Ramos1

Jovan Ramos

English 113B

Professor Lawson

February 13, 2015

Ethnography: Zeta Beta Tau CSUN Fraternity House

The Month of February at CSUN for fraternities means spring recruitment. ZBT is the

oldest fraternity on campus. That is the difference between a fraternity and THE fraternity.

Spring recruitment includes cleaning the house, backyard and driveway. It is known for its

history for recruiting gentlemen of the future, and the Alumni names speak for themselves. For

example, Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, William Paley; Founder of CBS

etc. Before the intersection of Roscoe and Corbin Avenue there is a drive that leads deep into a

two-story house filled with history only the brothers of Zeta Beta Tau are honored to know.

Walking into the driveway you feel an honor and commitment, youre walking/ driving

through a driveway the founding fathers once walked through. While you walk through the drive

through youre surrounded by orange trees and palm trees that are the neighbors but grew well

enough to give the driveway shade. On the left side, you can see the neighbors chickens just

enjoying the sun and walking around our driveway. Once you reach the end of the driveway you

see the giant blue and gold words of Zeta Beta Tau and the honorable crest that has been

admired continuously by generations of the past and will continued to be honored by the men of

the future. On the left, you could also see our front lawn well cut and taken care of by the

gardeners that come once every week to trim the tress and cut the lawn. Entering the house, you

get the instant smell of febreeze and pizza. As soon as you enter the house on the left side beside
 Ramos2

the stairs there is a room known as The Chapter Room. This room is filled with pictures,

awards, books that have been passed down generations and saved as archives. In the room, you

could see awards on the walls of philanthropies and best GPAs. There are pictures on the

founding fathers on the wall. In middle of the room there is a pool table in case anyone wants to

play pool while they are surrounded by history.

Across from that room there is another room known as the poker room where brothers

enjoy playing poker, blackjack and cards against humanity. Then next to that there is the laundry

room well the brothers that live in the fraternity house do their laundry and dry their clothes.

Brothers that dont even live in the house are also welcomed to do their laundry. Next to that is

the kitchen that is known for having food, sink, dishwasher typical kitchen things. Across from

that you could see the floor transitioning from tiles to wooden floor. Once you reach the wooden

floor that is now the living room where the giant crest frame is honored as a shrine by all the

brothers. With the gold letters hanging from the chimney. The floor is a bit worn out from the

amount of parties and rituals the brothers have had.

There are five rooms in the house and two brothers live in each room, every brother has

their own bathroom. Going up the stairs you walk into the game room where brothers play guitar

hero, super smash bros brawl, call of duty etc. Some brothers usually use that as a kickback spot

to watch movies, eat in n out and hang out. Next to the Game room there is a balcony where

brothers layback on a couch with a speaker by their side looking upon the wilderness in front of

them and the tennis court/basketball court the house has. There are Christmas lasers on each side

and middle so that the tress and small forest behind the house isnt pitch dark but instead it is

covered with moving lasers.

Ramos3