To the Editor:

As I start the second semester of my senior year, the proverbial walk off into the sunset, I ponder what has become of frat life here at our illustrious university. With many freshman guys once again set to filter off to their respective microcosms of the Vandy social scene, it seems the times are a-changin’. I wonder how any normal guy can field a phone call on a Sunday night from another guy about a Thursday night dinner date and not raise an eyebrow. I wonder how a freshman can be manipulated to think disparaging thoughts about a fraternity by a conniving “rival” frat-star gentleman. Most of all, I wonder how fraternity rush has become the mudslinging, hissy-fit debacle that is stereotypical of sorority rush in the movies.

See, it didn’t used to be like this. Dudes used to hang out. That’s how rush was conducted in the “old days.” But the old days are just that — old, over and in the past. The mass exodus of freshmen from Branscomb to The Commons was thought to be doomsday for ole Frat Row. Turns out, it seems that the new breed of frat stars has beaten the multi-million dollar brainchild on Peabody to the punch. Fraternity houses will still be standing when the class of 2009 returns for reunion after reunion, but the dynamic fraternities once brought will be forgotten once we toss the caps in the air. Although, I bet the class of, say, 1999 would say similar things about us.

Douglas Paul Schuessler Jr.
Senior
College of Arts and Science