Intro: COURAGE

COURAGE: Bringing values back to America’s fraternities

The founders of fraternities and sororities based them on values. Those values differed between different organizations. Some were religious, some were social, some were racial, some were academic, some were ethical, but most were a mixture of two or more of the above. Some wanted to promote a certain political agenda, a way of thought, or simply networking opportunities for pre-professional students. Today, these values have been forgotten by most in the Greek community, and have been traded in for the vague value of “brotherhood” or “sisterhood.”

This is not to cheapen in any way real brother and sisterhood. However, they are not values in and of themselves. Just as in a real family, they are the expression of shared values, beliefs, and experiences. In a sense, brother or sisterhood are an ends that people have attempted to reach, while forgetting what the means to them are.

Is a person your brother simply because you signed the same bid card and were both paddled by the same pledge trainer? No. That’s why fraternity rituals are so rich in symbolism and meaning. These rituals have not changed since their inceptions, and most purely reflect the ideology of the founders. While I only have experienced the ritual of my own fraternity, I can only assume that others reflect the values and ideals of their particular fraternity.

As the international Jewish fraternity, we at AEPi have a responsibility to not only uphold the values of our founders (as all fraternities should have) but to be proud of our shared heritage in doing show. As Jews, we are instructed to be an “or la’goyim” (a light unto the nations), and as such we must be pioneers in values-based fraternity programming. This goes for programming during pledgeship, as well as for active brothers.

AEPi has committed to this type of programming by making plentiful grants available. You can go here to check them out.

Fraternally,

Kitty Kat

Next time… Midwest Conclave: Cincinatti