President's Letter to Parents
Future Gator Parents,
Please let me begin by congratulating you … yes you … on your child’s acceptance to the University of Florida. While your child may have begun his admissions process just a year ago by filling out a couple of forms, you have probably been working towards this goal for the better part of two decades. For eighteen years, you have always tried to be your child’s role model, mentor, hero, and friend – and even though most of the time you have probably felt more like a dutiful chauffeur or secretary, your son’s admission to UF should serve as a strong affirmation that whatever you did was worth it.
Now that the all-consuming frenzy of the college admission and selection process is over, it is time for you and your son to start making decisions about the next stage in his life. One of the biggest decisions that your son will have to make early in his college experience will be whether or not to join a fraternity. It is a significant decision that you will probably want to discuss.
If you have never been in a fraternity or if your own fraternity experience occurred decades ago then you may not know where to start this discussion or what your role in the decision should be. I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with some information that may help. I will begin by describing the community itself and sharing some examples of the benefits of joining, then finish with some of the important things that your son will want to consider when making the decision.
The Florida Greek community is one of the largest and most respected student groups at the University of Florida. With over four thousand active members, the Greeks constitute a very significant portion of the undergraduate population, yet remain a surprisingly intimate community. A school of forty thousand students can be intimidating to many people and joining a fraternity gives students a chance to find their own identity and value within a smaller group.
In addition to being one of the largest student groups on campus, the UF Greeks are also one of the school’s most active. Joining a fraternity or sorority not only introduces a young student to the intimate Greek society, it also creates countless opportunities – leadership opportunities, service opportunities, social opportunities, professional opportunities, and more – that keep Greek students engaged.
The leadership opportunities for Greek students are especially notable. In addition to pervasive Greek involvement in general student government activities, Greek chapters also create many significant opportunities internally. Under the oversight of national offices and chapter alumni boards, each chapter is managed by the students themselves. With an average annual budget of over two hundred thousand dollars, there is more opportunity for young men to take on significant responsibilities in fraternities than anywhere else – which is one of the many reasons that fraternities produce future leaders.
Fraternities also are heavily involved in community service. During the second annual Florida Greek Service Day, over nine hundred students volunteered throughout the Gainesville community. Additionally, each chapter does at least two large service projects per semester and most sponsor a philanthropy, which generally raise an average of between five to ten thousand dollars each. Cumulatively, the philanthropies sponsored by Interfraternity Council chapters alone raise over one hundred thousand dollars for charity each year.
Philanthropies provide a good example of what Greek life at UF is all about. Essentially, they are community activities run by individual fraternity or sorority chapters in order to raise money for charity. The events are organized entirely by student leaders, and generally are competitions between chapters. Events range from athletic contests such as softball and soccer tournaments to dance contests. Some of the more unique philanthropies include a mechanical bull riding contest, a co-ed dodge-ball tournament, and an oyster-eating race/cookout. Whatever the event, philanthropies are always a lot of fun, a great way to meet people, and very meaningful for the students and charities involved.
Of course, there are many other ways that fraternity and sorority chapters and their members interact with each other. One of my favorite fraternity traditions is the weekly “Game-Day Barbeque”, in which fraternity chapters host a sorority for a barbeque before football games. After the barbeque, the two chapters sit together at the stadium to watch the Gators win. Other traditions include chapter sponsored road-trips to away games in the fall, formal evening events in the spring, homecoming week, long-standing intramural sports rivalries, and many more opportunities to meet people and build relationships.
The list of exciting traditions and other benefits to joining a fraternity could go on for a very long time. However, as a parent you may be more concerned with other issues such as logistics, costs, and the impact that joining a fraternity has on a student’s academic performance, so I will try to provide a few key points that you may want to consider when discussing this decision with your son.
Each fraternity has its own unique logistical arrangements. Fraternities with chapter facilities will generally have between twenty and sixty members living in them, and most have state-inspected kitchens and dining rooms with professional food service employees to prepare food. The price of membership in these fraternities will probably include the cost of meals and rent for those who chose to live in the house. Many people, especially those on expensive campus meal plans, will find their fraternity bill comparable to the price of the plan itself. Additionally, money paid to the plan itself can be transferred from the university to the fraternity, even after school has started, at a prorated rate.
Rent for students that live in fraternity chapter facilities is generally comparable to average dorm pricing and lower than the price of an average apartment. All of the facilities are on campus or within walking distance of campus and, unlike apartment complexes, most do not charge summer rent to students who will not be there for the summer, which significantly reduces the cost of housing. It is important to keep these factors in mind when discussing finances.
Many parents are also concerned about the impact that joining a fraternity will have on their son’s academic success. With so many opportunities to consume a student’s attention, it is a logical concern. However, even though Greek students are so heavily involved in co-curricular activities and even though so many Greeks commit themselves to the responsibilities of student leadership and brotherhood, they still maintain a high standard of academic excellence. In fact, our outstanding academic success is one of our proudest achievements. You will be especially interested to note the following:
At the University of Florida, the average GPA of men who are in fraternities is higher than the average GPA of those who are not.
Many parents are surprised to learn that men in fraternities actually perform better academically than their unaffiliated counterparts. Unfortunately, this is probably because the only exposure that many parents have to fraternities comes from popular culture. Even though ‘Animal House’ was a great movie, it is important to note that its representation of real fraternities is no more accurate than the representation of real cowboys in the movie ‘Blazing Saddles.’ Don’t be misled by pop-culture stereotypes when making this decision.
The real culture of the Interfraternity Council at the University of Florida is progressive and respected. Men who join fraternities at UF become leaders, work had academically, build strong relationships, have fun, and enjoy access to an intimate community of outstanding peers. It is a close community that produces unique and valuable social and co-curricular opportunities that develop character and identity.
If you want to learn more about the Greek community at UF, you may visit the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs’ website at www.Greeks.ufl.edu, or Interfraternity Council’s website at www.GreekGator.com. Here, you will be able to find more specific information about the general topics that I have discussed as well as information about how your son can join. Regardless of whether or not your son decides to join our community, I wish both you and him the very best of luck throughout the next four years.
Go Gators!
Benjamin Caswell
President
Interfraternity Council
University of Florida