Welcome – it's about time!

Welcome – it's about time!By Bryce Giesler, Tennessee’ 82

Brother Giesler is the author and editor of Sanguine et Purpure (S&P), the unofficial SigEp blog. This piece is dual posted on the "Official" SigEp Blog and here.
A little over a month ago (Sep. 16 to be precise) I saw a notice from SigEp Headquarters announcing a “New Official SigEp Blog.” My first thought was, “Wait a minute – I’ve been writing and posting to Sanguine et Purpure –the Unofficial SigEp Blog at sigepblog.org for over nine years. Who do they think they are?” My second thought was, “Well, it’s about time they figured out how to use the interwebs!”

I have not posted about this development before now for two main reasons: First, I wanted to take some time to make sure I could express my full opinion and not simply have a list of one-liner comments. Those who follow me on Facebook and Google+ know I am quick with a retort and not always politically correct. Second, I have been doing quite a bit of traveling lately. When the notice came out I was still unpacking from a vacation in Scotland and preparing to help out with an EDGE, followed by a trip to Tennessee and then a weekend in Las Vegas. All that is done now, and so here are my “Officially Unofficial” comments.

Last summer at the Dallas (Grapevine) Conclave, some 35 or so SigEps gathered for a “Social Media Breakfast” where we informally discussed how chapters are making use of the various channels to connect with members, prospective members and alumni. Beaux Carriere, Charleston ’10, Mike Ellis, Purdue ’84, Steve Hofstetter, Columbia ’02, and I were talking afterwards, and Beaux told us of his plan to consolidate the various information streams from Headquarters into one findable and searchable stream of posts, i.e. a blog format. We agreed that was a great idea and offered our support. Beaux went back to Richmond and got things moving. The result is the new SigEp Blog. I still think it is a great idea and well executed. My only quibble is that it took so long for the folks at Headquarters to get to it. The reason I started S&P was that I felt a broad information channel was needed and was not being developed at HQ.

Since the announcement I have been asked if I feel like Headquarters staff was trying to undercut S&P by offering a similar product. No, I don’t. There is plenty of room for both of us. The “Unofficial Blog” has been running for over nine years and in that time has developed a loyal following as a non-Richmond, no-spin source of information about SigEp and other matters of the fraternity and sorority world. We post items that, quite frankly, would not be appropriate for an official site, such as breaking news about problems at individual chapters and stories of general interest about other organizations. There is plenty of quality and appropriate SigEp information for an official blog. We have been known to “borrow” posts from the Headquarters site to help increase the distribution of good stories. Communication is the goal. And now SigEps have another way to get information.

Finally, I want to acknowledge Beaux, SigEp CEO Brian Warren, Virginia ’04, and Communications Manager Rob Jepson, Utah State ’12, and everyone else at Headquarters who has worked to bring this piece of the communication matrix to fruition. I know it took a while, but, as I have, you will find it was worth the effort. Welcome to the fray!

Welcome to the Phoenix Conclave - now show me your papers!

Update - Please vote your preference in the poll on the sidebar. We will let HQ know the result so they can see what the "rank and file" want. Thanks.

The more I see and hear about the new law in Arizona requiring law enforcement personnel to ask anyone "suspicious" for proof of legal status, the more I wonder if it is a place for a biennial celebration of the principles of "Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love."

I am proud of SigEp's heritage of being different by championing of diversity. What that means as a practical matter is that next August a number of our Conclave attendees will look 'different', and possibly 'suspicious,' when they arrive at the Arizona customs center airport. Let's hope everyone remembers to bring a passport or at least a birth certificate so they can avoid spending conclave in an ICE holding cell.

Most who read this post would, I believe, like to see some sort of progress made toward a) making our southern border more secure, and b) finding a path to address those who have already entered the country "without due process." The political and economic factors are complicated and I don't pretend to have an answer, but I do know that people who are here legally by birth or by process deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I may joke about needing a "Texas Passport" but the Arizona law is way too close to that in reality for my comfort.

The new law in Arizona is a refutation of a long held principle in America of freedom to move about. "Show me your papers" is the sort of thing you see in movies about eastern European countries during the cold war, or Gemany in WWII, not in 21st century America. Of course Arizona as a state can make its own laws. That is one of the benefits of being an American state. But if we don't agree with the actions we are not required to enable them. There is no reason to fatten Arizona tax coffers if we don't agree with their actions.

Allow me to make a modest proposal - Move Conclave out of Arizona next year. Don't favor the state with any economic help to keep people in a second class status. Yes, I know the deal was signed long before the bill was even brought up. Yes, I know it will be difficult to find and set up another venue. But isn't it worth the effort? What good is it to say "This Fraternity Will be Different" if we won't be different and make a stand? How can we "Build leaders for the worlds communities" if we don't model that leadership ourselves?

I have stated my feelings, now its time for others to let our leadership know how you feel. You may not share my opinion. Fine, let's hear another viewpoint.

Vote wisely. Vote Well. Vote now.

The right to vote is one of the most precious rights we have in this country. "We the people" get to choose who will lead us and who will represent us in Congress, in our states and in our local municipalities. We at S&P urge all SigEps to due their civic duty and vote in the elections next week. Many states have an early voting program and you can avoid the rush and crush of election day by taking advantage of the early voting options. Plus, you can get a head start on celebrating your candidate's win (or mourning the loss).

The presidential election this year is one of the most hotly contested that I have seen - and I have been a political junky since the days of Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson. No matter which candidate you favor, chances are you see a win by the other side as a step down the road to ruin. The only way to have any affect on the race is to go and vote your beliefs. With so many people expected to turn out this year - the early voting in Texas is double 2004 - you may think that your vote will not make a difference. I would remind you of Florida in 2000. Less than a 1000 vote margin ultimately decided the course of the country for the next 8 years. Whether you think that course was the correct one or not, imagine how those Florida voters who did not bother to vote feel about their choice. Once when I was in college and working on the Mayor's race my candidate lost by 29 votes. Don't tell me "it doesn't matter"!

SigEp proudly claims to be "building balanced leaders for the worlds communities." One of the obligations of a leader is to participate in the change he would make. What better way to practice that on a personal level than to help chose the path our country will take?

Go. Vote. Now. You will feel good about yourself. You also get the right to bitch about those jerks in Washington when they screw everything up - again!

Quality vs. Quantity

Bob Kerr has sent in another article for your consideration. As usual it is excellent and thoughtful material.

