We did have fraternities at my school. Started college August 1978. Animal House had been released a month earlier, so it was a good stretch in history for fraternity life, particularly at a school where fraternities/sororities were center stage in campus life.
We had a great house w/ a terrific bunch of guys. As freshmen, everyone lived in the dorms, and "rush" did not occur until January. The pledge classes began thereafter, to include a pledge class "pimp" perpetrated upon the members -- some juvenile type prank done in the dark of night (usually in April). The more clever the "pimp" -- the more respect given to the pledge class. But, it was always stupid stuff. Another meaningless tradition.
April 1980. I was a sophomore, living in a house with about 75 - 80 fraternity brothers. We had 3-4 per room, but used "rack rooms" (one on each floor)(about 30 beds each) to accommodate sleeping quarters. It was a school night. About 3:00 - 4:00 AM, there was commotion in the hallway. A few of use got out of our racks, only to discover a horse in the downstairs hallway outside the rack room that resembled Secretariat. The pledges had stolen a horse from the university stables, and walked the horse 1-2 miles across campus to the fraternity house. The horse was stressed and starting to kick and bounce out ceiling tiles.
This was not funny in real time, although the sociopath pledges thought it was a scream. But, the grown ups realized immediately that this was a disaster in the making, and that we had just selected a pledge class who lacked any basic judgment or common sense. Even amidst a campus climate back then that gave fraternities free reign, we went into "Ray Donovan" fixer mode, uttering "Holy Shit!" over and over. Three upperclassmen guided the horse back to the stables with Jason Bourne like stealth. Meanwhile, several of us spent a couple hours cleaning the crime scene -- removing horse shit, animal odors, hoof prints in the yard, etc. The house had never been so thoroughly scrubbed. It was a full on chemistry lab, removing any and all traces.
Miraculously, the horse was safely returned. But, undisciplined brothers had to tell their Suzie Rottencrotch bitches about the big caper. Word spread. A few days later, the Dean of Students called the house officers up to his office for a grill session. It was a Dean Wormer scene -- stonewalled the rumor (No Dean, ... first we are hearing about this ... seems very far-fetched ... a horse?"). We left in tact, .... "never to be spoken about again."
Thank God there were no cell phones and social media back then.