Will Ferrell In Favor Of Getting Rid Of Fraternities Altogether?
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,
SeattleA.
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]
“We were considered good enough to get the exchanges with the good sororities.” -Slick Willy
9 years ago at 2:37 pmfrank the tank has betrayed us.
9 years ago at 2:45 pmSo if we have to get rid of “white” Greek life, what happens with the black and other ethnic fraternities?
9 years ago at 3:33 pmWhy are people calling fraternities exclusionary like that’s a bad thing? The fact that they’re exclusionary is kind of the point of fraternities. Every top university is also exclusionary, but you don’t see these idiots demanding that Harvard admit all its applicants.
9 years ago at 4:27 pmBeing exclusionary is how our chapters minimize risk of an OU SAE situation. Rush and pledging exists so that we don’t end up with a bunch of fuck-ups that tarnish our letters.
9 years ago at 8:12 pmOddly, Dorn probably mirrors his opinion, at least to the extent of “OMG Greeks are thuper duper meanyheads, we should totes regulate them more!”
Fuck you Dorn.
9 years ago at 4:59 pmBlue, you’re my boy!
9 years ago at 5:22 pmNothing to do with Ferrell. I just had to get this off my chest. People are so quick to point out the negatives regarding fraternity culture, while at the same time completely disregarding the positives. They can’t just pick and choose the negative stereotypes that supposedly have been associated with Greek culture while simultaneously ignoring the positives, in order to support their argument. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I guarantee a good deal of the critics making these accusations haven’t done their research on Greek life, as a whole. It just pisses me off how the only “knowledge” and “experience” most critics of greeks have had was watching Animal House or articles in the newspaper. Deep down, I think these people are jealous of the brotherhood fraternal culture truly represents. They need to educate themselves on both sides of the issue if they wish to form an opinion. Don’t talk shit about our hazing policies, wild parties, etc. without also mentioning each chapter’s countless hours of philanthropic work. Condemning an entire group of people based on the actions of some is almost as ignorant as the Oklahoma incident itself. But I guess we’re all guilty by association
9 years ago at 6:34 pmWell said, and shame on anyone who told you to take a lap. I don’t know if jealous is exactly right, but we do have a sort of elitism in Fraternity culture, intimidated may be a better word to use.
9 years ago at 11:22 amMy favorite color is black
9 years ago at 11:24 pmBecome successful. Introduce social commentary to the mix. Say that you’re fraternity experience was “special”. Work in Hollywood. Point fingers.
9 years ago at 6:19 am