new guys?

Okay that's awesome and good to know! I'm a transfer student from a small community college right next to my hometown and I'm just trying to get adequate with all of them before pledging for one. So far i liked ATO and Pi Caps but what fraternity would you recommend?

If you randomly posted asking what religion is right for you, how would anyone honestly answer that. No one can recommend a fraternity to a stranger. You need to find the place you fit & they need to figure out if you are what they're looking for (which is dif for each one).

If you honestly can't fit in with any of the current fraternities then PhiTau is colonizing this year with an all new group.

Sig Nu is aight.

They have never attempted to affiliate with IFC, and if they had they'd understand that it is not possible. You have to be a national organization with at least 5 chapters. We don't take locals, and we don't take any random group that decides to call itself a fraternity without paying for the expensive insurance the rest of us have to or following the rules that go with it. They are a joke. Full of rejects. If they want be in a real fraternity then they should look up Theta Chi or Phi Tau. They'd still be a joke, but at least they'd be a fraternity, and one that means something. I am truly embarrassed for our community that any self respecting sorority woman would associate with these people.

it'd be cool to have a general social fraternity founded in Texas..... but, their choice of letters is kind of stupid and would seem like a really unfortunate joke if they ever got established.

In a hundred years they could be closer to that... But they'd still be called ΜΣΝ....

Oh we CAN argue... You're still not a fraternity

Not caring about your schools homecoming events? Not caring about your schools oldest traditions? Not caring about fraternity competitions (with all IFC fraternities involved) in front of the largest sorority on campus? Not caring about the largest philanthropy events that the school hosts or is involved in? Not caring what administration thinks about you? Talking bad about Sororities on campus? Just caring to socialize?

Really?!? I don't even know what to say to that.

All of that stuff is meaningless. It's stuff we do, but it doesn't define us. It's times and events where yes we do socialize between organizations and that's about it. If you really think that crap has anything to do with competition within the Greek system or the quality of any organization, then you are very confused.

Philosophically I believe that product is a good gauge of a company or organization. We live in a capitalist society and the goal is to compare ourselves with each other and strive to be better. Competition fuels excellence. I personally think that if everyone really put their best foot forward in every competition and in everything they do we would be better as a collective society even though we are individualistic.

That's cute. But the reality is there's intense competition in the Greek system, but it's about things that matter, like the quality of your members, not made up programs like homecoming. Just because awards are given out at the end of a process doesn't mean we're motivated to compete. Those programs are about bringing us together as an opportunity to socialize and network between organizations, not drive us apart. The groups chasing trophies look like idiots. That's like running real fast and pushing people out of your way at a charity 5k.

To people 50 years from now? Compared to that of chapters 150 years ago? Right, saddly yals story will go on as an alpha colony of rejects that couldn't make it through other fraternities pledgeship; gave up, and then decided to start your own. Rejects. By the way, an incorporated base, Has nothing to do with values, rituals and fraternal bond between men. You're strictly a club, based on the business exchange of profit. You do not amount to that of any chapter that has been, will be and remains here at state. Best of luck to you poor, unfortunate outcasts of Texas State Greek society.

A 501(c)7 means you're tax exempt, not deductible. And, it has absolutely nothing to do with being all-male or not. It doesn't take long. Get a competent lawyer/accountant. Or maybe a real Greek along the way misplaced your paperwork. Who knows how these things happen.

no it does not. It is a tax status and nothing else. You can elect to be a single gender organization regardless of your tax status. Whoever is telling you something different is a moron.

The UT text is a very narrow interpretation based on their internal policies and the nature of the relationship with student orgs. That is not Texas State policy. If it were, you would not currently be recognized.

Most student orgs are not incorporated, much less tax exempt. That is true of fraternity chapters too in several states (not this one).

Right now you are a local fraternity not eligible for IFC membership because you are not associated with & functioning under the industry standard rules of a national. You should be founding other chapters governed by the Alpha chapter until you're able to pay for a full time national staff/office with a corporate board of directors and an educational foundation. When you've accomplished all that then you can lobby NIC to admit you. If and when you pass a super majority vote of all existing nationals, then we'll consider you for IFC membership. Not until then.

