What exactly is the purpose of fraternities/sororities?

I did not join a sorority either, so I can't answer your question.

This story just makes my heart so sad. That poor kid's parents!

I recently read about a new fraternity in Alabama trying to raise money to buy some land. They are then going to put tiny houses that they build on the land for homeless people to use.

This. Still involved in my sorority as an advisor (long distance). Hazing is not allowed by any National organization. Some colleges allow for local Greek organizations which have little to no oversight.

I would like to point out that hazing isn't just limited to fraternities and sororities. Many sport teams and other organizations participate in hazing.

And, these are invincible college students who think nothing and can happen to them. Alcohol poisoning and being "stupid" isn't limited to those in Greek organizations either.....

My dd just joined a sorority. From what I can see it's several things -- that have already been mentioned here, but I'll just give my impression as a mom.

1. It's a nice group of girls, "sisters", and it's a life-long network. They do fun things together at school -- this year so far they've gone to a hay maze (at night, eek), gone apple picking, and went on a hike to a local attraction. I like this because it means dd is getting away from campus.

2. They have mandatory study hours and your grades need to reflect that. If someone is having trouble academically the girls all step up to help, or to get the girl help from the university's tutoring service. My dd's "big" (the girl who sponsored her) happens to be a Spanish major and dd struggles with learning how to study a foreign language (not taught properly in high school, in my opinion) so her Big has helped her a lot in that area.

3. They all have a charity that they support. Dd's sorority's charity used to be polio research in honor of the son of one of the sorority's past presidents. The son died of polio and they took this as their cause. When the vaccine for polio was discovered they switched to support play therapy for children who are hospitalized. They raise money by various means, and also regularly visit the children's units of the hospitals in town. Nationally they have several major children's hospitals that they support, but off-hand I'm not sure which ones they are.

4. My dd's sorority has "official" positions of designated driver, and something else like "designated safe person" --- I forget what dd called it. At parties these two pledge not to drink alcohol and to watch out for the other girls. Since Hannah Graham was killed the girls have two "designated safe people" because they are determined that no girl will ever leave a party alone. There is also a campus-wide push for everyone to do this, not just the sorority.

5. They do various things on campus that are for the community in the town where the university is located. (this is a Greek effort, not just dd's sorority). Recently they had a big Halloween party/festival -- games, crafts, raffles, etc. Lots of the neighborhood kids came and judging by the photos everyone had a good time.

6. Hazing is not allowed. Although... one of the requirements for dd's pledge class was a week where they had to dress nicely and wear their sorority pin prominently on their shirt or dress. Dd commented that a lot of the boys might have taken that as "hazing" given how most of them look on campus. lolol. Dd loves to get dressed up so it was no problem for her. 

7. Leadership training. All the girls at dd's chapter are expected to attend at least one day-long leadership training session. They tell the girls that not everyone wants to be a leader, not everyone would be good at being a leader, and obviously not everyone *can* be a leader. But, you'll never know until you try. So they want all the girls to give it a try. I love this because the things they do at the workshop are helpful for anyone even if you never plan to be the CEO of a large corporation. Things like speaking in front of a group, being on both sides of the interview table, networking at conferences, skills analysis, etc. They sponsor other leadership training things for girls who might want to do more than the one-day one, but everyone is expected to take the one-day session. They also go twice a year to one of those outdoor ropes courses. This is "optional but encouraged" -- dd said no one is forced, and in fact her Big opted out because she's afraid of heights. 

Those are my positives. No far I haven't really seen any negatives. It does cost money although not as much as I expected. After the first year the cost goes way down because you don't have to buy things like the pin, and various sweaters and whatever in the sorority colors. Dd said that at some schools girls are expected to always be with their sorority sisters -- meals, social activities, everything. She said if this had been the case at her school she wouldn't have joined because she would have had to give up a lot of friends. She wanted the sorority to expand her friendships not constrain them. 

