As I live with committed, vocal, frat hater Badler, I'm often given occasion to wonder if I really hate fraternities, believe them the singular source for all sad days and skinned knees, or think they are are all aspects of Satan's eternal evil. Decisions, decisions. I went to UCLA, and actually lived on sorority row. A bunch of my friends joined various fraternities, and a few I made were already involved. And none of them were nearly so fratty as the kids I shared a dorm floor with in the notably non-fratty UC Santa Cruz. So maybe they're all fine.
Except...Dana's recollection that "the few...truly horrifying sexist, racist, and homophobic altercations that took place during my college career all involved two of the most infamous athletic fraternities on campus" reminds me that the one truly nasty controversy that happened at Santa Cruz came from one of the handful of frats, when some brothers (who were being filmed by MTV) caught and barbecued one of the rare Koi fish we had in the Porter pond. Charmers, them.