A Discourse Community in College Essay Example

back to the Phi Gam chapter because of the great memories they acquired there. Phi Gamma Delta's power is quite similar to how our country's executive branch is set up. At the top of the Nu Omega, there is a chapter president who over see's the house and relays information that alumni and the University of Oklahoma give him.

Under him are other chapter chairs which include treasurer, recording secretary, historian, scholarship, intramural, and philanthropy. These chairs are giving specific responsibilities. The treasure collects membership dues, the recording secretary takes care of written records of the house, the historian makes sure the alumni are kept in touch with, the intramural tells everyone the houses sports schedule, and the philanthropy chair sets up events with sororities. The lowest members are the pledges; this is a nickname for new members who have not yet been initiated.

There are four members, who are assigned to be pledge trainers, they are in charge of teaching all of the pledges the history and conduct rules involved with pledging. Fiji uses many slang words that would only be understood by other members. Some of these slang words are Fiji islander, rush, formal rush week, GDI, getting iced, frating hard, blacked, bid, and frat castle. Fiji islander is a huge party that Fiji has every year where they rent out a field, have live bands, and invite a bunch of sororities. Rush and formal rush week is where the members of Fiji get to meet students who are interested in joining Fiji, and they decide whether they would be a good fit with the group or not. GDI is an expression used for people

who are not in a fraternity or sorority.

Getting iced happens when someone hides a Smirnoff ice. If you find it, then you have to chug it on one knee. Featuring hard is when a member does something that a typical frat guy would do. Blacked is when a new member is asked to leave a fraternity because they are not keeping up with their responsibilities.

Bid is when a fraternity officially asks you to become a new member. A frat castle is a nickname for a fraternity house. To someone who is not part of a house, it can seem strange and even stupid to hear these words and not know their meanings.It can be a bias for those who have no knowledge of this vocabulary. The reason it may be bias is because each of these words are only used by people in fraternities because it describes something specific to fraternity life.

The first experience any member of Phi Gamma Delta experiences is summer rush. A rush team is selected from every fraternity, these are usually four to five members selected by the house to go out and meet incoming freshmen. The rush team votes for or against the new members and decide whether or not they get a bid from the house.When a high school senior decides he wants to join a fraternity, he fills out a sort of resume online and gets contacted by fraternities who then go to his hometown.

The rush team calls potential members to go out to eat with them or attend a BBQ. They also set up what they call rush events which are just outings where a bunch or

potential members go on a lake trip or a float trip. This is a way for members to get to know the freshmen, and see if they would fit in with the members at the house. Once the summer ends, each chapter invites the tudents they liked the most to come and see their house meet the other members and see if they get along. Once formal rush week starts, each potential member visits each house and hears from existing members why they should join that particular house.

At the end of the week the potential members receive a list of fraternities who are interested in giving them a bid and they have to decide on which house fits them best. Rushing can appear very prejudice because new members are judged on first impressions, so their clothes, actions, and financial background are being judged. Once they do chose which house they want to be a part of, they become a new member and have a twelve-week period where they learn the history of the house and certain rules of the house. After they go through that twelve week period, they get initiated and become members. With membership come great responsibilities and obligations. To be a member at Phi Gamma Delta, you have to maintain a 2.

75 GPA to be eligible to live in the Fiji house. New members of Phi Gam are required to do at least nine hours of study hall every week, this is done to make sure their GPA is high enough to become a member. Also, there are memberships fees that need to be paid for every semester, and before every tailgate

or house party there are assessments payments which must be paid to attend. This can be financially straining for college students, making Fiji a money-orientated organization which might stop certain students from joining.

There are also brotherhood events that are time-consuming but always fun. A brotherhood event is when you just get together with other Fijis. An event can be anything as simple as going to a movie together or something as extensive as going to New Orleans for a weekend.When I asked a member about how he felt about brotherhood events he stated, “It's a great way for you and brothers to get away, and have a little time to build friendships and just to be together and have time to bond. ”(Hoover).

What Nick is saying is that brotherhood events is just another way for members and new members to grow long life relationships with each other. Now let us take a look at how a Fiji dresses. It can seem bias because of the cultural and economic strain it puts on a person. All the Fijis own a pair of boots which are pretty expensive or wear Sperry’s as these shoes/boots range from eighty dollars to anywhere in the area of five hundred. A typical fraternity guy would have clothes from Ralph Lauren Polo which includes shirts, polo's, button down shirts, or shorts. And like most designer clothing it can also be expensive.

Sunglasses with croakies, croakies are things you put on the frame so you they do not fall of your head. The reason it can be a culture strain is that it is somewhat frowned upon to dress differently and it is easier

to just conform then to try and stand out or show individuality.For people who feel the need to show individualism it would be hard for them to join Fiji because of the dress code. I interviewed someone who was not in a fraternity to see what he thought of people in Greek life and to get an outsider point of view, he stated that “ All the guys dress alike, eat together, go out together and pretty much do everything together. They are all clones who are brain washed into thinking their fraternities are the best because they joined it.

They also think that they are better than everybody else because they join that fraternity. (Carter). He goes on to say that he had close high school friends who started to ignore him because he did not rush, and that they too started to dislike each other because they had joined different fraternities (Carter). When someone joins a fraternity, they get a whole new assortment of friends, and they can’t help but become close to them because they spend that much time together. Members of a house usually have a lot in common to start off with, so becoming friends is easy.

Also, the different houses compete with each other in intermural sports, homecoming, and in reputation. It's just natural to have a sort of rivalry to form between the different houses. So for someone who did not join a fraternity, it would be hard to keep in touch with friends who did, because fraternity life plus college work can stain a lot of your free time. In conclusion, Phi Gamma Delta is an exclusive organization that

promotes friendship and higher education. Although a lot of the men in Fiji love to party, we all know when it is the time to have fun or to study.