Page 20 - 1908 November - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 15

THE FRATERNITY AND THE INDIVIDUAL

Several years ago, I heard the Dean of a college say, "Oh! you
speak of your particular fraternity as i f it was different from any
other, as i f you had a basis of selection of your members. I f you
could see it from the outside, you would see that all fraternities are
alike, and that you know nothing about the girls you take, at least,
nothing that really amounts to anything, and that they know nothing
of you."

This is the extreme view-point, but it brings to mind the ine-
vitable question—what is a fraternity or sorority?

According to the Century Dictionary, a "fraternity is defined,
1, the relationship of a brother; 2, the mutual interest and affection
that is characteristic of the fraternal relation; brotherly regard and
sympathy for others; regardless of relationship by blood; 3, the
derived meaning, a body of men associated by some natural tie, as
of common interest or character, "

The word "sorority" does not appear.
To a freshman the region of secret societies is an unexplored
country. By this I mean the average freshman, and not the girl who
has come from a school where the so-called high school "frater-
nities" flourish, nor the girl who has a sister who is a member of a
college Greek-letter society. To this new comer, there is no way of
distinguishing between the relative merits of various organizations
except through a personal fancy. There is no basis for a reasonable
choice, largely because no fraternity woman has come out fairly
in print as to what a fraternity is, either from a morbid fear of telling
something that she should not, or from the mistaken idea that any-
thing that tends to lessen the mystery surrounding these organizations
militates against their power. From a long experience as a fraternity
woman, who has seen class after class of girls in various colleges,
under many and diverse conditions, I say unhesitatingly, that in
justice both to the fraternity and to the individual, that some state-
ment ought to be made, as to what a fraternity is, what it should
bring to its members, and in turn, what its members should bring to it.

The definition given by the Century seems to contain the pith
of the matter. First, it should be "the relationship of a brother."
But I hear you say that there are brothers who bear toward each
other a feeling that is not to be emulated. Granted, and so there
may be fraternity members who do not have a fondness for each
other, but this is not typical; it is not the general condition, which
by its preponderance, has given the connotation to the terms "brother"
and "fraternity." I t is rather the feeling that has given rise to the