The Machine

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Esquire had this article in 1992:

http://www.welcometothemachine.info/media.php?ID=44

Wonder if anything has changed except the names.

[BZ770 2]

I personally don't see anything wrong with the machine. I was a Greek at Auburn, and had a damn good time. Our Greek System at Auburn never tried to strongarm elections. We were more concerned about parties, flag football and holding our seats at football games. When you can use influence to get your way by all means get it. It's better to be on top of the mountain than on the bottom.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

I personally don't see anything wrong with the machine. I was a Greek at Auburn, and had a damn good time. Our Greek System at Auburn never tried to strongarm elections. We were more concerned about parties, flag football and holding our seats at football games. When you can use influence to get your way by all means get it. It's better to be on top of the mountain than on the bottom.

-

I think it is a lot different at bama. I was in a frat at Auburn too but I never thought there was any tension/conflict among students as to whether someone was or wasn't. There was no pressure to be in a frat. At bama there seems to be a lot of tension in this area among students who are in a frat/sorority and those who aren't.

[mcgufcm 4,107]

There is definitely tension at Auburn, but I wouldn't say it is prevalent. The biggest tensions arise from: block seating at football games (should be available to all student organizations... and i think they started doing that before i left), rigged or over-influenced student elections (the big issues when i was there revolved around supposed "corruption" in e-board because some ballot boxes near frat row got stuffed year after year without punishment... these problems didn't matter to most non-greeks b/c they are not the most involved people in campus politics either), and exclusive parties (totally 100% their right, totally 100% lame... i grew up in a college town and it's not the policy everywhere but frats at auburn do it).

There is some tension, but I think the percentage involved is pretty high. Most of the folks that are uninvolved on campus just don't care. I wasn't Greek and was involved, but I was a distinct minority in that.

[Fmnstr 0]

There is definitely tension at Auburn, but I wouldn't say it is prevalent. The biggest tensions arise from: block seating at football games (should be available to all student organizations... and i think they started doing that before i left), rigged or over-influenced student elections (the big issues when i was there revolved around supposed "corruption" in e-board because some ballot boxes near frat row got stuffed year after year without punishment... these problems didn't matter to most non-greeks b/c they are not the most involved people in campus politics either), and exclusive parties (totally 100% their right, totally 100% lame... i grew up in a college town and it's not the policy everywhere but frats at auburn do it).

There is some tension, but I think the percentage involved is pretty high. Most of the folks that are uninvolved on campus just don't care. I wasn't Greek and was involved, but I was a distinct minority in that.

i can attest to not caring. at all. frat kids are just flat-out hilarious to me. all look the same, act the same, wear the same borderline inappropriate length pinstripe shorts. come on dudes. it looks gay, and you're not fooling anybody. widespread panic sucks.

[kickerman97 3]

i can attest to not caring. at all. frat kids are just flat-out hilarious to me. all look the same, act the same, wear the same borderline inappropriate length pinstripe shorts. come on dudes. it looks gay, and you're not fooling anybody. widespread panic sucks.

I agree

[BZ770 2]

People are just haters sometimes. What's wrong with belonging to an organization that has roots of over 150 years, teaches young men how to become strong individuals using organizational and leadership skills. Having kick ass parties after football games, making friends for life that you share fraternal bonds with, and having great seats at football games. On top of that Fraternities do have philanthropies. There is much more to Fraternities than just what you see on the outside.

[IndyTiger 3]

There is definitely tension at Auburn, but I wouldn't say it is prevalent. The biggest tensions arise from: block seating at football games (should be available to all student organizations... and i think they started doing that before i left), rigged or over-influenced student elections (the big issues when i was there revolved around supposed "corruption" in e-board because some ballot boxes near frat row got stuffed year after year without punishment... these problems didn't matter to most non-greeks b/c they are not the most involved people in campus politics either), and exclusive parties (totally 100% their right, totally 100% lame... i grew up in a college town and it's not the policy everywhere but frats at auburn do it).

