The problem: how can blacks achieve economic equality while also preserving their cultural identity within institutions they do not have equal control over?

While most people, white or otherwise, subscribed to the self-help strain of black nationalism, they tended to be adamantly opposed to black separatism. This was the primary ideological beef between Malcolm and Martin Luther King Jr., who believed that a minority group can only achieve self-sufficiency with the help of the dominant group through multi-racial coalitions.

This problem had previously been the focus of black leaders like Booker T. Washington, Martin Delany, W.E.B Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and many others along the way.

This is an interesting assessment, as it assumes a sort hedonism in man which is constrained only by the limits of transcendent truth and human understanding.

There is a lot of debate surrounding Montaigne’s moral and political grounding. Naturally, Montaigne makes a sharp distinction between private and public life. He seems to be at the same time morally liberal and politically conservative.

As he makes clear in “That the taste of good and evil depends in large part on the opinion we have of them”:

Men are tormented with the opinions they have of things and not by the things themselves. If the original being of those things we fear had power to lodge itself in us by its own authority, it would then lodge itself alike, and in like manner, in all; for men are all of the same kind, and saving in greater and less proportions, are all provided with the same utensils and instruments to conceive and to judge..

Hubris-influenced leaders can be the downfall of an empire. Here, Montaigne warns readers against the willingness to take the opinion of unreasonable men as being the reality of things.

This statement mirrors that found in the Gospel of Matthew:

[1] Do not judge so that you will not be judged. [2] For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. [3] Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (7:1-3).

Montaigne’s more moderate skepticism, combined with his inability to discern the objective moral order of the world could explain his unwillingness to condemn foreign cultures.

Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus was elected Roman consul during the Second Punic War. Though he accomplished relatively little during this time, he was appointed dictator from 203 BC – 200 BC, tasked with strengthening the fragile post-war Roman allegiances and preserving the armistice with Hannibal of Carthage.

He was elected consul again in 200 BC. With Philip V of Macedonia pressing to turn the Roman allies into Greek allies, Galba lead an early campaign through Asia Minor in what would become the Second Macedonian War.

Assuming the members are now alumni, this is to be expected. However, this is completely different than being currently embedded in the fraternity’s social politics. The socialization of American fraternities are reminiscent of the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. One participant said after the experiment:

The most apparent thing that I noticed was how most of the people in this study derive their sense of identity and well-being from their immediate surroundings rather than from within themselves.

Much research has been done on the effects of fraternity socialization. There are two recurring themes:

• Heavy episodic drinking and drug use.
• Rape-supportive attitudes and general aggression towards women.

While it’s generally agreed that fraternal institutions reproduce values of hegemonic masculinity, researchers have also noted a new type organizational culture among some contemporary fraternities. Stanford must take the lead in nurturing the latter over the former.