While fraternities might have strict rules about who gets to come to their house parties where kegs of beer are poured into red Solo cups, they are absolutely tight-lipped about their ceremonies and rituals – only for the initiated. But a new book lifts the lid on that secrecy with photographs that provide portraits of intimate moments.
The inside look into an unnamed fraternity at the University of California, Berkeley offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into Greek life – often wild, sometimes ceremonial as well as the everyday. In juxtaposition to the partying, puking and penises, is the text from the fraternity’s 60-year-old ritual book, where honor and chivalry are extolled.
Photographer Andrew Moisey, 38, gained unprecedented access to the fraternity through his younger brother, who was a member, and was able to shoot the out-of-control celebrations and binge drinking while also attending the organization’s ceremonies. Even so, he was not allowed to photograph everything and some rituals were off-limits, and he agreed not to name the members or the fraternity.
Moisey did the main bulk of his photographing starting in 2000 until 2006, spending seven years documenting the brothers – who are not identified – and later would find their ritual book, which would inspire the format of his new book, ‘The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Manual.’ The book offers a contrast between the ideals that the fraternity espouses with the reality of behavior it actually encourages, and explores the fact that secret societies are a part of American tradition and culture that often isn’t seen. It also draws the connection that fraternities – with their wildness and drunkenness – are incubators for past and future leaders and it lists 400 prominent businessmen, Congressmen, Supreme Court justices, and presidents that are and were members.
On the right is a page from the fraternity’s actual ritual book – with the made-up fraternity name of Psi Rho – of their ritual of initiation, while on the left is a photograph by Andrew Moisey, who spent seven years documenting an unnamed fraternity at the University of California, Berkeley
After photographing the fraternity for many years, Moisey said he found its 60-year-old ritual book, and included text from it for his new book, ‘The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Manual.’ The ritual book extols honor and chivalry
Moisey said that the photos he took of the fraternity in the 2000s have a different relevance in the #MeToo era
‘The fraternity is all about shaping men… to having particular values and they pledge oaths to very high values, things that I think all of us would think are good. One of the things that the book shows or at least tries to show are the things that they say on the one hand and the things that they do on the other, and they often don’t match up,’ Moisey told DailyMail.com.
The purpose of the book, which is being published by Daylight, was not to focus on the one particular fraternity but rather that secret societies are a part of American culture – a huge aspect that often isn’t seen, he explained.
He said: ‘I was not interested in this particular fraternity itself but I was interested in the culture that the United States has of men joining secret societies in college and the kinds of things that they do that other people not in those societies don’t do.’
Many photographs in the book show binge drinking and drunkenness, which is in sharp contrast to the ideals the fraternity holds and that are laid out in the organization’s ritual book
Moisey gained access to the fraternity through his brother, who was a member. He documented the partying and some ceremonies but even for him some rituals were off-limits. Above, two fraternity members pour beer down one member’s throat
The fraternity is all about shaping young men to have particular values, Moisey told DailyMail.com, and they pledge oaths to very high values. He said his book is trying to show the things they say and what they do often don’t match up. Above is a fraternity member puking
Photographs in the book depict women, sometimes passed out (left), drinking, hanging out, and as part of couples. On the right, a member of the fraternity paints a woman
Moisey, who is an assistant professor and director of visual studies at Cornell University, said he was able to gain access to some of the fraternity’s ceremonies but not all – some were closed off to him – and was able to photograph their out-of-control celebrations.
‘One of the things that I really appreciated about the fraternity… I really thought that they had something that I wish that the rest of society was more comfortable with was a sense of its own wildness. I thought often some of that was beautiful,’ he said. He noted that it becomes a problem when the wildness and drunkenness ‘reaches a point where it spills over into the rest of society.’
Photos include one that shows a woman passed out on a bed, others where young women are drinking with the fraternity brothers, and as part of couples.
‘A lot of the things that seemed interesting or alarming gender-wise now look worse in the #MeToo era,’ he said. ‘Now the pictures have a relevance that I never thought that they would have.’
The purpose of the book was not to focus on the one particular fraternity but rather that secret societies are a part of American culture – a huge aspect that often isn’t seen, Moisey said. His photographs depict a fraternity house that is derelict and decrepit, above, is a member in a kitchen that is disarray
‘The people in my pictures are not bad people. They’re not evil people. A lot of them have very strong relationships with their girlfriends and their families and a lot of them are people that I look up to but they get caught up in a culture that I don’t really think should exist,’ Moisey said. On the right is drawing of a stick figures engaged in a sex act on a door, and the left, a member of the fraternity smoking
Moisey said he wasn’t comfortable saying that he witnessed hazing but felt that based on what ‘you see in my pictures you can decide whether or not some of the things that they go through are necessary for friendship and bonding’
Moisey said the fraternity brothers let him photograph their wild celebrations, in this instance, above, it looks as if something like flour is being poured on a naked fraternity member
Moisey noted that his shooting of the photos took place mainly during the presidency of George W. Bush.
‘I made these pictures in the Bush years, when we had a president who just outwardly embodied the frat boy ethos,’ he said.
