Page 8 - To Dragma March 1932

12 To DRAGMA
Undoubtedly fraternity rituals have had their effect upon person-
alities. Sophistication at the college age is more often skin deep than
fundamental. Enthusiasms though concealed are still effective. Aspiration
and hero worship are as necessary as ever. Alumnae officers, combining as
they do the status of the comparative stranger and the family intimate
hold a position of strategic importance. The relationship is unique in its
psychological effect. Conversely, the elders themselves must make an
effort to live up to the qualities ascribed to them by the imaginations of
the younger generation. I t is a mutually helpful situation.
The fraternities have not neglected the outlet for the emotional effect
of the rituals and inspirational talks. They all have altruistic programs,
local or national or both. Nor have they ignored the element of service to
their colleges and universities. In disciplinary matters the weight of na-
tional authority is added to that of the college. Their compact groups
afford the possibility of quick action when college administrators desire
to foster a new project. Their alumna? are more easily reached and inter-
ested than those who are unorganized.
The other side of the picture is not so agreeable, but we must concen-
trate on it if we would turn our dissatisfaction into gratification. We can-
not be completely happy about the companionship afforded by the col-
lege chapter if it is achieved at the expense of unhappiness on the part of
those who have seen others to whom they have tentatively reached out for
friendship absorbed in being rushed and pledged to a group which has
made no overtures to them, though they too have a craving for the in-
formal intimacy of the fraternity group. We are told that psychological
investigation has shown that the majority of problem cases, failures in
adjustment to college life, are due to the sense of inferiority induced by
not receiving fraternity invitations. This is a serious accusation. To be
sure, another cause for serious unhappiness, a lack of dates, also exists.
There is room for suspicion that a girl suffering from this failure to meet
competition may be loath to admit it and may make the fraternity the
scapegoat. With this discount for possible error, the honest course is to
accept the indictment as at least partially justified. I t is said in defence tent authority that the modern dormitory costs more per person than
that such experiences are inevitable in life and one must learn to meet
them. True, but life in a college community is close knit and the new
environment emotionally exciting. The philosophical attitude is not de-
veloped at once. Moreover if such discipline is good, why reserve it for
non-members? Fraternities, too, have their disciplinary value. The differ-
ence is that in the latter case the training is accepted voluntarily. The
girl who is not pledged must submit helplessly. For a student to make
known her wish to join a certain fraternity is to ruin her chances.
Allied with this unfortunate phase of the fraternity system is the
alleged snobbishness of members. This, too, is exaggerated, but it un-
deniably exists, especially in some places. At one university a national
visitor was told that certain groups forbade their members to be intimate
with non-fraternity members. Elsewhere deans assert that while groups
are too courteous to be disagreeably snobbish they are too absorbed in
their affairs to give much time to matters of general interest. I n certain
MARCH, 1932 13
sections, overemphasis on fraternity membership is carried beyond college
days and affects the social listing of people and events. Girls go to college
with the definite object of making a fraternity and when this end is
accomplished and their future social position strengthened, they drop
out.
Political logrolling grows directly out of an exaggerated sense of fra-
ternity importance. National policy is not wholly blameless in demand-
ing prominent campus positions of their members. This stimulation has
arisen from a legitimate desire to encourage achievement for the sake
of its educational value. When it results in combines against independ-
ent students with better qualifications for office it becomes vicious. For-
tunately this extreme condition is not universal. That it exists in vary-
ing degrees we all know.
Interfraternity relations are none too satisfactory. While the or-
ganizations maintain a more or less solid front toward those outside, con-
sistent harmony among themselves has not been achieved. Ask Panhel-
lenic officers what their particular problem is, and the majority will
answer "Dirty rushing." Cutthroat competition in spite of earnest ef-
forts to minimize its evils still awaits a solution, as witness the con-
stant change in rushing rules in the hope of finding the perfect system.
There is none. Only a fundamental change of heart will avail.
A favorite outside criticism is that fraternities foster extravagance.
This subject admits of no generalizations and justifies no definite con-
clusions. Too few facts have yet been collated and there are too many
pros and cons. Sometimes the more pretentious houses are run so effi-
ciently that they require less expenditure per capita than the smaller,
and little more than college dormitories. I t has been asserted on compe-
the modern fraternity house. Against this statement, however, is the
fact that the capital cost of the dormitory is defrayed by an individual
donor, the taxpayers of the large group of college alumnae. Usually the
fraternity house is financed by its members alone. While this is a con-
tribution to the college it adds expense to membership. So does the build-
ing of a lodge or the renting of rooms or an apartment where houses
do not exist. Dues for national expense, rushing, dances and other social
events swell the sum total. Though expense is variable and often sur-
prisingly low, it cannot be disregarded. The weak student is sometimes
tempted to make financial engagements that she cannot fulfill. Another
popular deduction is that palatial houses create false values and cause
dissatisfaction with modest homes. I t may be true at times. On the other
hand a taste for comfort and beauty once acquired sets a higher standard
o f living. The sensible girl realizing what careful budgeting has done on
a large scale in her chapter house will have a solid basis on which to
establish her home. In these days she can create an atmosphere of good
taste in even a small apartment or bungalow.
Legislators have fulminated against the fraternities, magazines have
Published critical articles, newspapers have seized with avidity upon
disgraceful episodes. I t is unlikely that fraternities will fail from any