I don’t like fraternities. I know that sounds bad and a lot of folks won’t like it, but there you have it. I’m sure most of the folks in them can be and are cool. I don’t doubt that many are nice guys (and ladies) that I would probably enjoy hanging out with. What I hate are the groups themselves. I hate the mentality associated with it.

I hate that there is no public insight into the groups. I hate that the system is completely closed to the outside, and that the brothers and sisters from many, if not all, fraternities want what they do and how they act to be closed and secret.

The closed system thing bothers me to an extent that I do not have words to describe. Last year, as a reporter, I tried to find out what happened when a fraternity was put under investigation/suspension by its parent organization. This was the worst article I have had to write, hands down, ever. No one would talk to me. Brothers would walk up to me and tell me that they would really just prefer it if I dropped it, and they didn’t think it should be in the paper. The Grand Marshal, Interfraternity Council, president of the fraternity in question, as well as its social chair either did not respond, period, or gave me the brush off. Even the dean associated with the fraternities on campus couldn’t tell me what happened. The fraternity was not even under any kind of threat of judicial action from the Institute and I couldn’t be told what had happened.

I recently heard a high ranking member of a fraternity say that his group didn’t want folks entering their house, which is a sentiment I can understand, except his reason was that he just didn’t want unapproved folks in there. He didn’t want people seeing what they did, even if it wasn’t offensive or weird.

I’m okay with people hanging out; I’m okay with fraternal groups of men coming together. I despise closed systems. The only closed system I believe in is national security, and sometimes even that seems shifty to me. I believe in transparency, and fraternities don’t, and I despise that about them. I know what I do is baby-journalism, and that what happens here in college has little-to-no real world effect on things, but despite that fact that what I do and write doesn’t mean anything, the journalist in me cries out at the idea that there is something that is hidden, systematically and with the intention of it being hidden, from the public. I believe in intellectual property and trade secrets, I’m no member of Anonymous, but this is ridiculous to me.

So here is what I offer you now: tell me I’m wrong. Don’t like my opinion, explain to me why I’m wrong. I’m always willing to listen to someone explain to me why they disagree and try to bring me over to their side, so please come and try.