Vintage shots of fraternity brothers and buildings are also strewn the book. Former presidents and fraternity members, such as Bush, his father, George H. W. Bush, and John F. Kennedy, are shown and listed. The book’s appendix, ‘Men of Distinction’ lists the many captains of industry, CEOs, chairmen, senators, and government leaders, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, that were also fraternity members.
Also on the list is current Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual assault, and who is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter at Yale University – the same fraternity as Bush and his father George H. W. Bush.
Former presidents and fraternity members, such as George W. Bush (top row, right), his father, George H. W. Bush (middle row, middle picture) and John F. Kennedy (bottom, left), are shown and listed. The book’s appendix, ‘Men of Distinction’ lists the many captains of industry, CEOs, chairmen, senators, and government leaders, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, that were also fraternity members
Moisey said that he tried to frame the book in terms that some of the young men pictured are poised to become leaders.
‘Many of our past and present leaders have joined these institutions,’ he said. ‘So (readers) can see the people in the pictures not just as a random group of guys or boys who are behaving like boys… but as our past and future leaders so they can attach those names to bodies.’
A list of Supreme Court justices that were also fraternity members, according to a new book called ‘The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Manual’
The metaphor he is trying to get across, he said, is that the image that the rest of the world has of the ‘ugly American’ is the image that we have of the fraternity man.
The fraternity house is shown as derelict and decrepit: books overflowing on a cart and scattered on the floor, a kitchen that has seen better days with plaster on the ground, and a shot of a fraternity member, his legs splayed and forlornly holding a broom as detritus from a party – beer cans and cups are around him.
There are also photographs of the brothers engaging in everyday activities, such as sleeping, ironing, sitting and chilling, and one when a fraternity member holds an apple in his hand while eating it. There are the somber, ceremonial moments where they take part in their rituals where only candlelight illuminates them, and a tender moment when two brothers hug. Other photographs are framed as portraits with close-ups of faces.
The shots of debauchery are contrasted with the seriousness of the ritual book of ‘Psi Rho’ – a made-up name for the fraternity that Moisey chronicled.
It starts with the initiation ceremony, where candidates are supposed to wear black robes, and passwords and signals are needed to enter the ‘chamber of preparation.’ When they enter what is called the lodge, there is supposed to be a coffin with either a human skull or skeleton. At one point, the pledge is put in the coffin, wrists bound with cord and hands ‘palm to palm,’ according to the book.
Moisey did the bulk of his shooting during George W. Bush’s presidency, he said, ‘when we had a president who just outwardly embodied the frat boy ethos’
‘It’s like a wildness that they cultivate,’ Moisey said about fraternities. Above, a fraternity member on his knees. He noted that it becomes a problem when the wildness and drunkenness ‘reaches a point where it spills over into the rest of society’
‘I don’t think that any of the people in the fraternity will feel that my book represents the entirety of their experience. I want to caution people against seeing it that way because most of being in a fraternity is totally innocent. Most of what a person does is sits around, talks with his friends, you know, plays video games and goes to class… I wanted to focus on the cultural problem, not the entirety of a fraternity man’s experience,’ Moisey said. A member of the fraternity (pictured) in a suit
Then the brothers form a funeral procession ‘and the coffin borne in the direction of the sun three times about the lodge.’ The candidate pledges himself to the fraternity, ‘solemnly and sincerely promise and vow’ that he submits himself to the discipline of the fraternity, and he will obey, ‘maintain and support’ its constitution and laws, according to the book.
There is a ritual of initiation, where a pledge begins the path of becoming a fraternity brother, Moisey said, with the idea being that ‘you’re a person who’s lost in the darkness of the rest of the world and who’s found the light in the fraternity house.’
Photographer Andrew Moisey spent seven years chronicling an unnamed fraternity for his new book, ‘The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Manual’
Candles are lit for truth, honesty and purity, and in a section called ‘The Libations,’ ‘Honor and Chivalry are basic principles of our Fraternity. Without them men are unworthy of friendship,’ according to the book. As part of the ‘Candle Ceremony,’ the Lord’s Prayer is supposed to be recited while on the right-sided page, a photo shows a fraternity member grabbing a woman’s breast.
The book also includes the song, ‘Yo-Ho,’ with lyrics such as ‘I put my hand upon her s*****,’ and ‘I put my c*** inside her mouth.’ The corresponding page is a photograph of a brother holding a dog – its teeth bared – while it seems as if an arm is extending to punch it.
Moisey said he wanted to emphasize that ‘The people in my pictures are not bad people. They’re not evil people. A lot of them have very strong relationships with their girlfriends and their families and a lot of them are people that I look up to but they get caught up in a culture that I don’t really think should exist. I don’t think that men uniting into a secret society is the best idea for everybody else.’
‘I don’t think that any of the people in the fraternity will feel that my book represents the entirety of their experience. I want to caution people against seeing it that way because most of being in a fraternity is totally innocent. Most of what a person does is sits around, talks with his friends, you know plays video games and goes to class… I wanted to focus on the cultural problem, not the entirety of a fraternity man’s experience.’
During the period that Moisey was photographing the fraternity, a member died, and above, is a photograph he took of the funeral. Moisey declined to go into specifics out of respect for the member’s family