In a critical examination of the sustainability of the North American Fraternal Movement, it might be helpful to ascertain some basic facts about the Movement. For me, long have I wondered about the debate between quality versus quantity. I found this distilled to a simple question of are we a collective (quantity) or are we a community (quality). Within that distillation, I see some interesting data points worth examining.

If we can use Dr. Martin Burber’s work on community versus collective, we see these unique differences. Here they are:

Collective		Community
1. Social activities		1. Interpersonal relationships
2. Seeming		2. Being
3. Judgment		3. Empathy
4. Propaganda		4. Education
5. Autocracy		5. Democracy

Pretty striking realities, and sadly enough, an all too familiar landscape.

On my campus, I would say the talk, for the longest time, was “community” but the actions were that of a collective. As chapters pulled endless and increasingly destructive pranks on each other, including the stealing of charters, The end result was an earned reputation of petty criminals that didn’t care what they did but who insisted that they were “just having fun”. A variety of sanctions and rules were developed to reign in this destructive behavior but nothing seemed to change. Then, Vishal Khemlani, a senior Sig Ep at Oregon Alpha had a vision.

He wanted to help those less fortunate than us and build schools, provide drinking water and create mobile health care for the people in underprivileged areas. Thus Karmic Causes was born: An organization whose sole purpose was to direct funds into direct care needs of the global underprivileged. But, he knew he couldn’t do it alone. So a truly wise vision of one man now needed to find a community to help bring it to life.

Fortunately, some very compassionate chapter leaders were willing to reach across organizational lines and launched Sig Stock. This multi chapter-event raised $25,000 in the first time collaboration between Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi and Kappa Sigma. The money was raised for Karmic Causes and will build 3 new schools in an impoverished country and provide one mobile medical unit as well. I would suggest that is community in action.

In this example, no argument was made about quantity or quality. No annual report scrutinized, no field consultant engaged and no alumni involved. Just a group of students who were tired of the same ole, same ole and wanted to make a tangible difference now. My experience suggests there is always urgency to creating and sustaining community. There were also no debates as to who got the credit. I have always found it exciting when a group of people come together and no one is concerned about who gets the credit. So, was it quality or quantity that got Sig Stock off the ground?

Whether you side with “it took quality to conceive it and then quantity to create it” or “it took a community of quality people to breath life into it” at the core of this extraordinary effort was one man with a vision and the faith that others would support the vision. This faith was rewarded by building a bridge between four fraternities who rarely cooperated on anything; much less undertake such an extra-ordinary task. As for me, I believe a quantity of people was raised to quality performance when an opportunity presented itself to them and inspired them to live out the ideals of their individual chapters. So, perhaps it is more about the intent than the starting place?

Imagine if we can that each chapter of each fraternal organization sincerely pursued quality performance in every aspect of operation. Wouldn’t this attract people, both in terms of numbers and in terms of quality to our chapters? Where we were actuality building and sustaining campus Greek communities that were performing at a highly effective manner across the board? If we really are mere collectives, won’t we find it hard to attract authentic quality people but can expect to see such masses attracted to us that we gain in revenue but lose in effectiveness? So, I submit that the issue is to be clear about the intention of the individual. Do they want to pursue excellence or are they looking for a social outlet that will not require much of them so little is given.

“If better is possible, good is not enough.” – anonymous

In my experience, I have seen chapters filled with quality men pursuing less than quality endeavors. There was no achievement, no sense of living up to their potential. On the other hand I have seen a chapter of less than quality pedigree

men work towards high achieving goals and earning Outstanding Chapter recognition against chapters 3 times their size. They were clearly focused on their chapter goals and they knew what they had to do to achieve their potential. They effectively pursued their potential and were handsomely rewarded for their work.

Regardless of which side of the debate, quantity or quality, we fall on, it is our intent and our actions that are the final outcome.

Bob Kerr

Sig Ep at Georgetown - Tops All Expectations

For Georgetown, A Fraternity of Firsts
By Bailey Heaps

Blank stares. Laughter. Confusion.

That’s what Paul Happel encountered when he first told his freshman floormates back in the winter of 2005 that he was joining a social fraternity.

Georgetown doesn’t have frats. Greek life doesn’t belong here. Do we really need to recreate “Animal House” on the Hilltop?He heard it all.

Undeterred, Happel joined about 30 other Georgetown students — most of whom were freshmen and sophomores — and became a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon in its first year at Georgetown. Two years later, he would become president of Georgetown’s only social fraternity.

Joining Happel in that original group were Luis Pinilla, Brock Hayes, Hunter Sheetz, Alex Bozmoski, Mike Sanky and Vijay Krishnan. Together, the seven friends, all of whom took on leadership positions in the fraternity and are part of the first class of four-year members, worked to carve out a niche for SigEp at Georgetown. Individually, the brothers say that the fraternity offered them a four-year experience unlike anything else that can be found at Georgetown.

Krishnan first heard about Sigma Phi Epsilon at a meeting of the Freshman Class Committee.

Two national recruiters for SigEp, Dennis Kaps and Jason Cherish, presented to the committee, saying they were looking for guys who were scholars, athletes, gentlemen and leaders. Krishnan was intrigued.

Word of the burgeoning fraternity soon spread to Pinella and Sanky and finally reached Hayes.

Before long, they were braving the uncharted territory of a Georgetown fraternity.

“There was a general framework of the ideals of a Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter, but we had to come up with a lot of the stuff on our own,” Hayes says. “A lot of what the chapter is now reflects our own ideals and aspirations and what we wanted the group to be like, how we wanted to live.”

First task: establish bylaws; next, a code of conduct; then finally a seven-member executive board, which was filled by sophomores.

Despite their absence from that first executive board, the Class of 2008 still maintained an integral part of the organization.

“We had to figure out how to recruit, we had to figure out how to put on programming, we had to figure out how to run a budget; and it was mostly freshmen and sophomores, and a lot of these people hadn’t led groups before,” Happel said. “So it was really tough adjusting, because not only did we have to figure out what it meant to be a fraternity, we had to figure out what it meant to be SigEp specifically, and those are two different things.”

Sigma Phi Epsilon focuses on personal development through brotherhood. It uses its unique “Balanced Man” program to foment that development. But what exactly that meant for this particular group of guys was ambiguous at first.

“Early on, it was 35 individuals with very disparate visions,” Krishnan said. “We had visions ranging from SigEp being simply a business networking group to one that resembled a fraternity at a state school, and everything in between.

