Stomp The Yard and "Rep" Your Set...No, Not That One!

What This Fraternity/Sorority Thing Is All About

By Bianca Edwards
Rider Times Staff Writer

Dean of Students Aubrey Brown demonstrates the steps he employed when he Stomped the Yard at Virginia Union.

On the playground and streets, there are different neighborhood crews or gangs, with different street names, boys and girls wearing different colors, using scarves, tattoos, handshakes, or other body language to represent what 'set' they claim, but on the college campus there are different fraternities and sororities, represented by different Greek letter formations, where men and women represent what set they claim.

The recent interest in fraternities and sororities has been made popular by movies like Stomp the Yard and School Daze and has people wondering what this fraternity thing is all about. Why do men and women subject themselves to the hazing? What is the real purpose of these organizations and why do so many join?

At the start of the twentieth (20th) century, African Americans began to form organizations on college campuses, prior to then, these brotherhood, and sisterhood based associations were only afforded to the white student body. The first fraternity formed for black students, by black students, was Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. in December of 1906. It was founded on the campus of Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York. African American women weren't far behind; they established the first sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. in February 1908, later the sorority Delta Sigma Theta Inc. was founded in January of 1913, both at Howard University, in Washington D.C. While other black Greek organizations followed suit, these organizations were considered the first.

While many neighborhood crews have purposes such as attending parties, marking territory, participating in violence or illegal activities or just hanging out together, fraternities and sororities are developed for a specific reason. For example, A0A (Alpha Phi Alpha Inc.) members all adopt the principles of manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind, while an AKA (Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc.) sister's number one priority is to service mankind in education and religion, and a Delta member focuses on sisterhood, scholarship, and community service. All of these African American (some not limited to African American participation), organizations, for the most part, evolved into, if not were founded, as service organizations, for the advancement of the black race. Some were involved in The Great Depression, Civil Rights Movement, and others in cultural and economic endeavors, helping with health initiatives. Since then black Greek organizations have made a large impact on the community.

Barry Brinkley, coordinator of the Gear-Up program at Roosevelt.

The impact these first African American Greek organizations, as well as others, had in the community was so intense that more and more students aspired to cross over. Aubrey Brown, a teacher at Theodore Roosevelt High School, and member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Inc. crossed in the spring of 2000 at Virginia Union University. During a recent interview he explained the undergraduate and graduate benefits of joining the organization, as far as networking. Barry Brinkley, of the same fraternity, and coordinator of the GEAR UP program at Roosevelt stated, as an adult "the best personal experience is, just being able to travel, any where, to any major city in the country, and be able to call one of my 'frat' (fraternity) brothers and have somewhere to stay, have someone to hang out with...".

Sharon Farmer, Instructional Coordinator.

Sharon Farmer, an AKA, crossed in 1972, at Vanderbilt University, in Tennessee, with family members already in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She was easily influenced to pledge once she got to college. When asked would she do it all over again, Ms. Farmer stated, "If I could do it again...I would...I never felt like quitting." Alike, Kimberly Johnson, of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. who crossed at James Madison University in fall of 2000, also had no regrets, and expressed the benefits of professional networking if in fraternity/sororities for job opportunities. Between the incredible work ethics of these organizations, members found time to create art.

Crews, break dance, fight, or maybe even play a competitive sport to challenge one another. African-American Greek organizations do something a little different. They Stomp the Yard! Stepping competitions are "good friendly competition," said Mr. Brown. "It is showing expression and recreating art originated in Africa hundreds of years of go." Unlike street crews versus other street crews Greek rivalry is not hostile. "We love each other, and respect each other," Johnson said.

So with all this safe fun going on, and major opportunities, why would anyone not want to join these prominent organizations? Sharon Quick, a communications teacher at Roosevelt, did not join a sorority, but chose to join the Black Student Union to spearhead community service projects related to helping surrounding neighborhoods in North Carolina. In addition, regarding to her former opinion of joining a sorority and its members she stated, "I...thought they were pretty, prissy, little girls that did little cutesy things...." She later on went to say "I lived long enough now, yes, to regret my decision because sororities are an outstanding way to have friendships and bonds." Mr. Andrews, a math teacher, did not join a fraternity because he was already apart of an organization that required his total attention. "I had a wife and son when I was in college," Mr. Andrews said. "A fraternity or sorority was for those young people who wanted to belong to a group. I felt that my family was all that I needed and didn't need to identify with a group. I also thought that the initiation was a little inhuman and wouldn't put myself through it.

When high school ends, another chapter of life presents its self. In some lives college will be that next step. Brown, Brinkley, Farmer, Johnson, and Quick, all happen to have one thing in common; they encouraged students to first strive to get a college education, but then later consider Greek life, and to join an organization that best suites them, in other words, step off the playground and on to the campuses, but always Rep Your Set!

By Maurice Butler |  April 5, 2008; 7:38 AM ET
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