IAmA former member of a fraternity. AMA.

I noticed that a lot of times when college-aged men display shitty behavior and it is reported to reddit, there is often times a unfounded claim that he's a "frat boy", and a slew of hate aimed towards people in fraternities ensues. I'm not sure if "frat boy" or "frat bro" or whatever has become synonymous with "asshole" or if people honestly think that all assholes are automatically members of fraternities. Either way, it's offensive to a lot of people. Normally reddit enthusiastically rejects stereotypes, but for some reason the hate towards members of fraternities seems to be pretty well received in this community.

I'm not sure if it's lack of understanding or experience or a failure to see the value in the Greek system that is so brutally affecting reddit's opinion of fraternities, but I thought I'd try to see if I can clear up some misconceptions about fraternities. I'm not sure if there will be any interest, but I'm certainly willing to try.

I would like to avoid details about my identity (hence the throwaway account) and I won't answer questions revealing fraternity secrets (specifics about our rituals and whatnot - more general questions about rituals are fine), but I'm happy to answer most other questions. Any trolling or flaming will be ignored (and hopefully moderated). I'm also unwilling to accept or excuse the behavior of any assholes or douche bags anywhere, regardless of their affiliation with a fraternity. I can only assure you that we're not all like that (I would even go so far as to say most of us aren't like that).

I was an active member of small chapter of a national fraternity at a relatively large public university for multiple years during my college career (early-to-mid 2000's), and graduated in good standing (and therefore am an alumnus of my chapter). I found it to be an overall positive decision that gave me a really well-rounded and rich college experience. I have a lot of experience with Greek Life outside of my specific campus (other chapters and whatnot). Ask me anything.