Alpha Sigma Phi Colony Fuels Outrage Machine With Photo Of Oklahoma Member In White Ritual Robe
Ritual. Why we still waste away a perfectly good Sunday night in a candle lit room with a bunch of sweaty dudes, dressed like Klan members, and reciting the outdated words our fraternity’s founding fathers wrote a hundred years ago, I’ll never understand. I get that may be an unpopular opinion among all of you that get a raging hard on from the “tradition matters” and “it’s what unifies us with other chapters” bullshit we tend to sell, but I have some quality primetime television programming to attend to — especially during the spring semester. Why can’t it ever be on a Tuesday night? That way I’m not missing the power hour and a half of Thrones into Silicon Valley or the progressive downfall into insanity of Rick in The Walking Dead in favor of the newly elected fraternity president stumbling over words like Floyd Mayweather trying to read Shakespeare. Most brothers don’t take it seriously to begin with, and to the outside world, the general appearance of what’s happening is far from an ideal look. Mainly the hoods. Scratch that. It’s entirely the hoods.
That’s exactly what stirred up controversy at the University of Oklahoma where an Alpha Sigma Phi colony brother (so not even a real member yet) snapchatted a dope ass photo in his white robe.
Obviously, there’s nothing really wrong with this photo — other than the fact that ritual is the fraternity’s “most important” secret and he clearly has less respect for it than I do — but you just know this will be seen by the wrong person completely out of context. Take into account this is the same school fresh off the SAE bus chant, too.
From KOCO:
The picture was shared via Snapchat and also sent to an African-American student organization, which quickly began tweeting it and demanding answers from university leaders.
Fraternity President and Chief Executive Officer Gordy Heminger said this is a teachable moment for all involved.
“It was a student not thinking through how something would be perceived, especially with no context,” Heminger said.
He explained the chapter conducted an initiation ceremony over the weekend and part of it included robes of different colors used.
Heminger said moving forward, the group will not be using that robe for any public or private ceremonies.
First rule of ritual is that you do not talk about ritual. Second rule of ritual is that you do not talk about ritual. The third rule of ritual is that if someone yells “Stop!” or goes limp or taps out, ritual is over. Oh, and no phones. Ever. We can never seem to get that one down. Put the fucking cellular devices away, guys..
[via KOCO]
For God sakes how about the fraternity website do some actual research. The robe is stone grey notice that the white stripes in the tie are brighter than the GREY robe. These kids are obviously dumb for taking pics of a ritual robe, but this is taken completely out of context. I guess the new rule is don’t wear anything on the color wheel that appear, under certain lighting, as white. This is insane just another liberal attack looking for a reason to call fraternity members racist and you played right into their hands. How about next article you actually attempt something that resembles due diligence
9 years ago at 3:10 pmI’ve done our initiation ritual over a dozen times and it’s white, dude. One of our colors may be stone grey, but the robe is definitely white. There are a lot of different colored robes used.
9 years ago at 3:32 pmObviously you got some knockoffs
9 years ago at 3:33 pmThere is one grey robe and one red robe and the rest are black…
9 years ago at 3:36 pmThat’s false, there are more colored robes than just red, black, and what your saying is “grey”.
9 years ago at 3:41 pmJust called our former president there was a purple one ours got destroyed in a freak bonfire accident. But, regardless these kids dont even get to choose the colors of the robes. they come from nationals and even theyre not dumb enough to give a bunch of fraternity kids white robes. Although, they definitely were dumb enough to give them a robe that could be easily mistaken for white.
9 years ago at 3:55 pmReally sorry this happened to your organization, but that’s a terrible defense.
9 years ago at 3:37 pmPersonally I dont really care. Nationals give the robes to run the ritual its definitely grey I could get a picture of it. I dont understand why anyone on here would believe that National would give them a white robe. In that scenario national would have to make the white robe and apparently overlook the fact that this comparison could be made. Considering they of all people understand the scrutiny that is given to fraternities do you really think they would make this mistake. I thought it was white when I saw it as a pledge, but on further review realized I was wrong. Nationals isnt that stupid, but still they are dumb enough to create a robe that is light grey (stone grey) and overlook the fact it could still be taken as white. However, even if this was a poor choice, it still doesnt change the fact that it was grey. This TFM guy obviously was too hammered at ritual to notice the difference.
