This page is intended to be a discussion of Fraternity Reputations in general without focusing on any specific Fraternity.
- Current fraternity members may feel unjustly labeled with either unsubstantiated hearsay or the reputations developed by their fraternity in the past. It isn't easy to clean up a reputation that is damaged, and a part of joining a fraternity is benefiting from the social opportunities and contacts that one makes. Putting President of _ _ house on a resume doesn't do a lot of good if the house name conjures negative images. Nor does having a bad reputation help with interactions with the community including school officials and the police.
- Townspeople who have been here over the years, particularly those who either live near or have relatives (daughters, sisters, etc.) who attended parties at the various houses, are going to have formed opinions about specific organizations or the Greek system in general. The fact that the residents of a house turn over every four years doesn't reset these opinions. Part of the reason that the opinions don't get reset is that the current members were picked by those who picked those who were there when the house reputation got damaged. Insert as many generations as needed in the process. Granted sometimes some of these opinions will have been re-enforced by watching Animal House or the like one too many times. Incorporating Hollywood's depiction of fraternity life into an opinion of local fraternities isn't fair, but it goes to the larger non-local image problems that fraternities in general have with non-greeks.
- Non-Greek students will over the course of their years in town have the chance to develop their own opinions. Maybe it is exposure to the recruiting process, going to a party, or just listening to other students talk about their experiences. Maybe they grew up in another college town and had exposure to the greek system while they were growing up, including their time in high school.
- Police officers have both individual and collective memories about responding to various houses over the years. It wouldn't be unreasonable to imagine that some officers fall prey to the same forgetting that there is a four year turn over in the same way that some townspeople forget or overlook it.
Do the fraternities suffer unjustly? Potentially. The unfortunate truth is that one party that gets out of hand in one house is going to taint the opinions of many people for years to come. Davis has a long memory. It is a public relations nightmare, made more difficult when one tries to balance correcting public opinion with recruiting new members and having fun. One can't very well advertise oneself as the party house and then claim that nothing ever gets out of hand.
The fraternities have an opportunity here with the wiki to demonstrate to one segment of the population that their opinions need to be reset and that the current crop is not the crop that they remember, nor are they the the fraternities portrayed in film. Reverting pages and not being constructive contributing members will not help that process along, and non-greeks (students and townsfolk alike) need to give the fraternity members a chance to demonstrate their character.
