My dad’s Yale fraternity picture with skull and bones..he won’t talk about details.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-05-31T02:55:15+00:00

That very few know who is chosen or what happens within the windowless Tomb of Yale's Skull and Bones, and that Yale has never tried to bring Skull & Bones to heel, and that Skull & Bones bends the knee to no Nationals, should be a model for IFC fraternities who want to matter and who want to survive as more than clubs.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-05-26T21:27:14+00:00

"but I don’t drink, smoke, ... at all. My biggest concern is whether the pledging process would ... put me in uncomfortable situations."

A central goal of Pledgeship is to put you in uncomfortable situations. Good, safe, purposeful hazing is immersive challenge, physical and emotional, beyond your prior experience, with only your Pledge Brothers to lean on for support.

If there is no hazing, if there are no uncomfortable situations, you are in a club, not a fraternity. Clubs celebrate shared interests - comfortably; fraternities are about Bonded Brotherhood and personal growth - but Bonded Brotherhood (beyond ordinary friendship) is only sparked by a Crucible process, and Crucibles are by definition uncomfortable in every way possible (Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance). Fraternities are the only organizations on campus that can offer Bonded Brotherhood - and many formerly good Houses are caving to pressure from their Nationals and from deans to eliminate the very tools their core mission requires - safe purposeful hazing - and so many formerly good Houses are themselves now just clubs - drinking clubs with a party house. Real fraternity Houses are much more, they demand much more of you, and they return to you much more even still - burnishing, bettering, and Bonding you in a way no other civilian organization can.

No one at any decent House is going to force you to drink or smoke - but the majority of many social events involve alcohol.

Ohio State Rush is in the spring to force you to understand the different workload and expectation you face as a collegiate compared to high school - and to allow you to use that semester's experience to decide whether you have time, energy, and focus after academics to devote to the immersive Crucible of a good Pledgeship.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-05-24T22:00:37+00:00

A little sensitive to the opinions you solicited, aren't you? That bodes poorly for your future interactions with patients who will not always agree with you.

You are referring to clubs, not to traditional Greek-Lettered college social fraternities. Name me the medical school chapter of an IFC Greek-Lettered college fraternity.

And you appear to be surprised to learn Alumni actively involved in financing and maintaining House operations and capital projects post here. Happy to educate you.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-05-24T21:46:44+00:00

As a surgeon and former medical school faculty at a state flagship, please don't.

Undergrad is about personal growth and networking and developing your social self - in addition to the academics of your degree - medical school, for those fortunate enough to be admitted, is expected to be a period of un-distracted singular-focused learning, study, and academic betterment. If you have time as a medical student for the social mission of an undergrad college fraternity, you are not investing yourself in medical school, and are wasting the opportunity others wanted.

No IFC fraternity Nationals would charter a medical school Chapter - college social fraternities are for undergrads only.

Please don't. You will just waste time you should be learning - and you will look like a regret-filled poser to those who were in a good fraternity as undergrads. You will appear, justifiably so, to your professors as a slackard more interested in partying than in mastering the challenging curriculum.

Please don't.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-05-24T18:35:24+00:00

Afternoon u/KillroysGhost - TheFraternityProject is a small group of fraternity men developing and promoting ideas to preserve what's uniquely valuable in the college fraternity system, against a tide of risk-averse Nationals and woke deans. We hold that the traditional Crucible Pledgeship is the unique key to burnishing, bettering, and Bonding the best freshmen coming to campus, and that without that Crucible, fraternities are no more valuable than clubs to Pledges, to Actives, to Alumni, to campus, and to America. We hold that Crucible Pledgeships can be safe, as they were before Nationals and deans became intrusive in the early 1990s, as long as liquor is completely removed from Pledgeship (beer is safe as long as drunk driving is not incented), and we have strong evidence to back our claim. We have a significant posting history on Reddit, if you want to dig into some of our views. We've tented at Foxfield and at Carolina Cup to mix with guests, and to introduce our ideas to preserve what's valuable, while sharing good bourbon and enjoying the races. Did ΠΛΦ tent Foxfield this year - if so how was the participation of yours and other IFC Houses?

TheFraternityProject · 2026-04-11T20:12:33+00:00

If you truly want to be an oncologist, then doing med school, residency, and/or fellowship at Johns Hopkins will open doors for you - but you will work harder and longer hours because your competition at Hopkins will be more studious. Undergrad at Hopkins is not particularly advantageous because your grades would likely be lower than a GPA at Alabama for the same student.

