Dan DaranciangLast Wednesday, as part of the Greeks in Motion programming, the Greek Life Office (GLO) oversaw the annual Grand Chapter, a meeting for all Greek students at the University. This year, however, there was a new twist. All students who didn’t attend the program would be fined $20, and students who e-mailed in an excuse that was not accepted would be fined “only” $10, which, the e-mail took care to point out, would be donated to U-City East, the philanthropy benefiting from last week’s efforts. Does this then mean that the University then pocketed the money of the students who had to pay $20 for their unexcused absences? Seeing the way they’re treating the tuition from visiting students from Tulane, who knows where the money will end up.
A program should be pretty important if over 1,000 students are required to attend it, very important if anyone who doesn’t show up will be fined. So, what was so important that the GLO mandated we attend? The program first began with a mini-pep rally for Greeks in Motion, and then there was a speaker, a strange cross between a Greek stand-up comedian and a slightly perturbed parent. His words consisted of a few jokes, harping on general stereotypes about fraternities and sororities, and a good deal more encouragement/scolding, in which he implored us to do more with our Greek organizations, at one point saying, “I expect more from you.” His scoldings were especially confusing, because he also kept praising how much charity and philanthropy work Greek organizations do, more than ever before, and how strong our particular Greek community at Wash. U. is. If that’s true, why such harsh criticism from an outside source? And if it isn’t, well, he shouldn’t be blowing smoke up our collective Greek behind.
While some of his points may have been valid, such as focusing on risk management and building our community both on and off campus, there was certainly nothing about this speaker, a professional Greek who tours the country giving a similar version of this speech to other Greek communities, that was compelling enough to have mandatory attendance. This was the second straight year that a “lifetime Greek” has come to speak at Grand Chapter, which is interesting, because on Wednesday we also heard about all the successful businessmen and politicians who were Greeks during college; if this is true, why not bring one of them in? The Greek community could probably benefit much more from a speaker who can talk about how their experiences as a Greek affected or helped them as they worked toward success. Their thoughts would be significantly more valuable (although maybe still not worth $20) than someone who has stayed within the Greek community for his entire career.
Another benefit could be that the Greek community might actually learn something from the speaker and be inspired by him or her, rather than coming away feeling slightly amused and mildly insulted. There is a certain amount of condescension in forcing us to come to an event where we’re criticized for things we haven’t even done; at least twice in his presentation, the speaker said something along the lines of, “Now, I know this isn’t really a problem on this campus, BUT…” and then went into the next part of his speech. Rather than wasting our time, a commodity precious to all Wash. U. students, an interesting and relevant speaker could do much more for us. Removing the unnecessary fine just for missing the meeting would also take away much of the resentment Greeks felt towards the event this year, thereby making it more likely to be successful.
In general, it would be really enjoyable if the Greek Life Office would stop acting like parents of all the members of Greek life on campus. Just under a year ago, they took away all drinking privileges; now, we have to go to the meetings they say we do, or they take away some of our allowance. This punitive and unnecessary parenting is not needed by the Greek community. Both fraternities and sororities have their own governing organizations; the GLO should simply be an office overseeing these bodies, rather than an active, constant presence. Hopefully, future programming by the GLO will be more beneficial and useful to the Greeks on campus, rather than unimportant and irritating.
Matt is a senior in Arts & Sciences.