In Defense Of Fraternities

They're often the lone right-wing space on campus

Fraternities are in the national spotlight again. Several fraternity members at southern universities last week rallied against Palestinian protesters. The vast majority didn’t seem to care about the conflict–they were there to show off their patriotism and jeer at campus leftists. The display brought to focus the vast difference between Greek Life and stereotypical campus life.

It’s assumed that all college kids are blue-haired weirdos who will happily march for Black Lives Matter. Fraternities and sororities present a different picture. Greek Life is a stark expression of whiteness at institutions that demand diversity and inclusion in all aspects of life. It’s a place where traditional norms are upheld and right-wing values can take root. They give young men the opportunity to learn to know what it’s like to be in a group in our hyper-individualized society. Fraternities stand as one of the few spaces where white men can associate with people just like themselves. They’re apolitical institutions, but their culture rejects that which the university wishes to impose on them. That’s not to say fraternities are perfect, but compared with the rest of campus life, they are an oasis in a woke desert. 

The Left’s guiding principle is anti-whiteness, and that’s why they hate fraternities and sororities. Last year, the New York Times denounced Alabama’s famous sorority rush for being “peak neo-antebellum white Southern culture on display.” It’s an outrage to leftists that nice-looking white people would gather together without imposed racial quotas. Greek Life is peak whiteness. The fashion style, the decorum, the emphasis on Anglo-Protestant norms, and the fact these groups are overwhelmingly white make them abhorrent in the eyes of leftists. 

America needs institutions that promote whiteness because this is what made this country great in the first place. Fraternities are an aspirational identity for young people. It teaches them how to dress properly, frown upon negative downscale habits such as tattoos, encourage traditional masculinity, and work within a group of their peers. The few minorities that join have to assimilate to whiteness to fit in. 

This is a more positive version of American white identity than the prison gang model offered by others. This is not a group identity that requires heritage Americans to sink to the bottom and duke it out against other races in a brutal Darwinian struggle for survival. Instead, Greek Life offers an exclusive space where whites can be themselves by themselves. It’s something that people want to join and offers a good time and desirable connections. This is what white American culture is; all that’s missing is an explicit understanding that only whites can maintain this.

Fraternities are not political organizations, but most of their members lean Right. There have been many displays of Trump support from these groups. In 2016, fraternities were involved in chalkings that expressed support for Trump. This was a controversial matter on campuses and served as an important element in my book, No Campus for White Men. The popular Greek Life brand Old Row has posted thousands of examples of fraternity men showing support for Trump and other right-wing causes. The right-wing politics of Greek Life was most evident at the Ole Miss demonstration when the crowd waved Trump flags and chanted “We Want Trump.”

It’s a bit of a stretch to call fraternities conservative groups when they’re primarily dedicated to partying. But fraternities still exhibit their own kind of conservatives. These are exclusionary societies that prize the group over the individual. They are not egalitarian, they are not inclusive, and they are not diverse. They make members work towards something outside of their own individual whims. They are responsible to the group and have to adjust their behavior accordingly. It inculcates tribalism among its members, a feature rare among white Americans. These groups also uphold their traditions against the changes around them. Members see themselves as part of a long line that stretches back to the founding of their fraternity and individual chapter.

Many fraternities drape themselves in inspiring myths from the white man’s past. Kappa Alpha Order touts Robert E. Lee as its spiritual founder and emphasizes a southern character (albeit, less so now). Sigma Chi is centered around Constantine ("In hoc signo vinces" is its motto) and Roman culture. Pi Kappa Alpha and many other fraternities adopted their symbolism from Arthurian legends and chivalric orders. It's a culture firmly rooted in western civilization and offers myths that mainstream society now considers racist and reactionary.

These aspects are all inherently right-wing, even if fraternities are apolitical. 

Greek Life stands as one of the few institutions that offer young white men the opportunity to experience the nobility of free association and group belonging. American life is defined by atomization and anomie. We’re all “bowling alone,” as Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam put it over 20 years ago. But you’re not an isolated individual in a fraternity–you’re part of something that gives you a clear identity and structure that can’t be found elsewhere in campus life. It’s something many Americans want, but we’re no longer able to have.

Fraternity culture does have its issues. Some are obvious problems that are common to all young people, such as smoking weed and listening to rap music. Others are unique to them. 

Fraternities embody the virtues and vices of the traditional American bourgeoisie. Most members are not intellectually curious, overly deferential to social standards (“go along to get along” mindset), and too obsessed with materialism (there’s definitely a “keeping up with the Jones” mentality within the group). Fraternities are primarily organizations designed to have fun, so they don’t really inculcate their members with a duty to defend the historic American nation. This is in contrast to fraternities in German-speaking Europe. There, the fraternities are more political and instill their members with an ethno-nationalist outlook. It’s also a more life-long bond to belong to one of them. In America, the vast majority of fraternity members move on from the association after college. (Black fraternities and sororities, on the other hand, are more like the Burschenschaften.) This distinction largely owes to the different origins between the German Burschenschaften and American fraternities. German fraternities were founded explicitly to promote nationalism in the tumultuous political climate of the early 19th century. American fraternities were founded primarily as a means for college students to socialize. 

Regardless of Greek Life’s limitations, fraternities are still a great American institution. Our country has a dwindling number of spaces where whiteness, traditional masculinity, and American patriotism are extolled rather than condemned. For those reasons, fraternities are worth preserving. They’re the only safe space for normal white men on a college campus.