When you search "frat" on Google, the sentence used as an example of the definition of the word is "frat party." Adding -"ernity" to will provide much different answer, "the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity."
Clearly, two sentences not alike at all.
In the wake of the Dec. 4th arrests that occurred at the Delta Kappa Tau fraternity at SUNY Geneseo, it's important to consider the difference between the slang term "frat," and the legitimate term "fraternity."
What is the difference?
In the past, but especially recently because of a number of arrests due to rape, assault, and other heinous crimes, there has become a stigma with the word frat, "frat boy," "frat party," and Very "frat life," just to name a few.
What we've seen generally in the last 60 years is about a 50 percent decrease in the use of the word "fraternity," and a three-fold increase of the word "frat." Seriously, look it up.
Clearly, this has not much to do with the stigma of the slang term, but it goes to show how the use of the word is changing. "Frat" has become less of a term of endearment, and more of a harsh call that generalizes anyone who is a member of one. Not to seriously imply anything, but the increase of the word almost directly correlates to a jump in arrests made recently due to the aforementioned crimes.
Not all fraternities are alike. Some are filled with reserved, down to earth people who genuinely want to form special friendships. Others are filled with louder, less accepting people, who have no problem pushing a student to drink past his limits. I believe that it is the latter that has caused the word "frat" to be misused and misunderstood. Often times, it is these fraternities that are the ones mentioned on the news when a hate crime occurs.
In light of recent events, it is interesting that the Delta Kappa Tau fraternity at SUNY Geneseo does have a reputation for being one of the more intense brotherhoods on campus. It seems that their reputation may have held true in this case.
All in all, fraternities are the people in them. The main reason that people tend to enter Greek life is so that they may more easily form bonds with people older and younger than them, and often from completely different walks of life. I know in my four years at Geneseo I will likely join a fraternity. I would never attempt to join one that has a history of being raunchy, mainly because being a part of a suspended fraternity is just as good as being in no fraternity at all. Two fraternities at SUNY Geneseo, Delta Kappa Tau and Sigma Mu, are currently suspended, and I'm not sure many people know what the future has for them.
It's time to erase the stigma of the term "frat". Excuse me for sounding overdramatic at all, but fraternities are something special and need to be approached with dignity. There's a reason it is considered a brotherhood.