“It was about finding the proper balance for us where we can still incorporate the qualities of SigEp to which we were attracted, namely the personal development, based on no hazing and no pledging, and — our motto is personal development through brotherhood. We all had different visions of how that would manifest itself.”

Beyond philosophical quandaries, the group was also faced with logistical issues. Whereas at a university that officially sanctions fraternities the group would have a house or central meeting spot, at Georgetown, no such location existed. And with the group comprised of freshmen and sophomores, just about everyone was living in a dorm room rather than an apartment or townhouse.

Over time, though, the brothers began to get acclimated to the roles in this distinct chapter of SigEp. For example, there is no pledging or hazing. Once you’re in, you begin the Balanced Man program.

Balanced Man begins with the Sigma Challenge, which is designed to get new members acclimated to Georgetown and to SigEp. Then, as sophomores, the Phi Challenge “get[s] guys thinking about their professional development, get[s] out into the city, experienc[ing] a lot of the different cultural events out there, again emphasis on staying in shape through each challenge,” Happel explains.

Next, the Epsilon phase challenges brothers to figure out how they’re going to give back to the fraternity, which is continued in the final Brother Mentor challenge.

“That’s sort of the idea behind the personal development,” Happel says. “It’s a very regimented process. People can go about it at their own pace, but there’s set challenges that you go through, and at the end of the challenge you go on to the next one.”

Along the way, the group does community service, plays intramural sports and hosts formals and other date events.

They’ve gone white-water rafting and played paintball. They’ve also taken dance lessons, done yoga and ice skated at the National Sculpture Garden.

“The activities break down into brotherhood development and programming,” Krishnan said. “The idea of programming is simply to build brotherhood by being together, so that’s something white-water rafting is geared toward, whereas brotherhood development activities are directly designed to impact you personally.”

To achieve that brotherhood development, SigEp has held lectures by professors, had a personal trainer lead workouts and invited a representative from Joseph A. Banks to give a tutorial on how to dress. They’ve even taken an etiquette lesson.

It is the semesterly retreat, however, that they say is the fraternity’s most formative experience. Twice a year, the group heads out to a secluded spot in Virginia or Maryland, to leave alcohol, homework and stress behind, allowing for an opportunity to reflect.

“People who are sometimes on the fence abut why they joined, they don’t quite understand what we’re doing, they go to those and it reaffirms the idea of building lasting bonds of friendship with people,” Happel said.

It is on these retreats where the brothers claim they learn most about each other.
“I’ll tell somebody I’m going on a retreat for the weekend with my fraternity and it’s, ‘Oh you’re going to get so drunk.’ No, that’s not what we do. It’s completely dry. We try to just go out there and get to know each other better and develop,” Pinilla said.

Sigma Phi Epsilon’s program was not for everyone. About half the initial members left after the first year.

“Our first recruiting class was really great, but they didn’t quite get it. A lot of the people joined for the wrong reasons, so a lot of people left,” Happel said. “The people you see here understand what it is supposed to be.”

Throughout the past four years, Sigma Phi Epsilon has strived to convince the university community that a school that “doesn’t have fraternities” can have a fraternity.

According to Happel, public perception is divided into three camps. The first just doesn’t know the organization exists.

Then there are the people who aren’t in the fraternity but have a favorable impression of it.

And finally, there are the people who just don’t get it.

“We can sometimes come off as sort of an exclusive group, because we are always with each other,” Happel said. “This is our primary social group. And it’s tough sometimes to overcome the stereotype of being the really fratty organization. But as soon as you sit down with those people and you look them face-to-face and say, ‘This is what we do,’ they understand.”

Happel stresses that SigEp isn’t trying to overhaul the university. Their goal is not to create a Greek system or force the Balanced Man program on everyone else. Rather, their focus is on the individual members of the fraternity.

“We’re not trying to change Georgetown. We’re just trying to change lives,” he says. “We’re trying to say, ‘Let’s not blow away these four years. Let’s grab them and make the most of them.’ People get that.”

“We just need to make it the best it can be for the people who want that part of life with something that is not geared toward just one thing; it’s a very broad idea of what we should be doing,” Hayes adds.

Now, as the Class of 2008 prepares for graduation, the SigEp members stress that they are different men because of the four years they spent in the fraternity.

“I can say for sure that all of us have changed for the better over our four years, so we’ll take that with us,” Hayes says. “I definitely know I’ve learned a lot from everybody in this chapter, and I’ve tried to integrate the pieces that I’ve felt worked for me, and I’ll take that with me for the rest of my life.”

Sanky added that Sig Ep has helped to turn the unstructured atmosphere of college into a formative environment.

“[College is] probably the first time where it’s on you to shape what you want out of your life and to have other people who excel in all these areas of life around you to help you make these habits, to form the way you live your life, is so important in college,” he says.

But getting something out of SigEp was up to each individual.

“Most organizations have some kind of objective to try to accomplish something,” Pinilla said. “Here, we have to create the objective and get people to follow it.”

“It’s really easy to tell people something like, ‘Oh we joined the Corp to make money, and then give back to Georgetown,’ but with SigEp, it’s very broad and not easy to pick out,” Sheetz said.

They also stress that their commitment to the fraternity will remain strong.

“It’s not something we’re walking away from and I truly mean that,” Sheetz said. “It is a lifetime commitment. It’s not something you do four years of personal development and then enjoy the networking of it all. Personal development is a mantra throughout your whole life. … I know I’ll hang out with these guys for the next 30 to 40 years. I’ll see them at my wedding.”

And the fraternity? It will be better because of the Class of 2008.

“I think that they just kind of set the standard,” current President Zack Bluestone (SFS ’09) said, “for the type of guys we want to recruit in the future and who we’re aiming to emulate.

Foundation Web Site Adds Social Network Features

It has been a while since I logged in to the Foundation Web Site to do more than look at the occasional message or new pictures for one of my contacts or groups. However, I went in today and found a *New* feature - at least it is new to me.

You can now add links to your presence on other networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, and so on (yes, even MySpace, though who would admit to having a page there?). I did this for a few of my other networks, now those networks show up as links in my profile so you can see how I present myself in other areas of the web.

How does this make the world a better place? Well, besides the "Gee Whiz" factor, you can see and maybe connect to a SigEp contact who is in another network but that you had not found yet. For instance, if you see that I am also on LinkedIn you can use the email address I show on my profile to request a connection. The more we connect, the more useful all the sites become for sharing information. Not to mention we can reverse global warming and decrease greenhouse gases (Hey, I can dream, can't I!?)

