I began rushing a fraternity in October of 2001 without considering living in a fraternity house. Over the course of my freshman year, I frequented the Delta Upsilon house. It quickly became apparent to me what it is that separates the experience of living in a residential fraternity from living in the dormitories – a fraternity house is a true home for a generation of young men, whereas a dormitory is merely a disjointed collective of individuals who have grown to tolerate each other.
While fortune may bestow upon a residence a hall of people they can cohabit with, living in a fraternity house provides a sustained environment filled with good friends that share common respect. This ensures that I never need to bother a Resident Advisor with a complaint about overly loud neighbors. I could go next door and ask them to turn it down or even to turn it off with no fear of awkwardness, outright rejection or delayed retribution.
Living in a fraternity house provides a large common area to entertain guests and hang out with brothers. Every day there is the option to prepare food in a clean kitchen that has not been wrecked by an anonymous enemy, play foosball or billiards, watch a movie on a big screen television or just take a nap on the couch. I can do all these things with the knowledge that the respect for our shared property will ensure these luxuries will continue to exist for both current and future brothers.
Today, I played with another brother and a friend of his that I had never met on the arcade machine.
Social opportunities like this often arise when twenty-something diverse and involved men live together under one roof. The fraternity house acts as an open social center, offering fun and safe recreation for residents and visitors alike.
My college experience would certainly not have been the same without living in a fraternity house. I’ve met people that I would never have otherwise met and have become best friends with some of them.
Living in a house for the past three years has been an incredible experience I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who has not previously given it any thought.
Baccash can be reached at mbaccash@campustimes.org.