There is some tension, but I think the percentage involved is pretty high. Most of the folks that are uninvolved on campus just don't care. I wasn't Greek and was involved, but I was a distinct minority in that.

i can attest to not caring. at all. frat kids are just flat-out hilarious to me. all look the same, act the same, wear the same borderline inappropriate length pinstripe shorts. come on dudes. it looks gay, and you're not fooling anybody. widespread panic sucks.

Um...I'm currently in a fraternity at Auburn and maybe 5 brothers wear the afformentioned attire. I'm sorry if you feel that way, but you obviously have no idea what fraternities are all about. I could really care less if you are in a fraternity or not, I will look at you the same either way, but I can't stand when people outside of a fraternity make huge generalizations like this.

I also agree that having exclusive parties are lame. We have some parties where we turn people away for no reason. Fraternity parties at places like IU are huge compared to the ones down here because of this. The IFC here seems as though they are trying to set themselves apart from the rest of the student body and this is why so many people have a bad perception of frats.

[creed 1,641]

People are just haters sometimes. What's wrong with belonging to an organization that has roots of over 150 years, teaches young men how to become strong individuals using organizational and leadership skills. Having kick ass parties after football games, making friends for life that you share fraternal bonds with, and having great seats at football games. On top of that Fraternities do have philanthropies. There is much more to Fraternities than just what you see on the outside.

...If the Greek organization or individual operates and lives by the AUBURN CREED, it's OK with me.

[BamaGrad03 0]

The greek system at AU is much different (for the better) than at UA. Bama's greek system is overbearing and insanely self involved.

Yes, the machine still decides who wins student body president and homecoming queen.

Old row frats/sorority greeks cant date new row f/s...and heaven forbid they date a GDI. The only acceptable GDI for them to date is a student athlete of a major sport.

Most frats haze something crazy. Including pretty severe beatings of their rushees.

There's a rampant drug problem in many of the houses on campus. And a huge gambling problem...these exists at Auburn as well. But not on the same scale as UA.

And Greeks & GDIs just don't intermingle much at Bama. Everything is so secret and self involved. And yes, they all look/dress/act like lemmings.

The biggest problem I have with the Greek system at UA is how there's a ideal that permeates the Greek system that you have to treat women like s***.

[mcgufcm 4,107]

My brother was in a frat so I definitely don't have a terrible opinion of them. Most of my boys back home went Greek. The only thing I'd say is the I liked the system better at MSU (grew up in Starkville) than at Auburn. The frat houses were more open. The student body was less resentful. I just wish we could have more of that on the Plains. If it's worse at Bama... that's too bad.

[BamaGrad03 0]

My brother was in a frat so I definitely don't have a terrible opinion of them. Most of my boys back home went Greek. The only thing I'd say is the I liked the system better at MSU (grew up in Starkville) than at Auburn. The frat houses were more open. The student body was less resentful. I just wish we could have more of that on the Plains. If it's worse at Bama... that's too bad.

Yeah but your brother was in a pretty calm frat by Greek standards

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

I was in a fraternity at AU and one of the reasons they have closed band parties is for insurance reasons. There were several times the fire marshall came to our house and made a walk through during a band party.

And even though it's a pretty lame excuse, if some random guy is walking through the house, he's probably gonna get some questions as to who he is. We definitely had a few fights due to this. You don't want to risk a lawsuit because of something stupid like that. We had a few guys that had some stuff stolen out of their rooms during parties as well - not everyone locked their doors, so that was just another reason to try to make sure you knew who was in the house.

[Fmnstr 0]

There is definitely tension at Auburn, but I wouldn't say it is prevalent. The biggest tensions arise from: block seating at football games (should be available to all student organizations... and i think they started doing that before i left), rigged or over-influenced student elections (the big issues when i was there revolved around supposed "corruption" in e-board because some ballot boxes near frat row got stuffed year after year without punishment... these problems didn't matter to most non-greeks b/c they are not the most involved people in campus politics either), and exclusive parties (totally 100% their right, totally 100% lame... i grew up in a college town and it's not the policy everywhere but frats at auburn do it).