This feature is pretty new. The message just went out today so there are not a whole lot of participants. Yet. But I think it will grow. Things can grow quickly on the web once the word gets out. (The SigEp group on LinkedIn has 175 members in the little over 2 months since it was started.)

Of course you have to be registered on the Education Foundation site to participate. All SigEps can register there, then add as much or as little information as they feel comfortable sharing. I'll look for you there!

OK Alpha - Class in Stillwater

If you have read my other blog lately, you know that I am on an "extended vacation" in Stillwater while I wait for my wife to be released from the hospital.

This afternoon I dropped by the OK Alpha chapter house (it is only a few blocks from the hospital) and met some of the brothers there. They were preparing the house for
Christmas and doing the other usual things - studying, playing games, having dinner, and so on. I asked if I could take a few pictures and they graciously allowed me to do that.

Thanks, guys. I was pleased both to meet you and also for the opportunity to 'clear my mind' with the camera.

Click here to see a few more of them:

SIU Columnist Suggests Checking Your Roots

Column: Another side to fraternity culture
Ray Sophie

A couple of weeks ago I ran across a link on Yahoo news that seemed to scream out to me. The title of the link read something like "Fraternities Move Away from Party Image." The Associated Press feature story focused on the Missouri Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

The Sig Eps, as they're commonly referred to, were losing control of their organization. Performing mundane tasks, learning large amounts of unnecessary history and the usual verbal and sometimes physical abuse is what awaited those who were pledging.

Then, nationals got one too many complaints, so they cleaned house. After kicking out a dozen members for not measuring up to their new standards (including a 2.6 GPA), more than 40 other members quit because they did not like the new system being put into place.

Dubbed the "Balanced Man" program, parties and laziness have been replaced with morning yoga sessions, wine tasting trips and documentary screenings. They have also gotten rid of pledging.

Sig Eps aren't the only ones on campus doing it either. Both Beta Theta Pi and Lambda Chi Alpha have done the same.

Having visited Missouri's Greek scene on more than one occasion, I can tell you that hazing, sexism and racism are very much a part of their life. While only four of the traditional 28 fraternities have made this kind of overhaul, it is a start that has already made national news.

What I find interesting, however, is that the two fraternities we are heavily lobbying to return to this campus were both mentioned in this article.

Both Sig Ep and Lamba Chi Alpha have programs in place to discourage hazing, and nationally they're both succeeding - Sig Ep is the largest fraternity in America. They are pushing for a return to the roots of fraternal existence - a way of life that preaches values in action as much as brotherhood.

The article states that fraternities carry values such as honor, virtue, scholarship and civic engagement, to name a few. Fraternities were brought together for a purpose, a sole reason, and that reason was to build a "Man of Principle," a "Man of Character" or a "Balanced Man."

The reason those three phrases were quoted is because they are all programs put in place by national fraternities to try to restore them to the original purpose of their formation.

I am in no way suggesting that SIU get rid of the pledging system, or follow the Sig Eps' approach and totally revamp our fraternity life. What I am suggesting is that this article is the first piece of national writing I have read that portrayed fraternities in a positive and encouraging light.

I am pretty sure every fraternity here has some kind of creed or mission statement or collection of sentences that outlines what values its organization stresses. Go home. Read it. Think about it. Why did your fraternity adopt these values and why did you agree to make them a part of your life?

It's little steps like these that can create the kind of change we see happening nationwide. After all, 8 a.m. yoga is far less embarrassing than hazing and alcohol abuse when it's written for a national audience.

Sophie is a junior studying
radio-television and journalism.

FratPAC fundraiser in Houston

Last night several fraternity and sorority alumni gathered for a fundraising event in Houston. There were at least 8 SigEps, and as many or more from Alpha Chi Omega, along with smaller groups from several other organizations.

The gathering was sponsored by "The Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee" (FratPAC), a group that raises money and distributes it to elect Greeks to the House and Senate and influence legislation that is of interest to Greek organizations.

The focus of last nights was to raise awareness and support for the "Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2007" (H.R. 643/S. 638), a bill that would extend tax deductible status to grants from charitable organizations (e.g. the Educational Foundation) to housing for campus organizations (i.e. fraternity and sorority houses). This bill currently has over 155 sponsors in the House and 31 in the Senate. Because it is a "small" and essentially non-controversial bill it is still in committee until it can be proposed as an amendment to a suitable tax or appropriations bill. We were asked to contact our Senators and Representatives and let them know we support this bill.

If you can take a few minutes to research the bill and contact your members of Congress it will be greatly appreciated. Even better, your chapter will thank you for it!

More information:
HR. 643 (opencongress.org)
S. 638 (opencongress.org)
Senators (opencongress.org)
Representatives (opencongress.org)

Usual and Customary Politics

I and I am sure everyone else was glad that the National Board of Directors and the elusive -  membership unknown - and double-secret OGH Nominations Committee saw fit to suspend the rules unilaterally established by a previous NBD and present Brother Archie Yeatts with the much deserved Order of the Golden Heart at the end of his term as Grand President. Probably few undergraduates really do appreciate the years and years of service Brother Yeatts provided to the Fraternity prior to his tenure on the NBD and subsequent election to GP. Congratulations, Archie, and let's hope that such silly rules established by a scorned board member(s) don't repeat themselves in the future.

So, now that I have your attention, perhaps a little history lesson and one clear resounding example will give you a peek behind the curtain of mystery in our Fraternity's body politic.

As far back as I can remember (over 15 Conclaves), it was always customary to present the outgoing Grand President the Order of the Golden Heart Award (if he didn’t already have one). It is much deserved as anyone who has diligently served a term or two on the National Board and then a two year run as Grand President has devoted a considerable amount of concentrated volunteer time to the Fraternity. That is up until the 1989 Conclave when a dark horse candidate trumped the heir-apparent in his campaign for Grand President. This, of course, sent shock waves through the "good ole boy" politics much more than most will admit. Once the "dark horse's" reign was completed in 1991, there was retribution to be delivered. The first move was to enact an emergency resolution to immediately go into effect with the 1991 Conclave that the Grand President would no longer be given the OGH at the end of his term. It then became “tradition” that the Past GP would receive his OGH at the next Conclave. In 2005, this was suspended for appropriate reason and, in this writer's opinion, was appropriate again in 2007. However, retribution continued for our 1989 Dark Horse GP who should have, according to the new rule, received his in 1993 .... He did not receive his OGH in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, but finally did in 2001. Guess it would have looked bad for the Fraternity if a living Past Grand President didn't have an OGH by the Centennial. 