Get a better lawyer. Or don't and just go away, cause right now you're an insult to my org and community, and by your existence you are an affront to my beliefs. You should very seriously reconsider your path and seek affiliation with an existing national who fits into the balanced philosophical options offered and the character of our community.

true, I did not find the Texas State policy written anywhere on the web. However, we were told by the administration that the 501(c)7 status would allow us to override title 9. That is why we are filing for it. It took us 9 months to get our trademark fully established. Like I said earlier we are working on it, as well as expansion. 1 year under our belt, remember. But, we would like the support of the Greek community at Texas State. Mu Sig could become the national fraternity from Texas State....so some support would help

No one cares where the alpha chapter is from. Even if you're successful, it will not make you special even on this campus. That could not be more meaningless to us.

You're not going to get support when you start as a local in any well established Greek system. Neither when you try to create a new national, which means by definition you reject the beliefs of all existing nationals and will work against us in forcing your opposing beliefs on the world. You will not have the support of the establishment and any who do support you will soon find themselves on the outside looking in.

Your choices are to be our enemy and try to succeed in spite of it, affiliate with an existing national and join our community, or shut down. There are no other options. You walked into something without knowing what you were doing and you went the wrong direction. Either correct it or go away.

You are so misguided.

There are fraternities about advancing Judaism, Christianity, or various different secular philosophies (hence the Greek, which is really about Latin). As a practical matter, Greeks function in similar ways, so we have some shared interests. But, we are in no way about similar things.

It would be stupid to say "current day IFC Greeks have lost a piece of what their founders intended" unless you have been through the full education process and seen the ritual of every single fraternity. You have no idea what we're about or what we do behind closed doors to advance those beliefs.

The literary societies that predate American fraternities were not reading books and talking about their feelings. They explored info & behavior that was in some cases illegal and in all cases banned by the school. They met in secret to avoid expulsion. When rumors came up, they said they were book clubs.

Our meetings intentionally conflict with the local mason lodge. Our members should fully explore the beliefs and goals we teach them so they can figure out who they are and who they will be in life. Then they can decide if something like masonry is compatible with their task. It may be best left to after graduation.

You have a terrible understanding of all things Greek and of the world. You've told us our rituals and chapters are crap, but your upstart group is the solution. You've repeatedly insulted us and made us look bad. You will never be permitted in IFC.

Of course every ritual and every education system is different. But the most if not all of the Greek system is based on freemasonry/ templar. Ignoring the foundations of the American Greek system is, in my opinion, not the way to go. I know at UT they have "university" lodges that consist largely of members of social fraternities. This brings brothers all across the Greek system together. UT has one of the best Greek life's in the country. I don't believe that bs that IFC fraternities purposefully do this, I think it is just a lack of knowledge that they are doing it.

The shared interest is brotherhood. So lets expand it. I care not for individual aims. I never said the rituals, values, and education is crap, I am saying that we are all alike rather than different, and that we should support the pillars that formed the American Greek system.

Literary societies are the foundation for our western civilization, they not only predating the social fraternity system, but the some of the fraternity system pre-renaissance (and even prior to that). The greatest minds met in secret with handshakes and signs and discussed "their feelings" about the king, science, poetry, art, etc. This lead to an explosion of ideas. The literary societies were like these, but sometimes had misguided aims which lead to their removal. Philosophy is the guide.

I would like to see the Texas State Greek system achieve all that it can and unity and brotherhood should be championed.

keep in mind there are other people in this convo not representative of us

Texas State's Greek life does far less for their campuses community than UT's, UT's does not have a bad relationship with the school, hazing is far more rampant at SEC schools, and anyone who would deny they're top Greek schools is an idiot, hazing at UT has significantly declined in recent years since the school cracked down and is pretty mild now, the Greek life has far more money and prominent national members, and I have no idea what your talking about, all of the fraternities on campus including Omicron are recognized by the school, and they're basically all in the IFC.