Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the brothers of Sigma Chi Omega, MTV’s newest spin on the reality TV craze.
First, there’s something you should know: I can’t stand reality television — anymore. Do you remember the first time you saw “Survivor”? I remember thinking how interesting an idea that was; four years later, television has milked the franchise for all it’s worth.
After the success of “Sorority Life,” another “Real World”-like TV show that covered the bickering of a local sorority in California, MTV decided to give America a taste of life in a fraternity, and things have gone terribly wrong.
MTV’s new show, “Fraternity Life,” follows Sigma Chi Omega, a small local fraternity in existence for fewer than four years at the University of New York at Buffalo, a fraternity self-described by brother George as “the Animal House on campus.”
Most of the Greek organizations at LSU started out as Sigma Chi Omega did. They were local fraternities and sororities that eventually expanded to the national scale.
The majority of our Greek organizations, however, have been in existence for more than 100 years and are now bound by a national chapter that oversees all chapters across the country.
Sigma Chi Omega saw a golden opportunity to get publicity and took it. The show, which airs Wednesdays on MTV at 9:30 p.m., has depicted every stereotypical act of a fraternity, from the parties to late-night pledge hazing.
If a fraternity on LSU’s campus were to show their pledges doing push-ups and getting yelled at in the middle of the night on national television, that fraternity would have a lot more to deal with than MTV’s director. Both LSU and the national chapter would come down quickly on that fraternity.
Sigma Chi Omega has no national chapter to answer to, so they figured they could show you, the viewer, a frat-boy stereotype that only hurts the Greek community.
What people forget is the good that fraternities do on campuses throughout the country. On LSU’s campus, fraternities host softball tournaments and derby days, informational speakers and countless other events to benefit the community and society.
Despite the nagging stereotype, fraternities aren’t all about drinking, girls and toga parties (that’s college in general). Ask the president of the United States, the governor of Louisiana and the countless CEOs and presidents of companies who are Greek alums if that’s all their experience meant to them. MTV is making a joke out of an American tradition.
As one of my professors likes to say, the question is this: What kind of completely desperate person would want to be “Married by America,” or have their family compete against each other for cash, or worse, devalue their brotherhood by sharing it with an audience?
The answer is someone willing to sell his soul to the proverbial publicity devil. Maybe the brothers of Sigma Chi Omega got it right. By being on MTV they probably will get more members, more money and more recognition, but one thing they will be lacking is respect.
After viewing the first few episodes of the reality show, the University at Buffalo has recently “suspended the Sigma Chi Omega fraternity pending a University review of reports of hazing and student conduct violations,” according to their Web site. Looks to me like what goes around comes around.