It is interesting to also note the Heir Apparent that the Dark Horse upset was closely tied to the OGH Nomination Committee (while the constitution of this committee is possibly the best kept secret in the Fraternity, this author knows for an absolute fact, that the Heir Apparent served and may still be serving on the OGH Nomination Committee).

This author feels very strongly that we should go back to the earlier precedent of giving the outgoing GP his OGH. It just makes sense.

The other lesson here is that when you begin to upset the body politic there are penalties to be paid. It would be interesting to see what other clandestine, double-secret activities might be discovered if one lifts the curtain higher and lets the light of day in. Does the old boy politics still extend to alumni nominations process? That will be an insider story in the next installment of Usual and Customary.

Great indeed is the mystery of the Fraternity (politics, that is).

Frat recruitment needs makeover

This editorial in the University of Florida student paper talks about the need to remake the image of fraternities and the way they go about recruiting.

Frat recruitment needs makeover

By Eddie Sarrine
Speaking Out

Once perceived as exclusive organizations for well-rounded men, fraternities are now viewed as holding tanks for a bunch of drunken fools.

So, it's no surprise that the number of men pledging fraternities has decreased dramatically. Especially at UF, where incoming freshmen have become progressively independent and free-thinking, rush has been placed on the back burner. Most freshmen shun the idea, considering the pledge process far too time consuming and self-deprecating than the membership is worth.
[...]
Fraternities offer amazing opportunities for bettering and advancing yourself. It's very difficult to join one of these organizations and stay uninvolved. Each house runs like a business, which means there are countless leadership roles to be filled.[...]Trust me, when a chapter treasurer tells a job-recruiter that he managed a $300,000 fraternity budget, the recruiter listens.

Take a look around campus and you'll notice that many university leaders are fraternity men. Ryan Moseley, our Student Body president, is a Sig Ep. Al Warrington, a UF trustee, is a Chi Phi. Even Bernie Machen, UF's president, is a Sigma Chi. Warrington once told me that his success stems from lessons he learned while living in the fraternity house. Considering his name is engraved on the business college, I'll respect his point.
[...]
Fraternities should take a recruitment lesson from the sororities, which are more popular today than ever before. Sorority recruitment runs like a highly efficient machine. It's well-marketed, organized and intense, requiring potential members to visit every house over the course of a week. Although daunting, the process allows each sorority to highlight its strongest points, whether it be a high GPA, networking opportunities or sisterhood. Furthermore, it allows potential members to make intelligent, objective decisions before committing.
[...]
Fraternities should market the big picture by highlighting accomplished brothers who have done well. They should promote success and encourage incoming members to get involved.

A fraternity is a great networking tool. At a school as large as UF, it's a huge head start over everyone else.

Good points. SigEp and the other fraternities have a good story to tell. It is a shame that it gets overshadowed by the lapses in judgement that get so much publicity.

The Independent Florida Alligator - Frat recruitment needs makeover

More about Purdue - SigEp focus

...and it isn't in a good way. This editorial relates past excesses and the slow progress.

Greeks' new reputation will take time

Purdue University's Greek organizations are taking some important steps toward improving their reputations.

And none too soon. In 2006, a Sigma Phi Epsilon pledge ended up in the emergency room, his blood alcohol level a dangerous 0.49 percent -- more than six times the legal driving limit. The pledge recovered, but university officials rightly suspended Sigma Phi.
[...]
Between 2001 and 2006, Purdue officials disciplined 34 student organizations, many for hazing violations, defined as any act that requires an act that "creates a substantial risk of physical harm ... or seriously demeans or degrades any person or interferes with any person's scholastic activities."

In 2006, university officials suspended Delta Chi fraternity, an action that stemmed from an investigation into alleged hazing.

Of the 10 university sanctions of Greek organizations in 2005, half were due at least in part to hazing. But alcohol and drug violations are often related as well.

In 2002, Purdue officials disciplined Sigma Nu fraternity's Beta Zeta chapter after an incident involving theft and underage drinking. In 2005, Purdue doled out a five-year suspension to Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity after three of its members were arrested on drug charges. The university withdrew its recognition of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity due to alcohol and drug violations. Two of three sorority sanctions levied from 2001 through 2006 were alcohol-related.

Purdue's Greek organizations are attempting to change long-held, often negative, perceptions about Greek life. Change is difficult. But the need for these changes cannot be ignored.

Journal and Courier Online - Editorial

Here is link to a related post.

What the Brits Think of Greeks!

Driven by booze, hazing and sex US fraternities and sororities have a dark side that is increasingly under the spotlight.
The Times Higher Education Supplement
London, England - June 15, 2007
Jon Marcus reports.

The Delta Zeta sorority, created nearly 100 years ago at DePauw University in the American Midwest, is among the US's oldest campus social clubs for women and part of one of the largest national university fraternities, with 165 campus chapters.

Inside its red-brick plantation-style house with four white columns in the front, it practised the largely harmless rituals of America's so-called Greek system. It had an official emblem - the Roman lamp - and its official jewel was the diamond.

But like other fraternities at American universities, which have seen their memberships level off or decline, Delta Zeta was suffering from a drop in popularity. Its national leadership began to believe there were flaws in the diamond.

After a review, 23 of the 35 Delta Zeta sisters at DePauw were thrown out.
The sorority says they were removed because of what it calls a lack of commitment to recruiting new members.

But among the women who were told to leave were the only African-American, Korean and Vietnamese members as well as every member who was overweight.

Those who remained were slim, popular and attractive. Six of them also quit in protest.

The university protested, too. It threw the sorority off campus, in effect shutting it down. Enough was enough, said DePauw president Robert Bottoms, noting that the school was already in the midst of a crackdown on its fraternities because of excessive drinking, recruiting irregularities and other problems. The sorority, in turn, has sued the university.

Stereotypes or not, fraternities and sororities have come to be synonymous with elitism, sexual assault, high-risk hazing (initiation ceremonies) and other bad behaviour on American university campuses.

So strong are the associations between fraternities and unacceptable behaviour that when members of the lacrosse team at Duke University were accused of gang-raping a woman, they were widely assumed to be part of a fraternity. In fact, the players, who were cleared of any crime, were not in a fraternity but lived together in a house off campus.

