UGA (the University of Georgia) has a new frat on the block as reported by their school newspaper, The Red and Black:
“We were trying to find something that fits our needs — not the stereotypical frat…a place to be accepted,” said Vinay Matai, president of Sigma Beta Rho and a senior from Greenville, S.C.
“(The fraternity) focuses on social aspects and philanthropy,” he said. “We want to give back to the community.”
Matai founded the University chapter in May along with seven other students.
But I personally was wondering why you need a brown fraternity when there is potentially an Indian or South Asian Students Association on campus that might be able to do some of the same activities? My question was answered as I scrolled down:
Sigma Beta Rho has been compared to the Indian Culture Exchange, an organization that promotes and supports students of Indian decent, Bhima said.
But joining the fraternity is different from joining ICE, Matai said.
He said the fraternity consists only of men, and “you don’t get that brotherhood bond in ICE.”
Ummm. I guess they are right. I always thought brotherhood was overated when there were girls around, but kids these days are more conservative.
“Most people think frats are all about partying,” he said, “but we wanted to show there’s more to our frat than that.”
The fraternity will be holding recruitment events throughout the first two weeks of September, such as informal billiard games at the Tate Student Center’s pool hall Tuesday at 8 p.m.
There also will be a mixer on Sept. 8 with Delta Phi Lambda, a social Asian-interest sorority.
Yeaaa-yah. Now we’re talking.
UC Berkeley had the first desi fraternity, Delta Phi Beta, which is coed:
Here’s its official site.
abhi, i concur…if “culture” is what you want, join that never-ending drama-fest known as ISA, ICA, SASA, ICE, INDUS or whatever the hell it’s called today.
i don’t understand “brown” houses, though i never batted an eyelash at their african-american role-models. i always thought that historically black fraternities and sororities existed because of a segregated past that excluded them from the panhellenic system, that they were essentially a product of their times. i applaud the fact that they are still around, b/c i dig tradition; i love the idea of being a legacy, of joining your mother’s or even your grandmother’s sorority. fine, rock on, black houses.
south asian fraternities and sororities don’t feel the same to me, though. this isn’t 1906 and you don’t have to be white to be in a panhellenic org. i honestly feel like some of the impetus behind “a house of our own” is that dreaded “C”-word that gets lobbed our second-generation way: confusion.
many SA houses appropriate black fraternity culture, while some of them borrow from panhellenic traditions. they’re not exactly breaking new ground. why not just join the alphas, a traditionally black fraternity, like my friend ricky gill did in ’93? or rush chi omega, a “white” house that seemed rather diverse at my school?
i am in no way suggesting that the “real” (read: white) greek system is perfect, but as an alumna of Delta Gamma fraternity, i don’t ever remember discriminating against “ethnic” rushees. we never behaved in some dastardly manner behind closed doors, cackling as we planned how we would deny some darkie admission to our elite ranks– after all, if that was how shit operated, chocolatey-brown, very-ethnic-looking ME would’ve NEVER received a bid from what was then the top sorority on campus.
part of me wonders if these SA “founding brothers” thought about their options before starting SBR; did they feel uncomfortable about pledging a white fraternity? perhaps (judging from the “signs” their hands are making) they would’ve been more at home in a black fraternity. if that was the case, i wonder if they were just giant pudendas about it, b/c of the desi racism factor. “omg, what would people think? i rushed the kalu frat!” scoff if you wish, but plenty of desi kids at davis talked trash about my sikh friend who “went black”.
whenever my mom comes across stories like these, she sighs, shakes her head, and then looks at me soulfully before she says, “edi, at least your children won’t be so tortured by ‘not belonging’. at least THEY won’t be as confused as you, and your mixed-up friends.”
word to my mother.
“dignity, pride and brotherhood…we gots to get together like a family should…” ~Kiran Belur @ “Decade”, the Indus show of 1996. i think.
(that little memory is for you, manish.) 🙂 . . . since berkeley’s DPB is CO-ED, you don’t get that “brotherhood”, like you do w/SBR.
south asian fraternities and sororities don’t feel the same to me, though. this isn’t 1906 and you don’t have to be white to be in a panhellenic org. i honestly feel like some of the impetus behind “a house of our own” is that dreaded “C”-word that gets lobbed our second-generation way: confusion.
