Comments on: “The Company He Keeps,” a study of fraternal masculinity by Nicholas Syrett

By: Should colleges ban fraternities? : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Fri, 06 May 2011 17:13:34 +0000

[...] starring Historiann BFF Nicholas L. Syrett of the University of Northern Colorado, author of The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities (Chapel Hill: University of North …. Nick gets the debate started with a strong opinion grounded in his research on the history of [...]

By: All the single ladies! : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:24:14 +0000

[...] on college campuses, if they were there at all. So, do not panic. (Also, please ask yourself: how is it that men dominated heterosexuality on campus when they were in the majority, and now they allegedly do on campuses in which they are a minority? This “new math” [...]

By: Frat Boy Culture, Gender Identity, and Rape | Change Happens: The SAFER Blog

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:36:04 +0000

[...] that has grown more and more aggressive over the past hundred years. One review of the book offers this summary: Always a means of asserting and defending class exclusivity, the pressures of coeducation in the [...]

By: Tartan societies « A Magpie Historian

Tartan societies « A Magpie Historian — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:27:40 +0000

[...] thinking about all of this while we waited for the event to begin, and my mind wandered to the recent discussion of fraternaties at Historiann.com. The St Andrews Society of Washington, DC, is a charitable organization open only to men. It began [...]

By: Homostorian Americanist

Homostorian Americanist — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:47:18 +0000

I do actually discuss the origins of black fraternities, however, as their origins are pretty firmly planted in the discrimination that black students (and Jews and Catholics and Asian Americans) suffered at primarily white schools. That said, Historiann is right: because their traditions are different and because I do think they are actually different in practice now (though with some similarities around ideals of masculinity) I don’t devote lots of attention to them.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:53:57 +0000

Rad–the subtitle of Syrett’s book is “A History of White Fraternities.” He considered doing all fraternities, but realized early on that black fraternities were really a whole topic unto themselves that he couldn’t cover adequately in one book (esp. a first book). He wanted to signal very specifically the limits of his topic in the title, rather than to suggest that the book was about all fraternities.

By: Rad Readr

Rad Readr — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:44:56 +0000

Some years ago Greeks at the very Greek campus where I used to work invited me to be on a panel about race and ethnicity. Although I know very little about fraternities/sororities, I ventured that they were suffering from a legacy of segregation — the rise of black frats/sororities as counterparts to societies that did not allow blacks. Anecdotally, I once heard of someone pledging a fraternity who had to prove he was not of black descent. AT this panel, it was the students from black fraternities who rose to the defense of ongoing de facto segregation — and I didn’t blame them for wanting to be part of such a group on a campus that was 90 percent white.

I bring this up because Historiann, you note the white class privilege of these groups — but I am wondering if Syrett deals at all with black fraternities.

By: Fratguy

Fratguy — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:27:44 +0000

Syrett certainly hit the nail on the head wrt impromptu drag races. For an ostensibly homophobic institution we never, ever, passed up an opputunity for a dress up party. Not that there was anything wrong with that, I’m just saying….

As far as DKE is concerned, they are universally regarded as hammerheads, even among recovering miscreants such as myself. As my younger brother (no stranger to debauchery) once sarcastically commented about the secret DKE fraternity on the Colby campus “Oh yeah, they’re the heavy hitters, real deep thinkers”

Now I would not say that Norovirus and multiple tap sucks offer equivalent culpability, but it has been a long time since I have had to insert my head into a trash can in public. Comment, Boot, and Rally !!!!! SPRING BREAK SEATTLE !!!!!

By: Homostorian Americanist

Homostorian Americanist — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:32:11 +0000

I’ll grant that some people’s desire for exclusivity may well lead to forms of organizing that resemble fraternities in all but name, but it does not follow that the men in those organizations are governed by testosterone in a biologically deterministic way that mandates that they mistreat women, queers, and people of color. Even fraternities have not always done so. Further, the sanction, approval, and support given by colleges and universities not only allows fraternities to get away with their misbehavior but leads others on campus to believe that it is acceptable. So colleges and universities, even if they cannot control all that their students do (as cgeye clearly points out), can draw a line in the sand about what they, as institutions, believe is appropriate behavior for their students.

By: cgeye

cgeye — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:47:14 +0000

But, if truth be told, what’s banned as fraternities reemerges as eating clubs, chapters hosted by other colleges but accept “commuters”, ad-hoc gangs, political orgs that function as fraternities, etc.

They never go away as testosterone and class anxiety never go away.