"They might as well have been a fraternity," says Diane Roberts, a professor at Florida State University who writes about fraternity culture.

What the Duke men were accused of "is the kind of group behaviour that commonly happens in fraternities".

University presidents and fraternity leaders met in Washington in 2003 and collectively acknowledged that "illegal and abusive alcohol consumption and its second-hand effects - sexual assault, vandalism, violence, negative community relations, anti-intellectual environment and lack of civility - continue to plague Greek systems". They drafted new guidelines requiring, among other things, that fraternities understand "that alcohol is not the central focus of their organisations".

Fraternities "have spent a great deal of time really doing a lot of education around things like hazing and alcohol", says Debbie Heida, vice-president for student affairs at Berry College in Georgia and president of the Center for the Study of the College Fraternity. "Our systems have gotten better about calling people on their behaviour," she said.

In fact, since the Washington conference there seem to have been fewer incidents related to fraternities, which normally occupy their own houses on or near American campuses.

There have also been crackdowns by university administrators and government officials. Forty-four of the 50 states have passed anti-hazing laws meant to stop alcohol-fuelled membership ceremonies that include beatings.

National fraternities have also struggled to reverse the years of bad public relations, which culminated nearly three decades ago in the still-influential movie Animal House, inspired by a fraternity at Dartmouth College. They point out, for example, that fraternity members collectively contribute some 10 million hours a year to community service.

But although only 3 per cent of Americans were members of fraternities, nearly half of all US presidents were fraternity members; so were more than 40 per cent of senators and 30 per cent of Fortune 500 executives. It is this clubbiness that may explain the antipathy of growing numbers of Americans to fraternities.

"What it's really about is class solidarity," Dr Roberts said. "It is called the class system, that thing we are not supposed to have in America.

Being in a fraternity is how you make connections, and it costs money to be in one."

Dr Roberts is convinced that a fraternity culture of secrecy has made its way into the halls of American power. She said George W. Bush, an alumnus of the influential Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, known as "Deke" - its Yale chapter graduated not only him but five other US presidents - was the most secretive president since Richard Nixon.

The point of fraternities is not just their social function, Dr Roberts has written.
"It's that there are insiders and outsiders, those who are allowed to know the mysteries and rituals, and those who aren't. It's a powerful thing, being privy to the secrets of the brotherhood."

Dr Roberts, the product of the Sigma Kappa sorority at Florida State University, said: "I used to make the claim that I thought sororities were very different from fraternities. But in sororities there was a kind of social pressure to look a certain way and go out with certain kinds of men.

After this Delta Zeta thing, I think they are more similar than not."

She says that the situation at DePauw is not unknown, "it's just that Delta Zeta got caught".

Nor have other fraternities managed completely to do away with their reputations for drinking and other misbehaviour with the attendant bad publicity. A Harvard University study found that 86 percent of men and 80 per cent of women who live in fraternities are binge drinkers, meaning they have four or more drinks in a row at least once every two weeks.

Hazing of new members also remains a problem, no matter how many laws are passed against it.

A chapter of Phi Gamma Delta at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faced criminal charges when a member died of alcohol poisoning during an initiation ritual. The university ultimately paid the student's parents $6 million (Pounds 3 million), including $1.25 million for a scholarship in his name.

Even after that, at the Fresno State chapter of the same fraternity another student was found dead, also of alcohol poisoning. Other fraternity members had "induced or forced" the student to drink "massive quantities of alcohol", according to a lawsuit filed by the victim's parents.

A new recruit at Tau Kappa Epsilon at Texas State University in San Marcos died from an alcohol-induced bludgeoning by other fraternity members.

A student being hazed by older members of a fraternity he wanted to join at the University of Miami drowned while swimming across a lake on campus in the middle of the night.

Another so-called pledge at a fraternity at the University of Maryland died after drinking whiskey until his blood alcohol level was five times the legal limit for drink-driving.

Fraternity hazing often involves physical abuse - typically beatings with paddles. A student trying to join the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity had his kidneys damaged when he was hazed by being beaten.

A recruit at a fraternity at Texas A&M University had his testicle ruptured by being lifted off his feet by the waistband of his underwear. The testicle had to be surgically removed. In October, a student at the University of South Carolina was hospitalised after being beaten and choked with a T-shirt in a hazing ceremony.
Still, says Ms Heida, "to have the actions of a few shape the perception of what the value is of the fraternity and sorority experience is not fair to these organisations".

Whether or not it is because of such incidents, the number of fraternity chapters and members has levelled off and even dropped in some categories.

Dr Roberts thinks it is cyclical. "When I was in the sorority in the late Seventies it was so uncool. Then it got cool again under Reagan. Maybe it's going through a not-cool phase. It swings back and forth," she said.

Ms Heida agrees. "They're like any organisation," she said. "There are times when there is growth, and there are times when there is a plateau."

These days, Dr Roberts says, her students tell her they join fraternities for entirely pragmatic reasons. "They are really almost business-like about it now," she said. "They want someplace to hang out and think it will be good for networking. For some people it's like joining the Kiwanis Club (a voluntary organisation in local communities), with better rituals and a lot more booze."

FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES:THE 'GREEK SYSTEM' IN AMERICA

• From their beginnings in America as student literary and debating societies, fraternities evolved into men's social clubs with secret handshakes,loyalty oaths and other rituals.
• At the College of William and Mary in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa started a tradition by giving itself a motto in Greek to deepen its mystique. Others followed suit, and the names were later shortened to Greek-letter acronyms.
  Today, the groups are collectively referred to as the "Greek system".
• The first of the nation's all-women fraternities, today commonly called sororities, was founded in 1851 at Wesleyan College in Georgia.
• The first fraternity for African-Americans was established in 1906. Students of various religions have also formed fraternities. Now, fraternities are cropping up, for instance, for gay students.
• In addition to their social role, fraternities provide important professional networks for ambitious students. Their prestige varies widely.
• Six members of Yale's Delta Kappa Epsilon, which was founded in 1844, went on to become presidents of the US, including Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford and both presidents Bush. Celebrities who were fraternity members include the actors Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Matthew McConaughey and Ashton Kutcher.
• The University of Illinois has 46 fraternities and 23 sororities, with nearly 7,000 members out of 30,000 undergraduates - the largest proportion in America.
• Nationwide, only about 5 per cent of all university students join fraternities. In all, there are 12,000 fraternity chapters on about 800 campuses in the US, with 750,000 members.