While it might be mean to point it out, I think some of the motivation is, unfortunately that a lot of these guys can’t get bids to real frats. So they settle for a race-normed, no-contest bid. Popularity is non-commutative: those who are popular with the larger community are going to be popular within the Indian community, but not vice versa.
What is a real frat? A house full of white kids? Yeah, you are probably right, most of these kids probably could not get bids to those houses. Not, as you say, because they are not popular, but because they are different than the average fraternity/sorority member.
I have to disagree with Anna, and it seems GC as well. Maybe things are different at Davis, but Greek life traditionally seems to be more about exclusivity than it is about being inclusive and diverse. The types of people who are usualy excluded are those that are not part of the homogenous group–and in the greek world, this normally means the people that are not white, who do not share the same background as the others, or have the same ethnic heritage.
It seems to me that if you are not like the rest of the brothers/sisters, it is going to be difficult to receive an actual bid. I am not saying this is typical of every singele fraternity/sorority, but I would hazard a guess to say it is more typical than not.
Race, religion, and other minority based frats are not really a unique phenomenon, and it isn’t as if South Asians are the only group to partake in the phenomenon. At GW, where Greek life was relatively small, there was a large Jewish Fraternity and a couple of Jewish Sororities, a Hispanic sorority, in addition, to the historic black frats/sororities.
I doubt all those people were not popular enough to make it into the “real frats.”
sajit: perhaps you don’t remember this, but i actually went to GW with you. 🙂 i’d like to add to your picture of GW’s greek system, since i credibly can, b/c things are actually far more “different” at our alma mater than you might think.
i helped DG with their rush at GW, and i was not surprised that there were potential pledges from many ethnicities who attended the parties. i even remember an indian female who was probably your age–you were an undergrad when i was a grad student–who was in the house at that time, too. are things “different” at davis?
define “different”. it was GW that had a much more diverse DG house than my alma mater, uc davis did. i don’t think this was achieved on purpose, as if there is some “affirmative action” program in place during rush…i think that every house just takes the best girls, but i’ll say more about this in a bit.
i used to think that i was “special” or different for being in a white sorority, just b/c i hadn’t met a lot of people who had done the same…it was being at GW and living on the east coast that opened my eyes to the fact that a LOT of indian people have done what i did. the greek system may just be more inclusive than most “non-greeks” assert.
i can definitely speak for delta gamma; i receive Anchora, our magazine, and i am never surprised at the collegiates who are profiled, who are of hispanic, middle eastern, south asian…etc etc origin. are they singled out b/c of tokenism? nope. what i will never forget about the DG house and my college days, is how it was the ONE place my ethnicity wasn’t remarked upon…i was considered a DG first, and everything else later.
the “exclusivity” charge is a potent one, but it is often misinterpreted to insinuate an insidious form of bigotry. frankly, most sororities are going to be interested in a polished, affluent young woman of ANY race vs merely a white one. believe it or not, exclusivity does NOT always equal racism.
green trumps brown/black/yellow, my fellow Colonial. that’s my experience, and i was in the trenches. if you want to level a charge at the greeks, say that they discriminate on the basis of economic factors– but this comment thread is about race, not money…right? 🙂
What is a real frat? A house full of white kids?
No, a house full of guys who competed with the population at large for bids, rather than a racially /ethnically restricted subpopulation.
Greek life traditionally seems to be more about exclusivity than it is about being inclusive and diverse.
Sure, but IMO this sort of thing is not so much exclusion based on race as it is exclusion based on charisma. If you’re in Sigma Chi, you can party with the Asian sororities as well as the Pi Phis. But if you’re in an Asian frat, you will only be able to hook up with the Asian sororities b/c the Pi Phis won’t give you the time of day.
Now, I know there are a lot of Indians who feel most comfortable among other Indians. Part of that is because there is that extra epsilon, that extra 1.0 on the degree of difficulty when you’re macking on non-Indians. But IMO it is unfortunate when people decide to socialize within the Indian community only. I think it’s sort of like playing on the 8′ rims rather than the 10′ rims…just like 8′ rims make you feel taller, restricted subcommunities makes it easier to hook up.
