Quote:
Originally posted by patentparanyc
Pardon my ignorance, but Vanity Fair in the Beckham issue just did a piece on the skull and bones social club? fraternity? yale specific club? that George W and Kerry were members of. Is it the same organization? Odd initiations that include lying in a coffin.......
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No. Slave was talking about a social fraternity (DKE, I think) which has chapters on multiple college campuses. The people who are members of social fraternities, together with those who belong to social sororities, are collectively refered to as Greeks. Why Greeks, you ask? Because they get their names from the Greek alphabet. Zeta Tau Alpha. Pi Kappa Alpha. You get the idea.
Social fraternities are, well, social. There are academic fraternities and sororities, too. And professional and pre-professional ones, and they are all just wonderful organizations. (But the social frats have better keg parties.)
Other groups (like Skull and Bones) are specific to certain colleges. They are secret societies, and what they do is, by and large, well, secret. Somebody whose name escapes me (Ron Rosenbaum, maybe?) did an expose on them a couple of years ago in the New York Observer, I think. A google search should bring it up, if you're really curious.
To further confuse things, some Greek organizations (maybe even "most") are also theoretically secret. You know, rituals, handshakes, etc.
Bill Killer said it faster and better. And I misspelled "sororities" -- my inner Tri-Delt is so ashamed. 