THES Editorial ©2007

Schools go high-tech with online 'gradcasts'

As if the internet hasn't changed lives already, now school districts are live-streaming their own events.

It didn't take much of an investment — just an inexpensive cable, a borrowed video camera and some free software — for Aldine to join the growing ranks of school districts that allow friends and family to watch graduation ceremonies from the comfort of their own homes.

"Gradcasts," as some techies call them, allow viewers to watch live streaming video of the ceremonies without the nightmares of parking, uncomfortable stadium seats and long restroom lines. The Web-based technology is catching on among some school districts who say it costs next to nothing to offer the extra service to students' families. Some districts have even started webcasting sporting events and pre-kindergarten graduations. School plays and open houses aren't far behind.

I suppose this is as good a time as any to ask...

If a Houston school district can sent live video of a Pre-Kindergarten "Graduation" ceremony over the web, why then is it so darn difficult for SigEp to present significant events at Conclave as webcasts? I'm just asking.

Schools go high-tech with online 'gradcasts' | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Fraternity President as "Godfather"

(This interesting commentary was sent to us by our friend "Asclepius")

How to Be a Fraternity President: As Learned from Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather”

A year ago, before returning for my sophomore year of college, I bought a movie on the recommendation of a friend. The movie was “The Godfather”, winner of the 1972 Academy Award for Best Picture and, as I would find out later, a guide to life. I watched it the first time, awestruck for three hours as the highs and lows of the Corleone Family played out before my eyes. But, on the second, third, and fourth viewings, I kept picking up on the little things that make it such a great film. I began to view the movie, not only as a masterpiece of American cinema, but as a guide to running a fraternity. As I came back to school in the fall, I began to draw parallels between running the most powerful Sicilian crime family in New York and operating a successful college social fraternity. I began to model my own behaviors after Don Corleone; in a much more legal way, of course. What follows are some of the lessons I have learned from my favorite movie of all time.

“Never let anyone outside the family know what you are thinking.”
     -Don Corleone to his son Santino, after speaking up in a meeting with Sollozo

In the early part of the movie, the Corleones meet with Virgil Sollozo, an aggressive narcotics smuggler looking for political protection. Corleone objects to his proposal on ethical grounds despite its lucrative payoff. When Sollozo tries a last ditch effort to convince the Don, Santino speaks out of turn, seeming excited about the deal. Sollozo sees this as dissension within the ranks of the Corleone Family’s leaders, and attempts to assassinate the Don, hoping that Santino will make a deal once he assumes control of the family. Sollozo saw the weakness and attacked it, when he otherwise would have moved on or tried to find protection elsewhere.

In this case, the “family” is the executive board of the fraternity. Within the confines of an exec board meeting, debate and disagreement are valued. You need a variety of opinions and points of view in order to make an educated decision as president. Debate facilitates reason, and reason usually leads to better ideas, plans, and actions from the exec board. However, when you meet with the chapter as a whole, you must present a united front and support the decision the president has made. If the VP of Programming and Recruitment openly dispute a decision supported by the President, VP of Member Development, and the Chaplain, the brothers in the fraternity will detect this as weakness. Once this weakness is sensed, decisions about the direction of the chapter lose their legitimacy, validity, and acceptance by the chapter at large.

“Their aides sat behind them, the Consiglieres up close so that they could offer any advice when needed.”
     -The peace meeting of all the Dons in America, Chapter 20

Every man, no matter how wise, needs an advisor. It seems the more powerful a man becomes, the more important his advisors become. As president, you must have a strong consigliere, an advisor or counselor. To quote Socrates, “the wisest man is the man who knows how much he does not know”. This means Don Corleone knew his weaknesses and complimented them with an appropriate consigliere. A consigliere is often just as important as the man who pulls the strings. The don is the muscle end of the family; the decision maker that leads the way. A “yes man” of a consigliere is no help; one needs an advisor strong enough to oppose the don, providing a counterpoint, or even to play devil’s advocate from time to time, in order to make sure an informed decision is made every time.

My consigliere (yes, I call him that to his face) happens to be my VP of Finance and my best friend. We get along and are best friends, but we truly compliment each other. I like to be the visible leader and a decision maker. I speak well and often, and I like my presence to be felt when I am in a leadership role. My consigliere is more reserved. He does not like the spotlight or the burden of decisions; he has assured me he prefers the position of right-hand-man rather than leader. But I can always go to him for advice and receive an honest opinion. He will call me out when I am out of line, when no one else will; he will prick my conscience from time to time, pointing out mistakes that others ignore. I value that boldness in people, because true friends can tell you when you are wrong. He is the constant voice of reason that prevents me from crossing the thin line from strong leader to tyrant. When faced with a tough situation, my consigliere’s advice is always sought before I take action. My AVC president is also a close consigliere, providing an experienced, alumni viewpoint.

“Allow a man to “make his bones” before trusting him with the family business.”

In the hierarchy of the Corleone family, there is the Don and consigliere, followed by his caporegimes, under which are many “button men”, who in turn are in charge of many young hoodlums who have only loose affiliations with the family. In order to move up the hierarchy and earn oneself more responsibility, one first had to “make his bones”, or prove himself through a job. This job often consisted of “knocking someone off” or another important action in the family’s interest. This was meant to test a man’s loyalty to the family, his competence in working the family business, and his willingness to do what is necessary for the family. Once a man “made his bones”, he received more important responsibilities and higher pay from a part of the family’s earnings. Also, it was understood if something happened to him, his family would be taken care of in his absence.

In SigEp, identify young talent and potential for leadership in your new members and call on them to perform a small job, like a chair position or organizing a small event for the fraternity. If he “makes his bones”, you can trust him with more important tasks, moving up him up the ranks to exec board or even groom him as your successor as president. Considering Sigma Phi Epsilon’s badge and it symbolic skull and crossbones, one can interpret “make his bones” as waiting for a brother to go through the Epsilon Rite of Passage/Rite of Initiation. Once a brother earns his badge over his heart, only then has he “made his bones” and with it, the trust to perform important duties to the chapter.

