Apparently the online fraternity is now no longer limited to that hilarious article in the Onion. According to a brief piece in Inside Higher Ed, Florida Institute of Technology has a new fraternity:
Theta Omega Gamma, created this year by a sophomore, Darrek Battle, exists exclusively online, serving a membership of 24 fully online students. According to Battle… “When I started school I was thinking ‘Are there any fraternities out there accepting online students?’ and I couldn’t find any,” So, he started his own. Theta Omega Gamma serves all the functions of a normal fraternity, Knerly says — “except for going out together and drinking.” But that is not Theta’s m.o. anyway; it is a service fraternity.
Yea, that’s the thing. Florida Tech already has seven fraternities and three sororities. Theta Omega Gamma isn’t one of those. It’s not a social fraternity; it’s one of those coed collegiate fraternities that exist only to do community service. Joining Theta Omega Gamma isn’t like pledging PIKE; it’s roughly the equivalent of joining Florida Tech’s Anime Club.
Of course, since the fraternity members don’t meet in person, their ability to perform actual community service seems somewhat limited. The whole online frat looks more like just a way to coordinate community service. What, a listerv wasn’t good enough? [Image via]
