I was in a fraternity in Michigan in the late 60s when Flint and Detroit exploded in race riots. Our frat house was in a “mixed” section of town several miles away from campus. I was a city kid from Cleveland but a lot of my frat brothers were from rural Ohio and Indiana.
Those guys all took off and a day later returned with the biggest arsenal of guns and ammo I’ve ever seen.
I go back and visit my Fraternity every year (been out for about 20 years now).
There is a disappointingly large number of leftists in the ranks. I don’t at all grasp how someone in such a traditional organization as a Fraternity could be a leftist since it is their ilk that wishes to put fraternities to pasture. The cognitive dissonance amazes me. Some of them even take conservative/libertarian positions in conversation, but always vote left.
There is a strong undercurrent of libertarianism, which I see as good. Better the youth starts as a libertarian and learns the value of tradition (thus becoming conservative), than they have to begin at the 1 yard line as a lefty.
No au contraire mon frere they are natural devil worshippers
I suspect D-Day is a FReeper.
The conservative ones can be distinguished by their willingness to wear Colour (ribbon worn across the chest, bearing the fraternity colorsa and a corresponding billed cap) - sometimes even on campus or during leisure time activities, like punting on the river. They also usually still have mandatory fencing duels (as many as six, including one to be completed during the pledge time) to prove one's mettle and convivial get-togethers held several times a semester to prove that one can hold one's beer.
The 500 euros (or more) in membership dues which one pays for the rest of one's life after completing one's studies also tend to keep the less-serious candidates out.
The conservative "Corps" and "Burschenschaften" in my university town wouldn't accept non-Germans, so I joined a more-liberal "Turnerschaft" - one that even accepted conscientious objectors! - but beneath the veneer of liberalism, there is still a core of earnestness, levelheadedness, and willingness to accept responsibility for one's actions you won't find in a typical liberal.
Regards,
LOL, this reminds me when I was an undergrad. I was in a fraternity myself and we definitely had a Libertarian mindset about a lot of things. Our house and one other house, we had the habit of driving a truck through loopholes. Then there was a different fraternity that was favored by the administration. Many of their people were in campus security but also once they graduated, a few of their people got into the ranks of the administration.
When I was going through my undergraduate career, we transitioned from one president to a different one. The new president was from the East Coast and was kind of uptight and snobby. He also really liked that fraternity favored and he disliked our house. He was also into the political correctness. He instituted a strict sexual harassment policy (was 1987) and even went so far as even jokes could get you in trouble. At the time, our house for one of the rush parties hired out strippers each year. One tme he told us we were not going to have strippers anymore and we disobeyed. We got put on such strict probation that if any member got into any kind of trouble whether on or off campus, the member would get hauled in and the officers of the house would be hauled in as well. Even a jay-walking ticket would garner the heavy handedness of the administration.
The president also ordered all of the houses to turn over a copy of the master key, something we refused to do. Whenever asked, we blow them off. That president was also very arrogant and would always talk down to the students.