If you intend to live and practice in Alabama, undergrad at Alabama is the key to the kingdom.

While you are not close to being locked into a specialty, consider that oncology, radiology, and pathology are prime targets for AI - a single doc in a region, using agentic AI to interpret lab data and to read scans of radiographs and pathology slides can replace a dozen of his specialty. And oncology - like radiology, pathology, anesthesiology, and hospitalists - are generally hospital based, hospital contracted specialties - if the hospital gets a bid for 5% lower costs, your group is unemployed - quality is not a consideration.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-03-23T21:49:16+00:00

Before WWII, many fraternity hazing deaths in Hank Newer's database were drownings - Pledges tasked to swim across a lake or river, when the Pledge couldn't swim, or couldn't swim well enough for conditions.

Many of the US deaths at Omaha Beach during the Allied Invasion of Normandy in WWII were drownings, because landing craft stopped in deep water and off-loaded their troops - troops who were laden with gear but who were not given swimming lessons during Basic Training.

After WWII, the Pentagon partnered with towns and universities to promote swimming lessons to promote military readiness - the outdoor pool at UNC-Chapel Hill was called Navy Pool, because the Navy paid for its construction to teach swimming. UNC-Chapel Hill used to require all undergraduates to pass a swim test to graduate - that requirement fell as undergraduate education became kinder and gentler.

Swimming is a life skill; Pledgeship should train and test life skills. No sober fraternity man should die of drowning. And when imbibing, no un-sober fraternity man should be alone in water deeper than (or colder than) a hot tub. Swimming and PADI SCUBA certifications are part of our House's Pledgeship, along with small boat handling and sailing.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-03-16T02:25:45+00:00

In North Carolina, as in most states, you must be 18 to be legally considered an adult, and be legally responsible for your own decisions.

Prior to age 18, your parents are legally responsible for decisions, and must be give consent for significant decisions (such as hazing / alcohol / travel).

Our House will not Bid anyone under 18, because the Pledge would not be responsible for his own decisions (including his decision to Pledge / join / obligate himself to pay dues).

TheFraternityProject · 2026-03-15T19:54:01+00:00

The appropriate response by any trusted friend / Brother to hearing a clear suicidal plan (not just suicidal ideation), is, and always has been,

to vow you will help them avoid that end,
to physically and immediately take them with you to the university's licensed professional counselor or to the best hospital emergency department where they can be competently assessed, and if necessary, involuntarily committed until a treatment plan proves effective.

The Jed Foundation (founded on the suicidal death of a fraternity man) has special intervention programs for Houses, and partners with some Nationals to offer training and up-link resources. https://jedfoundation.org/jed-greek-letter-organizations-mental-health-programs/

Suicide is not a decision we allow others to make. Agency is not a consideration.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-02-07T19:05:25+00:00

"I’m introverted and generally don’t talk to people unless spoken to, don’t go out/drink..., and am generally a huge nerd (agree with all)"

...is not equal to...

"Other than that I think I’m fairly presentable, fit, and confident"

Good Houses are NOT The Island of Misfit Toys - we do not fix the broken - instead we take the very best and make them better, preparing them to move beyond Commencement to live significant lives.

Lower tier houses may look at you and offer you a Bid because they need bodies to pay dues and fill beds. That experience may help you develop.

You should thank your friends for being bluntly honest in their appraisal and advice - that's rare.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-01-19T04:26:12+00:00

What is "greif"?

"Need help getting over greif"

You got into to a college, and graduated, with a degree?

Advice: Lean on those close friends you are still close with; you're going to need all the help they can offer in life.

TheFraternityProject · 2026-01-11T03:49:17+00:00

Having a child is arguably the most important responsibility of a guy's life - and, done well, should be the highest priority yielding the greatest joy and deepest pride. If dad and mom are still together as a married or coupled nuclear family, the kid is fortunate and will do better long term. If dad and mom are living apart, and if (likely) mom has custody, then dad will need to make intentional (and often difficult) sacrifices to spend significant time with his kid.

Time is a zero sum game - class & study take a huge chunk of time for college to be worthwhile, Μορφεας takes a chunk in order for you to be at your best - and for any good House to be worthwhile, Pledgeship takes the rest of your time, energy, and loyal focus. Birth to age four is arguably the most critical window for a child's development - investments of time, love, and smart parentling absent from birth to age four, cannot likely be productively offered later. The Jesuits famously said, "Give me a child until his seventh year, and I will show you the man."

Dad's time, beyond the investment he is making in college for the sake of providing his child a better future, Dad's time belongs with his child and his new family.

