Should fraternities and sororities be allowed on college campuses?

By Phillip (Age 14.5, Island School)

People join fraternities for various reasons: they want to feel involved, they think it's cool, they think it's an honor to be able to go up to a friend and boast the fact that they are part of the frat, etc. However, fraternities often cause a lot of problems, some of them major. 

When a freshman wants to join a fraternity or is asked to join a fraternity, they usually have to go through a process known as hazing. Hazing often involves very dangerous acts, and although some frats only require a brief albeit disgusting and unappealing process to get in - like licking someone's shoe - other frats ask for much more dangerous things. Some people have even been killed because of this process, like drug overdose or loss of judgment due to excessive consumption of alcohol. 

However, all these stories we hear are usually only of the minority. The majority of frats aren't very dangerous, and are in fact fun to be a part of. Feeling involved, in my opinion, is an important part of college life, because usually studying at that stage is very stressful, and going out once in awhile to meet up with a bunch of people and partying or pulling some pranks will relieve your stress.

Also, if you join a fraternity or sorority, once the dreaded hazing process is over and you're officially part of the group, things usually get much better. You make friends within the fraternity that you are part of, and after you graduate, the alumni will provide help and support when you need it. After all, most of them will be qualified college graduates and experts in different areas, and it's an easy way to make acquaintances. 

Instead of banning frats and sororities, a better solution would be to monitor the frats carefully, and have stricter regulations concerning the frats. Also, the hazing process should be strictly regulated, and have punishments for students who perform abusive acts on other students.

Banning frats and sororities still wouldn't stop secret societies and other kinds of groups from popping up, and in fact, might even encourage them to because the students might think it's cool do do something that you're not supposed to do. Also, they might find other meeting places that even further encourage them to break rules, like a disused part of the campus. 

It's good to be part of a group in college because later on in life, you'll eventually have to deal with different types of people, and being part of a frat will give you an early taste of what it would be like. Also, your affiliation with the people in the frat might even help you with problems on campus, from small things like homework to larger things like relationships with other students.

Banning frats and sororities wouldn't be the best solution because the students would find another way to do it anyway, and also, the bad things that happen in frats are usually the minority of cases. Frats encourage students to meet different people and learn how to deal with people, instead of being an anti-social saddo.