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Section Header
Behind the mask

Photo
Illustration by Arnulfo Bermudez
By Kendrick Wilson
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Wednesday June 11, 2003

Community service shields another layer for greek life

hh, fraternity life. One party blurs into another. Drinkers under 21 always have plenty of alcohol and no one is wanting for so-called friends. You will probably have to be hazed, but how else could you prove that you're worthy of the greek letters you can't understand that are stuck to the back of your BMW? Studying means cheating by looking at previous years' tests so you can actually pass the class you're retaking because you were too smashed to go to it last semester.

OK, so not everyone in UA's greek community meets this stereotype. In fact, most don't. But, the few who insist on making a bad name for the rest can't seem to stay out of the headlines.
Photo
Kendrick Wilson

The latest of their antics include what seem to be sour grapes over the UA chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) losing its national charter.

Extreme vandalism, which former fraternity president Drew Baxter claimed was "beyond repair," nearly gutted the Pike house on East Drachman north of UA last week.

Pike isn't the only fraternity that has been in trouble with the Dean of Students recently. Delta Tau Delta was accused of violating hazing rules in February. In March, Sigma Alpha Epsilon lost their university recognition after pledges damaged Delta Tau Delta's float in November. Then in April, Sigma Chi lost university recognition for six years following an investigation of hazing violations that included forcing pledges to eat cans of beans even after they vomited.

Whether or not fraternity members or leaders agree with the rules the university or their national organizations place on them, they knew the rules when they signed up. If the goal was to be a party organization, why be affiliated with the university or a national organization in the first place?

Of course, fraternity life is about more than just parties. Who could forget when Kappa Sigma cleaned up the "A" on "A" Mountain and restored it to its white color? Pike even held a "date auction" to raise money for the Bobbi Olson Memorial Fund, which is working to cure ovarian cancer. Indeed, many fraternities perform service hours and raise money for charities, but who's to say fraternity members couldn't perform service hours and donate to charitable causes without being affiliated with a fraternity?

When it came time last spring to look at candidates for ASUA elections, it became a little clearer to me why some people join fraternities. Nearly every candidate from the greek community (both fraternities and sororities) cited their work in the greek system as a qualification for an ASUA position. All gave about the same list of reasons why their work for their fraternity or sorority made them more qualified to sit down to meetings with President Pete Likins and avoid following campaign promises than your ordinary Joe. "It gave me leadership opportunities," most would say. A few would add, "It got me involved on campus."

I don't doubt that it got them more involved on campus or that it gave them leadership opportunities. What I have trouble seeing is what the value in either is if none of them can go beyond those popular sound bytes to what those leadership opportunities taught them and how it got them involved other than a couple of parties and frat-sponsored dances.

There is nothing wrong with having a good time or going to a few parties during college. Everyone who keeps their sanity undoubtedly does. If the frat members would stand up and say "I heard the UA was a good party school and wanted to have a good time so I joined this fraternity," it would be easier to stomach the times a few members use bad judgment and try to make a bad name for the rest of them. But, when the greek community so fervently puts on the face of community service and leadership, making it sound more like National Honor Society in high school than greek life in college, people have trouble accepting this type of behavior, and they are right to be outraged.

There's always the excuse that "I didn't know anyone, so I had to join a fraternity to make friends and meet people." This might work for some people, but they would probably find that they meet a more diverse group of people in their classes or even in a dorm than around the frat house. Certainly, everyone has a right to restrict their circle of friends to those whose parents can afford to put them in fraternities. But then, one must ask, why?

To all the fraternity members who are committed to becoming well-rounded model citizens, the few members who keep making the headlines have not been fair to you or the organization. Kick them out, tell them you won't take it, and maybe slowly the image of the greek community will recover.


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