“A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
     -Don Vito Corleone to his godson, Johnny Fontane

Despite his ruthlessness as a business man, the Don is very traditional in his views of the family and personal life. In fact, the reason these seemingly ordinary men get into their business is to protect their families, make a better life for their children, and a refusal to go through life with someone else “pulling the strings”, or living by another’s rules. As a brother in Sigma Phi Epsilon, we usually take on the mentor role of “big brother” to a younger brother in the chapter. Do not take this responsibility lightly, for you can never underestimate the role that a good mentor can play in a young man’s life. Young men are full of energy and drive. However, it usually takes the mentorship of a “big brother” to provide focus and guidance in these challenging college years.

This particular quote is my favorite from the Godfather. It constantly reminds me of my responsibility to those having prior claim upon my substance. I’d like to think that SigEp and the Balanced Man Program have made me the man I am today. However, before my college years in the Balanced Man Program, I was part of mom and dad’s own version of the BMP for the better part of 19 years. They made me the man I am today and, I thank them every day for raising me to be a good person. The Balanced Man Program just put on the finishing touches, smoothing out all the rough edges. Make sure you spend quality time with your family, because they do not need an oath of obligation to remind themselves how much they love you.

I will never be part of the Corleone crime family, but following these guidelines, I have been a more effective leader for my “family”, Ohio Iota.

FROM THE COLORADO DAILY PRESS

Credit where credit's due

If someone had told us five years ago we would some day write an editorial praising fraternities in Boulder for their maturity, common sense and dedication to their community, we would have laughed out loud. After all, the reputation of some of the fraternities - and by association the entire Greek system - has been marred by everything from loud parties to alcohol-related deaths. For a while there it seemed like the fraternity houses on the Hill had been replaced by Al Qaida training camps.

Times have changed. And the most impressive part of the whole transformation of CU's fraternities from soccer hooligans to respectable young men is they did it on their own, without the help or persuasion of the CU administration. Good for the fraternities, we say, for recognizing their own shortcomings and addressing them before it was too late.

Then, to top it all off, the CU Interfraternity Council's (IFC) executive board announced last month plans for a “Social Moratorium,” a two-week hiatus in partying to aid Boulder's 15 fraternity chapters in an ongoing assessment of their risk management policies.

During the moratorium, which ends today, chapters were prohibited from holding any social events in their houses that involve the use of alcohol, giving them an opportunity to improve their safety and risk management procedures with a particular emphasis on holding safe, controlled social events.

Typically, a university or national fraternity imposes such restrictions on partying only after something terrible happens. But reactionary tactics yield almost no benefits for fraternities or the public. What they do create is more hostility between the university and the frats who have grown tired of being blamed for every little thing that happens to drunken partiers in Boulder.

That attitude reached a fever pitch after CU freshman pledge Lynn “Gordie” Bailey was found dead in the Chi Psi fraternity house on the Hill in September 2004 after a night of initiation that included the consumption of mass quantities of alcohol.

Shortly thereafter, the University demanded that CU fraternities and sororities abandon fall rush. The sororities bowed to the university, but the fraternities refused. In retaliation, the university dissociated itself from all fraternities.

The move to stand up to the university was a smart one. No one, save the family, mourned the death of Bailey more than his fraternity brothers. Punishing the fraternity involved and its members was appropriate, but meddling in the affairs of other fraternities was not.

The unfounded bias against fraternities became even more evident a few months after Bailey's death when another student, 21-year-old Bryan Merritt, was found dead in his dorm room. Even before the facts of the case were clear, fingers were pointed at a fraternity that hosted a party the night before Merritt was found. He had attended the party, but by all accounts was not drunk. Despite the efforts of the fraternity - which checked IDs and had police on hand to administer breathalyzer tests - they were blamed for the death. They were later cleared of any wrongdoing.

The moratorium enacted in February represents a new approach for the Greek community. CU Greek Advocated Marc Stine said, since October, the IFC noticed a trend towards noisier parties. Fraternity-police liaisons, he said, expressed concern about the problem, and the IFC took action. They held a risk management meeting which included fraternity presidents, social chairs, house managers, risk managers, and new member education chairs, who heard presentations from the Boulder Police and Fire Departments, national fraternity legal counsel, specialists in fraternity operations, and IFC officers.

This proactive approach to problem-solving received praise from some university officials as well as police and fire representatives. Boulder's Fire Safety Educator Sherry Kenyon went so far as to call the decision “mature.”Again, not a word we thought we'd ever be using to describe a Boulder fraternity.

The efforts of the IFC to control fraternities and to take the safety and reputation of its members into its own hands has been nothing short of astonishing. It's the kind of thing that used to be expected of Greek organizations.

We think the university should take its lumps, admit the fraternities have done a great job of self-policing, and allow them back on campus.

After all, Boulder fraternities are acting more and more like adults these days. It's time the CU administration did the same.

Marc D. Stine, LLC Greek Advocate @ CU-Boulder 303.841.0132 phn/fax 303.995.1646 cellular mstine@usa.net www.CUGreekAdvocate.com
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance or conscientious stupidity.”
Marc Stine www.CUGreekAdvocate.com

DePauw Fraternity President Reacts to DZ Criticism

Letter to the Editor: Give greeks a chance
As a member and leader of the greek community at DePauw, I was surprised by some of the letters regarding the situation at Delta Zeta sorority. This issue has provoked people from around the country to comment not only on DZ, but on the greek system at DePauw and across the nation as a whole. I was offended when an individual accused the system of being a "throwback to centuries of discrimination and bigotry." The irresponsible and unethical actions of one chapter's national office are not enough to cast judgment on the entire system.

I was also taken aback by the comment that sorority girls "have little to offer." Many greek women on this campus undertake numerous projects with the hope of bettering our campus and our community. Some of the smartest, most down-to-earth girls I know live in sororities.

No one will deny that, in the past, fraternities and sororities discriminated, but it is evident that things are improving. To say that the "sole purpose of the Greek system is to discriminate" is to admit your unfamiliarity with the system. If you were to look at any greek chapter on this campus, you would see many diverse and unique individuals. The men in my house are from all over the country. My weaknesses are supplemented by my brothers' strengths. We are not all the stereotypical frat guys or sorority girls.

Unfortunately, more often than not, any news about greek life is bad news. Somewhere along the way, people forget all of the good things about fraternities and sororities. We forget about the thousands of dollars raised for organizations like the Riley Children's Hospital, American Heart Association, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The list goes on. People ignore the numerous hours of service to others, and they forget about the lifelong bonds that develop. While I loved "Animal House," maybe it's time for people to drop that image of greek life and give the system another shot. They might be surprised at the outcome.

Brandon Hood, junior
Sigma Chi Fraternity President