In theory, America is a shining light to the rest of the world. In practice, our country and its leaders falls short of that billing. But where do our leaders learn to break their promises? According to photographer Andrew Moisey, this behavior is learned inside the American fraternity.

Between 1999 and 2006, Andrew had unprecedented access to a fraternity house at UC Berkeley. As he photographed all aspects of fraternity life, he began to wonder if our then-President, George W. Bush, didn’t participate in a lot of the same, repulsive scenes he was capturing.

The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Book, is an uncomfortable look at fraternity life as never scene before — at least by the outside world. To those of us on the inside, many of the images found in Andrew’s book may look uncomfortably familiar.

It may seem contradictory to the ethos of this site to have Andrew on, but, in fact, I think his perspective as an unaffiliated man is insightful and invaluable.

In our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss…

* the parallels between the promises made by fraternity men and the promises made by America’s leaders

* why it’s important to explore one’s wild side

* how women influence fraternity culture

* what fraternities could do moving forward to become more inclusive and more meaningful

Listen here. ⬇

Selected links from episode 18 about The American Fraternity

Read the essay that Andrew referenced during the episode, when he talked about how obvious it was that fraternities had more influence on college students than their professors.

Learn more about Presidents and First Ladies who were involved in Greek Life, courtesy of Fran Becque.

Get in touch with Andrew Moisey via his personal website.

—–

Greek Life Today aims to elevate the fraternity & sorority community by sharing inspiring stories from chapters across North America. If you know of a story that could make a good episode, nominate it on this page.