A friend of mine who shall not be named who has been known to be a sepia mutineer once remarked to another sepia mutineer upon walking into an all Indian party: “So this is what it’s like to be white, dude”. There is a lot of truth to that statement, but IMO it is a seductive drug if you go to only all Indian parties. It’s like some of the Koreans on campus who socialize only with Koreans…what starts off as letting you expend less mental Gibbs Free Energy catalyzing your social reactions ends up trapping you in an unfavorable local social equilibrium (to stretch a metaphor).
There is a great article about Desi Greeks and understanding more about them in Sapna magazine.
http://www.sapnamagazine.com/December/articles/culture/d-desigreeks.html
the way I see it, being a desi can be an awesome thing if you do it right. we know about so many cultures. but you gotta be careful of not being in evironments that will make you feel lesser. there’s no reason for us to feel like we’re wrong or worse because we’re desi, but unfortunately even among people who are friends, you can sort of feel that way.
Who wants to be watching their back for that kind of stuff? A group of friends should be about understanding and respect, and trust. To be laughing along and then hear some kind of record scratch opinion, reduces that level of comfort.
so anyway I guess its all good but I don’t begrude people for joining an all desi frat. I think its cool. But we should also be out in the wider society, which is multi-racial, not bipolar, bc that can be pretty fun.
just surfed through, read the posts.
We’re in the middle of re-vamping our website, but you should take a look anyways.
take care.
http://www.betachitheta.com
Hi, I believe you are incorrect, Manish Vij. While Delta Phi Beta is a co-ed social/service organization, it is not a fraternity in any sense. The first South Asian (Desi) fraternity to be founded was in upstate New York in 1994 and goes by the name Iota Nu Delta, commonly referred to as IND. As far as I can tell, they are still active and continuing their expansion process. Just making a correction.
Here is proof: http://www.iotanudelta.org
That’s not what they’d tell you: ‘Delta Phi Beta – The Nation’s First South Asian Fraternity’
Technically, they are not a true fraternity or brotherhood at all, but simply an organization bercause they have both males and female members. Maybe we can call them a frarority.
Actually, Singh- it’s only the secondary definition that makes gender a factor in “fraternity”
including women certainly makes it no less a fraternity. In fact, it might make it more of one 😉
Delta Phi Beta – nation’s first South Asian co-ed fraternity. This one sounds good. Agreed desidancer?
as i stated earlier, i was a DG, and as the information above indicates, WE were a fraternity. we certainly (save for one notable exception) weren’t co-ed. i think people are too attached to ubiquitous meanings for certain words, even if those meanings aren’t entirely accurate. hey, it’s human. 🙂
Well, I believe that Indians do need to have a fraternal organizations that look out for their interests as well. I always thought of Fraternities as composed of white or white washed kids who are paying to have friends and never thought much of them until I pledged Iota Nu Delta fraternity myself. I have realized that there is a lot more to fraternities than just parties and stuff. It is also about meeting new people and growing ever lasting brotherhood among browns of various backgrounds and upbringing. I pledged with 7 line brothers and went throught blood, sweat and tears to earn my letters and never been more happier for doing so in my life. A lot of people from my fraternity come from different attitudes from the really whitewashed rich kids to dirt poor ghetto kids but in the end we all meshed together to do something positive for our community. And the best part of it is that I got to know and create bonds of brotherhood with my brown brothers who I would have never met outside of my fraternity. When I first decided to do a fraternity, I wanted to do a Black Fraternity such as APHIA just because I thght they were hardcore and a lot of my friends did it but now that I think about it, I would have lamented it because their agendas are different from what I would have wanted in a fraternity. In the end it comes down whether you feel comfortable with both the people that you pledging for and the ideals for which they stand for. I am happy that I pledged a Indian Fraternity and happy that I get to work in community service events geared towards desis and the southeast Asian community such as Garbas, Tsunami Relief and South Asian Bone Marrow Drive. If I was to pledge a Caucasian Fraternity, not only would I have to stood out for certain things but I would have never had the option of working towards things that mattered to South East Asian in general.
DPB is merely in indian club that has greek letters. So yes they would be the first co-ed south asian greek org…”sorternity”…however, Iota Nu Delta, still remains as the first South Asian Brotherhood aka Fraternity. Issue resolved