Will Ferrell In Favor Of Getting Rid Of Fraternities Altogether?

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Will Ferrell — funny man, all-around good dude, and notable alumnus of the Delta Tau Delta chapter of Southern Cal — has an opinion on the fraternity system that won’t be well-received around here.

While in Austin for South By Southwest to promote his new movie “Get Hard,” Ferrell sat down with The New York Times to discuss a few topics. Racism in fraternities, being a hot-button topic as of late, came up. Ferrell was asked if he believes joining a fraternity was “still a worthy consideration” for young men. The exchange is below.

Q.

Will, we are fraternity brothers of Delta Tau Delta, albeit different chapters and years. The recent awful situation with SAE has brought out the “frat haters” in droves. Could you comment on your own fraternity experience and why (or why not) fraternity membership is still a worthy consideration for a college student? — Stephen Browning,
Seattle

A.

The incident in Oklahoma, that is a real argument for getting rid of the system altogether, in my opinion, even having been through a fraternity. Because when you break it down, it really is about creating cliques and clubs and being exclusionary. Fraternities were started as academic societies that were supposed to have a philanthropic arm to them. And when it’s governed by those kind of rules, then they’re still beneficial. But you gotta be careful. I was lucky in that the one I was in, we were really kind of the anti-fraternity fraternity. We were considered good enough to get the exchanges with the good sororities. We couldn’t get anyone to vote on anything, but if you needed 40 guys to show up and build a 20-foot-tall papier-mâchéversion of the Matterhorn, we were there and ready. But we didn’t take it too seriously. It was just about having fun. But I think it’s an interesting dilemma for universities these days.

Say it ain’t so, Randy Graves.

“Anyway, we were having this slave auction fundraiser…” Such a funny skit.

[via The New York Times]

  1. InHoc04

    Some good points and his heart’s in the right place, but dismantling the entire fraternity system is ridiculous. Also, note that he says the Oklahoma incident is “real argument for getting rid of the system.” Will’s not necessarily advocating that we get rid of the fraternity system, but highlights some folks could make that case.

    9 years ago at 10:26 am
  2. Shut up Meg

    Probably got pressed into an interview and this was his bullshit answer to get out of the conversation. Im not gonna jump on will ferrell and call him a sell out. I think theres more to this, behind the scenes hes definitely still frat as fuck.

    9 years ago at 10:29 am
  3. puffdaddy

    “Being the anti-fraternity fraternity” is like being that girl who “is basically one of the guys because she hates the drama.”

    9 years ago at 10:34 am
  4. Will Ferrell's Shocking Response To Racism In Fraternities | 10Worthy

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    9 years ago at 10:35 am
  5. prex8390

    Total click bait column, didn’t even come close to saying they should close them all, just that they have gotten away from their roots

    9 years ago at 10:37 am
  6. ZeteNJ

    The way he described his chapter, is basically every fraternity in America. The SAE’s at OU, they are the outliers. The Penn State shit, that’s a little less surprising to be totally honest. You’re kidding yourself if you think that any guys, in a fraternity or not, are not going to trade nudy pics. I mean, my brother’s own girlfriend once made him an album, and he literally couldn’t wait to show me. The part about them being passed out though, that’s fucked up.

    9 years ago at 11:57 am