My point is: (1) they didnt even choose the robe nationals did; (2) the robe is grey not white–no one in their right mind would wear a white robe in todays society for the obvious reasons. I dont know who the hell jamie is nor do I really care, but the official robe from nationals is grey… Nationals is dumb but not that dumb
9 years ago at 3:51 pmNationals isn’t a giant manufacturer, kid. Your robes, cloths, props, ritual books, and everything else don’t “come from nationals.” They simply have the connections. And yes, there are different colors for the same robe. Your west coast and east coast chapters probably received their robes from different manufactures. More importantly, the processes and fabric change over time. A new colony today won’t see the same robes as a colony 50 years and certainly not the same as your founders.
9 years ago at 6:33 pmAlso not a defense I just feel bad for this kid whose dumbass friend posted a pic of him wearing the robe that nationals gave him and will forever be haunted by it. If you put it next to a KKK robe it wouldnt even look close, but ill let everyone go ahead and blow this out of proportion, and destroy this kid who was simply following a handbook. Should the robe be changed so this doesnt happen yes, but is it this kids fault maybe for sending the pic if he was the one that did it, but in reality this is nationals problem. I started an alpha sig chapter too, but then I graduated. The only reason I’m even defending this is because reckless reporting like this ruins kids lives, and at this point TFM is simply perpetuating the issue. Just like the Rolling Stone, they have produced a shock value headline that misrepresents the actual event. Their feeble attempt to reconcile the issue in the column, and defend the college student, will never be read. This is why when I have kids I will probably and regretfully urge them not to join a fraternity, because at any point their life can be ruined by reckless journalism, which is terrible, because being a member of Alpha Sig was probably one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. However, the risk now far outweighs the reward. So, be careful, because you actions inside your house always risk being misinterpreted by outsider pushing an agenda that values viewership over logic and reason
9 years ago at 4:37 pmGo staple your vagina shut. No one gives a shit about stone grey versus white. It’s 100% about the pointed hood. And for god’s sake, do some research. The kkk also has black, red, and even grey robes, and other colors; striped and unstriped; decorated; etc.
9 years ago at 5:42 pmWhy the fuck are you photographing your ritual stuff in the first place? Have some respect.
9 years ago at 3:12 pmExactly. It’s ritual, not show and tell.
9 years ago at 4:41 pmPhones weren’t meant to be taken into ritual. Why isn’t this a rule by now?
9 years ago at 7:23 pmFor fucks sake pull your head out of your ass, this is just utter stupidity at it’s finest.
9 years ago at 3:23 pmNot trying to incite a riot but why wasn’t there outrage like this for Beyonce wearing black panther’s garb? It was very obviously racist, but of course the media just turns a blind eye to anyone racist that isn’t white.
9 years ago at 3:28 pmTo be perfectly honest, had TFM not posted this story I would never hear about it. But you’re dead right about the blind eye. There’s chatter on the internet about beyonces choice of garnments. Sure not Ferguson calibur outrage, but it’s going around in the form of an anti-beyonce protest at the NFL headquarters. And I only know that because google suggested the story since I “shown interest in the NFL”…
9 years ago at 11:47 amWill it make national headlines? Probably not.
I know their risk manager through a girl I used to date. He got kicked out of triangle because of some shady shit this does not surprise me at all
9 years ago at 3:38 pmWhat ever happened to tradition? One of the things that make fraternities what they are is the fact that we are secret societies that outsiders don’t know about. Secrets reserved for those who went through a process and earned their place. This moron wants to send snaps of what’s going on within the chapter around campus and not expect any repercussion, especially after wearing a hood… the stupidity of seem people amazes me
9 years ago at 3:40 pmSome* ^ woops
9 years ago at 3:41 pmI’m an Alpha Sig and this is truly the dumbest thing someone can do. Hope you get the boot kid don’t be messing with ritual
9 years ago at 4:41 pmI love how that dude up there is pissed about this yet continues to tell us even more about their ritual…
9 years ago at 4:55 pmUnderneath every comment sits 3 tabs. TFM spent years developing this revolutionary technology. Do us all a favor. Learn how to use the fucking reply button.
9 years ago at 8:25 pmSad part is that this is a public robe. Alpha Sig marches through campus in robes on their founders day to honor deceased members. The leader of this Black Lantern Ritual is wearing this white robe. This has never been a problem in the past for any chapter nationally. Sensitive fuckers.
9 years ago at 5:46 pmI don’t know if you’re an Alpha Sig or not, but the white robe has been replaced by a black robe with a white stole for public ceremonies such as the Black Lantern.
9 years ago at 7:11 pmRegardless of if the robe is grey or white it has a pointed hood and a white guy in it. Plus this kid is now going to have to make the Nationals come in and explain secret rituals to the media
9 years ago at 5:51 pm