By Kathryn At Lee
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 19, 1997

Stop defaming Greeks

Editor:

Can the Greek community go a week without defaming itself? I think one must ask the question can the Wildcat go one week without printing defaming articles about the Greek community. For example, harassment that is committed against those in the Greek system are listed as a member of such and such sorority received harassing phone calls, not a female living at such and such address. Theft is reported as something was taken from a fraternity, not as taken from an address. Not everything negative that occurs at a Greek house is committed by a Greek member, yet that is often the way it appears. I am not denying that some negative things do occur within the Greek community, but negative things occur all over campus. I do not think a week has gone by when some dorm is not listed in Police Beat, yet the enitre dorm is not held responsible. In the same light the entire Greek community should not be held responsible for every infraction. I am not saying that the Greek community should not be held responsible for many things, it is important to note that the Greek community has self-imposed laws to govern themselves, and a self-imposed judicial system to enforce these laws. I am not aware of any other social organization that assumes this kind of responsibility.

I think another important point to be made is 'where is the good press?' When was the last time the Wildcat published an article that mentions all the money the Greek community has raised for battered women, homeless shelters, the Childrens Miracle Foundation, breast cancer, and numerous others? When was the last time an article was written regarding the visits to hospitals, the cooking of dinner at shelters, making haunted houses so underprivileged children have somewhere safe to go on Halloween? These are mostly weekly events for the Greek community. So my question is: When will the Wildcat go a week without emphasizing the bad, and concentrate on some of the good the Greek community does?

Kathryn At Lee
Political Science Senior