Well, that's my report as a new Sorority Mom. lol. 

Yes, of course there's underage drinking going on. This is all over college campuses, not just in fraternities and sororities. I do not believe we can ever stop this so the best thing we can do is to try to teach kids how to be safe. Things like designated drivers, designated safe people, never leave your drink unattended, never leave a party alone, understand how much alcohol will poison you and stop before that, etc. If we're lucky we'll have a kid who doesn't drink, like my dd. But honestly I don't think it's anything I can take credit for, it's just how she is. But from what I can see her sorority does a good job with keeping every safe at parties, and on campus. Since Hannah Graham was murdered this is on all our minds, of course. 

I think a lot of good come from them but unfortunately we hear the worst. I am about 20 minutes from Morgantown and was very sad to hear about this yesterday.

Lol, the part I bolded above in Marcy's post -- funny story from just last week. They've just done registration for next semester and dd had signed up for one class with a certain professor who she didn't know. She went to lunch with some of the girls from her sorority including many juniors and seniors (dd is a sophomore). They asked what she'd registered for and who the professors were and when she mentioned this one class everyone around the table said "nooooooooooooooo!" lol. Dd went back to her dorm and redid her schedule, changing to another section of this class. She told me that she figured if every single person at the table said no don't take his class then that was probably a good recommendation.... not like one person with a grudge or something. lol.

I was not in A sorority, but I was a little sis in a fraternity. Those guys and their families are still my friends 40 years after I graduated

So true! It even happens in marching bands; Ohio State being the most recent I heard about.

When one of my boys wanted to join a fraternity at college, I was very nervous - all the horror stories. But, he participated in many activities for others - parties for local kids, fund raising. Their house had been banned from parties for years before he arrived, and recently had their privileges reinstated, so there were many rules - strict invitation lists, ID checks, designated sober people, trained bartenders. He eventually became president and his girlfriend was president of her sorority (quite the "power couple" lol). The friendships, leadership, philanthropy, the politics of dealing with the administration and the town, are valuable lifelong skills I know they both learned.

As he pointed out to me multiple times - parties happen every where on/off campus. Those at Greek houses were much more regulated than say, the lacrosse team, because the Greeks had more to lose. The bad stuff that happened (at least at his school) usually involved drinking at places other than Greek parties.

What you joined sounds more inclusionary than what I see and hear sororities are. That is a good point about how Greek your school is. That will be important to my dd as she is about inclusion instead of exclusion.

She has been very involved in service projects and leadership through 4-H so she will want to continue with both, but not when she has to join an exclusive group to do it.

I was in a sorority and my chapter did not haze anyone. I did hear rumors about another sorority making all the girls strip down to their undies and and circle their fat. Alcohol poisoning was the biggest issue with my sorority. For me the sorority was just another way to meet more people, for that alone it was a valuable experience. If we did philanthropy, I don't remember. I'm sure we were required to do something once a year but maybe we did a fundraiser and not everyone participated, or maybe it was selling tickets to our annual formal? I visited 3 other schools that had my sorority, just emailed them to say I was coming for the weekend, and they gave me someone's room in the house, that's how friendly and open they were. I remember in one house all the freshman slept in one room together in the attic, I could never do that. I was active in the alumni chapter for awhile. I agree that being in a sorority is great for leadership training.

I had thought about joining one in college. I liked the ideas and goals they presented. The idea of being a part of something, working together, forming new friendships, and potential networking were all things I was thinking of. I joined the rush. Then I went to a Brother/Sister party they threw with a fraternity across the street. They had no problem serving underage students and I got alcohol poisoning. I probably should've spent the night in the hospital instead of finding my way back to my dorm room. I have a few gaps in my memory of that night so I'm not entirely sure what happened. I didn't like that feeling. After that party, I had a gut feeling I shouldn't be a part of the sorority and bowed out of rushing, claiming the fees were too much. I still cannot drink vodka without feeling sick.

I know for many, it's not all bad.