Greek Generations

The greek system at IU after the Great Depression reflected the attitudes and beliefs of the time: conservative, modest, with an emphasis on conformity. Fraternities and sororities played a bigger part in the university than they do now. Each era in the greek system has had its own particular beliefs, fashions and ideals, each different from one another. The contrast with today is especially marked, say some greeks, including sophomore Sarah Iba, president of Alpha Chi Omega.\n"My sorority now tries to focus on the individual and accepting her for who she is, not conformity," she said.\nBut in the past, sorority women and greek men had to live by stricter rules and lived a more rigid lifestyle.\nThe late 1930s and early 1940s\nBob Dro, 82, and his wife Jean, 81, were both in the greek system in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Bob came to IU as a heavily recruited basketball player, even though he never considered himself college material. IU offered no scholarships for athletes, so Dro worked during the summer and winter breaks to pay for college and food. \nThis was the tail end of the depression, and, as Dro recounted, "Everyone was poor." \nBob joined Alpha Tau Omega fraternity as a freshman. He played varsity football, baseball and basketball. Jean came to IU a year earlier and decided to pledge Delta Gamma.\nUnlike the social life of today's greek system, Bob and Jean's greek social life revolved around thriftiness.\n"We would go for cakes and lemonades with our girlfriends," Bob said. "We would look for anything free to do."\nMoney was so tight during that era that Bob and many of his brothers at Alpha Tau Omega cleaned dishes and raked leaves around the fraternity for extra cash to pay for their food. \n"We had food tickets for so many pounds of food a month, and you had to work for the money to pay the ticket back over any break you had," Bob said.\nLike many of her Delta Gamma sisters, Jean made her own clothes. Almost every sorority taught incoming women how to sew their own clothes, Jean said. \nDelta Gamma sisters do not sew their own clothes anymore, said senior Lila Doma, president of Delta Gamma.\n"We go to the mall. And I wouldn't classify us as poor," she said. "Sisters in my house will spend anywhere from $10 to $100 a week." \nHenry Remak, professor emeritus, added that brothers took fraternity life a lot more seriously then. \nHe estimated that three-quarters of the brothers in his Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity were the first from their families to come to college. He said they were a lot more interested in expanding their academic horizons than students now.\n"They would have considered it irresponsible to their parents or their grandparents to get drunk and do drugs," he said.\nRemak explained that to do so meant letting down their parents and grandparents who worked so hard to get them into college. \nThe late 1940s and early 1950s\nIn 1947, Bob Stebbins, 73, was discharged from the Navy after serving on a destroyer during World War II. With the war ended, Stebbins was among the flood of GIs that swept onto campus.\nWith this influx of students, fraternities and sororities started to expand their capacity and take in more members. Stebbins decided to leave the residence halls during his sophomore year and join Sigma Alpha Epsilon, then located where the Jordan Avenue parking garage near Read Center now stands.\n"Back in those days there was a lot of competition, identity and pride among the fraternities and sororities," he said. \nFrank B. Jones, 77, also served in World War II. He first came to IU in 1942 and was part of Delta Upsilon until he enlisted at the start of the war. When he returned to IU in 1945, he felt a little out of place.\n"Because of the war, the fraternities' houses often had members who were four, five and even six years' difference but were the same year in school," Jones said.\nFor greek members like Jones and Stebbins, formal dances and serenades were the stable social activities of the greek system in the late 1940s and early 1950s. \n"We (greek members) would all go to dances in our tuxes almost every day. The fashion at fraternities was very fancy. You'd dress up and send a flower to your girlfriend ahead of time," Jones said. "We did a lot of formal serenades, too. We'd go to a sorority house every weekend and sing songs and give them all flowers."\nEveryone in the greek system at that time dressed formally, even to class, Stebbins said. Men always dressed in corduroys, a shirt, tie or nice sweater, and dress shoes. He added that undergraduates could not wear white corduroys until they were seniors. Freshmen and sophomores in the greek system had to wear green beanies. \n"Back then, (the greek system) was the backbone of the University," he said.\nThings have changed since then.\nSocial activities are more regulated by the Interfraternity Council and the University now, said A.J. Brinkers, sophomore and president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.\n"We don't stress the formal attire anymore, but we do want brothers to represent the house well," he said. "The bars are now the greek system's social life. For the older guys who are 21, they go to the bars. For the younger guys, they try to get fake IDs and go to the bars."\nSue Talbot, 62, had a different perspective on life in the greek system. When she joined Alpha Chi Omega in 1956, she noticed that sororities had different rules from the fraternities.\n"We'd never do anything like walk down the street while chewing gum or smoking a cigarette at the same time," said Talbot. "Sororities were almost like a finishing school for girls. They were there to teach you manners and how to be a lady."\nA lot of women in Talbot's era did not go to college or join the greek system to further their education. They joined to find a husband.\n"There was still the feeling that if you were a woman, you went to college or joined a sorority to meet a husband," said Talbot.\nBut what struck her the most was how seriously students took being members of the greek system.\n"The greeks were very strong in the 1950s. If you got deactivated, it was almost a fate worse than death. We were a close knit society and took being in a sorority very seriously," Talbot said. "We never heard of the word (deactivate)." \nBut as Brinkers sees it, the greek system has lost some of its strength within the University. \n"I would not classify us as the backbone anymore," he said. "We're still very important but we've been under so much pressure from IFC and the dean that it makes it hard on fraternities and sororities"