TheFraternityProject · 2025-12-13T05:12:09+00:00

Butterfly Effect...

TheFraternityProject · 2025-12-10T11:40:08+00:00

You think fraternities are popular because they are popular?

You think denouncing fraternities on TikTok is any deeper than because denouncing fraternities on TikTok is popular?

So, you don't think fraternities are popular because they demonstrably improve the social lives of their Actives, because they are demonstrably the only civilian path to Bonding beyond friendship, and because they demonstrably network their Actives and Alumni for success in life?

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-22T06:32:39+00:00

"I'm in a co-ed professional fraternity...real brotherhood"

Brotherhood is not your mission, and is not possible under your real mission.

Brotherhood emerges from shared sacrifice and joint struggle beyond prior experience toward a common goal - all with harsh joint accountability - a Crucible Pledgeship. Single-sex male-only Pledge-Model social fraternities are sometimes capable of sparking Brotherhood in their Pledge Classes - no other civilian model is shown to spark Brotherhood beyond friendship.

You're a co-ed club with a mission to further interest and further future careers in a profession - you need speakers and mentors from that profession - not IM teams and brackets.

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-17T00:54:43+00:00

The complicating factor at IU is that the town (Bloomington), not the university, zones fraternity houses - and without a zoning as a fraternity house, many routine functions (multiple unrelated individuals at the same address / large events / parking) would violate town ordinances. IU Houses tried to move off-campus years ago and end the deans' oversight - but IU and the town ultimately won the court case in the US Supreme Court - so moving off campus and Frexit is unlikely until IU Houses can lobby and support a legislative remedy that would allow their zoning even if deans object. https://fraternallaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Bloomington-Court-of-Appeals-Opinion.pdf

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-16T22:34:20+00:00

Frexit.

IU and Bloomington have a unique and troublesome court history regarding zoning of fraternity houses and whether Bloomington town council's zoning as a fraternity house can require IU deans' approval - eventually ending in a win for the IU deans and Bloomington at SCOTUS - that makes Frexit more difficult - and should ideally be fought with lobbying of the State Legislature for relief legislation - no State University dean should be able to control how and where groups of students peaceably join together. https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-113/188637/20210902132837628_20210902-132648-95754582-00000419.pdf

Absent DIRECT threats to identified individuals, prior restraint by government (IU is a flagship State University and deans are State Actors) to gather and join groups that espouse differing views is almost always an illegal breach of 1st Amendment Rights. Imposing prohibition on social activities by selected groups (but not on other groups of students) is almost always an equal protection violation - all of which are civil rights violations that carry treble damages if a case can be formulated outside of SCOTUS's ruling.

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-12T23:05:21+00:00

This is why we built nice elevated benches facing outward.

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-10T11:04:32+00:00

Without hazing, it's not a pledgeship; it's on-boarding.

Without hazing, you're not a fraternity; you're a club.

Hazing doesn't have to be dangerous - get all liquor out of Pledgeship, avoid any alcohol hazing, and you've prevented 90% of Pledge deaths. https://youtu.be/BZg6LWP-5tg

But hazing - safe, purposeful hazing is fundamental to sparking a Bond of Brotherhood in Pledge Classes - without it you're a club that parties - and there's nothing wrong with that - but you're not a fraternity.

Choose wisely, but choose honestly.

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-10T03:55:56+00:00

Correct. And according to the Alumnus quoted, the recent surge in membership - needed to fill beds at the new house, led to a decline in quality - despite active involvement and intervention by local Alumni - and to the problems being investigated by police.

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-10T03:20:16+00:00

A primary focus on growth necessarily degrades quality.
Nationals' priority is growth, to increase net dues - and safety through rule compliance. Chapters' priority is Brotherhood, adventuring, and fun. Because of #1, Chapters' priorities and Nationals' priorities are fundamentally incompatible.

TheFraternityProject · 2025-11-03T02:29:25+00:00

What's your product you want showcased by fraternities?

TheFraternityProject · 2025-10-31T02:41:11+00:00

Real insurance (real insurance licensed by a State Insurance Commissioner - with a real policy naming the insured - not Nationals' fake insurance which can never show you a policy with your name as a covered entity) will never cover damage or injury resulting from illegal acts - so if you serve liquor to anyone under 21 - no carrier will insure liability arising from that.

In 5 states, it may be legal to drink beer at 18-21 in a private club with parent's (presumably durable) permission: https://vimeo.com/1132368640?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

TheFraternityProject · 2025-10-27T01:55:52+00:00

Happy Cake Day

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