There is some tension, but I think the percentage involved is pretty high. Most of the folks that are uninvolved on campus just don't care. I wasn't Greek and was involved, but I was a distinct minority in that.

i can attest to not caring. at all. frat kids are just flat-out hilarious to me. all look the same, act the same, wear the same borderline inappropriate length pinstripe shorts. come on dudes. it looks gay, and you're not fooling anybody. widespread panic sucks.

Um...I'm currently in a fraternity at Auburn and maybe 5 brothers wear the afformentioned attire. I'm sorry if you feel that way, but you obviously have no idea what fraternities are all about. I could really care less if you are in a fraternity or not, I will look at you the same either way, but I can't stand when people outside of a fraternity make huge generalizations like this.

I also agree that having exclusive parties are lame. We have some parties where we turn people away for no reason. Fraternity parties at places like IU are huge compared to the ones down here because of this. The IFC here seems as though they are trying to set themselves apart from the rest of the student body and this is why so many people have a bad perception of frats.

sorry dude, i know you're not all the same, but i've met enough of you to know that the rate of interchangeably generic human beings inside of fraternities is staggeringly high compared to that of the non-greek student population. you all become each other because you're your own little student body. i don't dislike frat kids, and am friends with several. i just find the caricature of a culture you're in very humorous.

i also will never understand why you attempt to stick up for yourselves. one frat douche saying "we're not all the same" is about the same as bg saying "i've never even seen a houndstooth hat." i've been at auburn for 5+ years now. i'm not new to this stuff. the sea of visors has been my scenery for quite some time.

[SouthLink02 8]

First, let me say that what I am about to say has more to do with what I saw/heard at UGA so as BG stated...it is different school to school. But with that said, some similar things on here that I heard at UGA.

Second, I am NOT talking about the extremes but the majority. There are those EXTREME frat guys that are ALL-FRATS and then there are those ANTI-FRAT people that hate EVERYTHING FRAT no matter what.

It's funny for me to always hear those non-frat people talk about frat people. When I was in one at UGA, never did anyone in our frat care at all if someone was in it or not....I brought plenty of people over for whatever that weren't in a frat at all. There was no hatred at all for non-frat people because....well, I have no idea...just nobody cared...it was never a big deal and none of my other friends in different frats were any different when it came to non-frat people.

Yet, whenever I hear people complaining or whining, it is ALWAYS those not in them either going on and on and on about something not remotely correct or just haven't a clue what they are talking about. The hatred, The complaining, and the mocking ALWAYS comes from the non-frat people. It is like they get off talking about them over and over and over again. I would go out with my frat friends and we would have a good time and drink up. I would go out with some classmates and several extremely anti-frat people would spend the night MOCKING all those that looks like frat guys in their eyes (even though a few weren't because I knew them). Things of that nature....

I just never got it. I know it is "cool" to mock them for what they wear (never got that as nobody ever wore the same thing in my frat at least or others that I knew) and paying money (which I never cared since it went to partys) but why not just get over it and move on?

Again, I know that there are those extreme frats (such as 1-2 at UGA) that do follow the same-clothing, same-pro-frat attitude, etc....but for the high, high majority it just isn't like that

[BamaGrad03 0]

First, let me say that what I am about to say has more to do with what I saw/heard at UGA so as BG stated...it is different school to school. But with that said, some similar things on here that I heard at UGA.

Second, I am NOT talking about the extremes but the majority. There are those EXTREME frat guys that are ALL-FRATS and then there are those ANTI-FRAT people that hate EVERYTHING FRAT no matter what.

It's funny for me to always hear those non-frat people talk about frat people. When I was in one at UGA, never did anyone in our frat care at all if someone was in it or not....I brought plenty of people over for whatever that weren't in a frat at all. There was no hatred at all for non-frat people because....well, I have no idea...just nobody cared...it was never a big deal and none of my other friends in different frats were any different when it came to non-frat people.

Yet, whenever I hear people complaining or whining, it is ALWAYS those not in them either going on and on and on about something not remotely correct or just haven't a clue what they are talking about. The hatred, The complaining, and the mocking ALWAYS comes from the non-frat people. It is like they get off talking about them over and over and over again. I would go out with my frat friends and we would have a good time and drink up. I would go out with some classmates and several extremely anti-frat people would spend the night MOCKING all those that looks like frat guys in their eyes (even though a few weren't because I knew them). Things of that nature....

