Oliver, a hardworking chapter president trying to keep his misunderstood fraternity out of trouble despite multiple run-ins with the police. Their year-in-the-life stories help explain why students are joining fraternities in record numbers despite scandalous headlines. To find out what it’s like to be a fraternity brother in the twenty-first century, Robbins contacted hundreds of brothers whose chapters don’t make headlines—and who suggested that many fraternities can be healthy safe spaces for men. Fraternity is more than just a page-turning, character-driven read. It’s a vital book about the transition from boyhood to manhood; it brilliantly weaves psychology, current events, neuroscience, and interviews to explore the state of masculinity today, and what that means for students and their parents. It’s a different kind of story about college boys, a story in which they candidly discuss sex, friendship, social media, drinking, peer pressure, gender roles, and even porn. And it’s a book about boys at a vulnerable age, living on their own for perhaps the first time. Boys who, in a climate that can stigmatize them merely for being male, don’t necessarily want to navigate the complicated, coming-of-age journey to manhood alone.
If you lead a student organization and you're frustrated that you and a few others do all the work, you need to motivate a specific set of overlooked members. It's the concept that will set student leaders free. Stop focusing on those who check out or cause problems, and start focusing on those "middle third members" who hate drama, care for your organization, and prefer to play a supporting role. Directing your efforts toward the middle -- and understanding what they can contribute -- may solve your most pressing leadership challenges. Motivating the Middle offers a simple, empowering strategy for student government officers, team captains, chapter presidents, club leaders, residence life staff, and other college students looking to make a difference on today's campuses. About the Author T.J. Sullivan is the cofounder and CEO of CAMPUSPEAK. Since 1992, T.J. Sullivan has spoken professionally to millions of college students, empowering them to take nontraditional approaches to advanc-ing their organizations. Visit his blog at www.tjsullivan.com.
College life can be complicated—challenging, rewarding, downright frustrating—and a lot of fun. Warren University freshman Cassandra “Cassie” Davis is more than up for all of it. Which leaves Cassie facing the dreaded F-word… Fraternity—specifically Delta Tau Chi, a frat house on the verge of being banned from the school. Accused of offensive, sexist behavior, they have one year to clean up their act. With one shot at a scholarship to the school of her dreams, Cassie pitches an unusual research project—to pledge Delta Tau Chi, take on the boys’ club and provide proof of their misogynistic behavior. It’s different, but it’s not against the rules, and she’s pretty sure she knows exactly what to expect once she gets there. Which means the DTC brothers will have to face the dreaded F-word… Feminist—the type of girl who thinks they’re nothing but tank-top-wearing “bros” and is determined to see them booted from the school. But Cassie soon realizes things aren’t as simple as they appeared. Some of the DTC brothers, including her fellow pledge, Jordan Louis, are much more than she ever expected to find in a frat house. With her academic future on the line, and her heart all tangled in a web of her own making, Cassie will ultimately have to define for herself what the F-word is all about. “Refreshingly honest and intelligently written.” —New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller Julie Cross “[This] sweet, subversive deconstruction of frats and feminism…will have readers sighing and snorting at Cassie’s adventure into fraternity life and finding her own truth.” —Christa Desir, award-winning author of Bleed Like Me and Other Broken Things
An account of a Dartmouth student's experiences pledging Sigma Alpha Epsilon and how his promising college life soon became a dangerous cycle of binge drinking and public humiliation.
Learning Greek is one thing. Retaining it and using it in preaching, teaching, and ministry is another. In this volume, two master teachers with nearly forty years of combined teaching experience inspire readers to learn, retain, and use Greek for ministry, setting them on a lifelong journey of reading and loving the Greek New Testament. Designed to accompany a beginning or intermediate Greek grammar, this book offers practical guidance, inspiration, and motivation; presents methods not usually covered in other textbooks; and surveys helpful resources for recovering Greek after a long period of disuse. It also includes devotional thoughts from the Greek New Testament. The book will benefit anyone who is taking (or has taken) a year of New Testament Greek.
