Friday afternoon I sat down to a late lunch at the Bistro with a friend. Minutes after we ordered our standard Bistro salads, a high school student and his father walked in and sat at the small table just inches from us. The man immediately said, "Are you students?!!" The father and son from Baltimore had just taken a campus tour and it was apparent that the dad loved Lexington and W&L. We said we were students of course, not knowing it would lead to a conversation lasting our entire meal. I was not bothered by it at all, the exchange was actually pretty comical. The dad, a Sigma Chi who graduated from Cornell in the 80's, was a very honest guy. He seemed more interested in W&L's social scene than extra-curricular activities or do I dare say, academics! He didn't hesitate to ask us probing questions.
For example: "What are the top fraternities on campus? What's your favorite? Is it bi-delt? It can't be Sleep And Eat (SAE), can it? So, what are the Sigma Chi's like? Where do the athletes fit in to the mix? He even asked questions about fraternity rush and told us about greek life at his alma mater. While we tried to respond to these questions in an accurate and appropriate fashion, the son just sat there with an almost uncomfortable look on his face as he picked at his fish and chips. You could tell this was not the first nor the last time he'd been embarrassed by his lively father. The hopeful lacrosse-playing son hardly said a word.
Before we left, (Mr. Social picked up our tab) we directed them to the Sigma Chi house as promised. I have no doubt that he would have liked to post-up with the brothers all afternoon before driving back to bmore. Hopefully the poor boy did well on his SAT that he had scheduled for Saturday morning...
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