I just never got it. I know it is "cool" to mock them for what they wear (never got that as nobody ever wore the same thing in my frat at least or others that I knew) and paying money (which I never cared since it went to partys) but why not just get over it and move on?

Again, I know that there are those extreme frats (such as 1-2 at UGA) that do follow the same-clothing, same-pro-frat attitude, etc....but for the high, high majority it just isn't like that

At Ole Miss and Alabama, the extremes you speak of are the norm. (Spare me the Ole Miss = Alabama jokes guys). I actually dated two girls in sororities who had IMMENSE pressure to break up with me because I wasn't in a Fraternity.

I knew 3 guys on my floor who rushed 3 different Frats and basically got the crap beaten out of them and were force fed alcohol just to be in the club.

I know of 3 houses specifically that have a SERIOUS coke problem...not the whole "oh it's coke everybody knows someone who did some blow in college"...I mean like in house dealers.

The Greek system at UA is like none other I've ever seen. The level of snobbery and "secret handshake" behavior...especially in old row frats at UA...is astounding.

My first couple of years at Bama I would go to band parties just because I was new down there and had some friends who were in frats down there. But I just got sick of all the hostility towards me because I was a GDI. I got sick of taking my female friends to the hospital because they got drugged. I'll say this....I took at least 4 girls to the hospital because they were drugged...every single one of them had it happen at a frat party.

The sororities aren't as bad. I had some fun at spring cocktails and formals and stuff. But all my friends at those were the girls. The dudes didn't really want to speak to me. And they were all the same person, cut from the same douche mold...Swoopy hair, short seersucker shorts, sunglasses with the strap on them, those furry wallabees, and a coke habit.

[AU_tiger_2000 0]

When I was at Auburn I wasn't in a frat and was only close friends with maybe two people that were. Only one of the frats seemed really snobbish to me (won't name names so as not to offend people). But some stereotypes were true:

1. They all dressed alike

2. If one of the guys was in a fight all of them were in a fight

3. You couldn't win a sga office without being in one

#2 on the list would occasionally backfire on the frat guys. We were at a big party at Tamarack Apartments (I knew the guy throwing the shindig, he was collecting "cover charge" at the door of $5, he said they got about $1400). About 10 frat guys showed up at the door, one got obnoxiously drunk and slapped a girl and immediately got clocked by some random guy. His brothers jumped into the fight. Immediately it turned into about a 50 on 10 fight and the guys were forcibly ejected from the premises, some of them missing some articles of clothing.

Same type things happened at my apartment at a party. I saw the worst beatdown of my life as my 6'3" 250# neighbor grabbed some frat boy by the back strap of his sun visor (it was a full moon that night, he needed to shade his eyes) and punched him in the face about 10 times in around 3 seconds. Again the 5 or 6 frat guys there bowed up and proceeded to get run out onto the street.

Good times.

[DKW 86 7,429]

People are just haters sometimes. What's wrong with belonging to an organization that has roots of over 150 years, teaches young men how to become strong individuals using organizational and leadership skills. Having kick ass parties after football games, making friends for life that you share fraternal bonds with, and having great seats at football games. On top of that Fraternities do have philanthropies. There is much more to Fraternities than just what you see on the outside.

Some of us did that in spades and never had to pay dues one.

Thanks for playing...

Seriously gonna show my age now...

Back in the eighties the frat boy look consisted of:

1) burgundy Members Only jacket.

2) An Olds Cutlass, or maybe a Buick Regal. It was a joke for my friends that frat apps all asked "year and color of Cutlass." I lived in Ridgewood Village, yes I was trailer trash, and the three frat rats across the street from me all drove navy blue Cutlasses with tan vinyl half tops.The road looked like an Olds Dealership.

3) You had to wear a pullover at all times, even under a dress shirt. The collar must always be pulled up as well.

4) You had to wear your boxers pulled above and below your shorts.