Viking_Yearbook_71

106 Fraternity Member I joined the fraternity fall of 1968. I don't really know why. As a freshman, I didn't know anything about the campus, what was being offered and what was happening. The idea was that there were a lot of upper division people around who could guide a freshman, help him learn the ropes. I was kind of like a kid coming into a club. Everything so impressed me. Last year I held an office, hegamon (pledge trainer). You pledge for one term to see if your ideals click with the fraternity. We have initiation after each term. It's a ritual. You have ceremonial robes and things like that. You go through the ritual and you're initiated. The only reason the ritual is included is to make you question your ideals and put them in a reverent light. It works, at least it did for me. I think it helped me a lot because of the responsibility I had to take. Our fraternity is democratic. You'r~ bonded by the concepts of democracy. And you pledge to take care of your fraternity brothers... There are about 45 current active members, mainly sophomores and freshmen. The whole idea of the fraternity is social, to have fun . We have a house six blocks from school. Since PSU is a commuter college, the house is just kind of a gathering place-somewhere to go and watch television. We have keggers and smokers and parties in general. The guys bring up their girl friends. And other girls just drop by. We have "joints" with sororities on campus. We get a rock band into our little basement, drink beer and try to seduce all the women . Sorority women are nice people, individuals, but they tend to be rather conservative. As is always the case though, a few are not. I moved into the frat house winter term. I was living with my parents, and I wanted to move out and have some fun. The fraternity was about the only place I could go that was cheap. My only responsibility was to keep the dog off the couch. The fraternity isn't anything different than a bunch of guys together, except you think a little more about brotherhood and things. There is this misconception about fraternities being the great far right. I've approached some blacks on the wrestling team, asking them to join, asking them to become my fraternity brothers. The fraternity system supposedly has a racist reputation, and they think they'd be Uncle Toms to join. We do have one black member. Actually, the fraternity is probably one of the most diversified organizations on campus. We have long hairs with long haired ideals. We have people who participated in the strike last spring, and we have the "jock" right wing people who didn't participate. At the time I was against the strike. It seemed like a waste of time . The whole principle of force against force seemed just kind of ridiculous. I went to classes. Mainly, what I want out of college is a degree. When I get out I want to be able to work and get some cash. I'm fitting all the classifications of a frat rat, aren't I? I think PSU is like a large high school - too much for rigor and system. Faculty around here are too tight. They don't have any rapport with the ir students . It's like the bourgeoisie . But I like the people at the university. We've got some good elements, meaning both radicals and conservatives. Everybody's the same . They all put their pants on the same . Nobody is above anybody else. I'm a nonconformist. I don't believe in left and right. And I don't believe in systems. Sometimes I go to my classes, sometimes I don't . I go have a beer at Sam's or go and look at new records. What's best is to get a jug of wine and sit around with the people in the house and B. S. When we're really feeling good we get in the car and go up through the hills to the store . You should be in that car coming back down the hills, the wild music playing. When we get to the house we put Janis Joplin on the stereo and lie around . . . College has changed me . I've got a lot more open brain to everything. I'm more moralistic. I think about issues and how they affect people. I'm very strong on ecology. I'm majoring in geology and through that department we're working on slide control around Canyon Road. The Portland Zoo is crossing Canyon Road . We have made recommendations on where to block the slide, but the Highway Department hasn't listened. I've gone to PSU for two years and , through the exchange program, I've attended the University of Hawaii for half a year. Next year I'm going back to graduate from the University of Hawaii. Our fraternity is a national organization with 300 chapters. There's an affiliate chapter at the University of Hawaii. But I don't think I'll join the fraternity there. It may not be as loose and liberal as ours. Here we don't conform to one thing. Maybe we're radical.