Exactly. It's very simple.

Those sites are open for everyone to see.

If you do not want anything known, simple, don't put it there!:rolleyes:

Maybe that is to much to think about?

Or, completely disassociate yourself from your GLO in your profile. Life is full of choices.

I agree with many of the previous posts but picked this one. I'm also surprised that this is just now coming up. I was dealing with this back when I was advising eons ago.

Also, I'd highly recommend either cleaning those pages up or making them private. It only took one meeting with a vp of my company, where he casually mentioned that he'd been checking out MySpace because of his teenage daughter. That was an easy lightbulb that upper management looked at the site. I made my page private put a boring pic and boring quote up and went on. I don't cry because I can't have a picture of me with alcohol looking all trashed even though I'm (now) 28. Looking like an alcoholic on the internet probably won't get me very far.

Unless it's a sister she's feudiung with who wants her to get kicked out.

Unless it's someone that has a grudge against the sorority.

And then the HQ kind of is backed into a corner because they made this stupid, ridiculous, all-encompassing rule. Unless they want to appear to be playing favorites, they DO have to discipline someone for something as lame as a pic of them at a winery with their parents.

Then again, in a few years we'll probably be compelled to share our entire medical history with companies we're interviewing at (think Gattaca) so I guess this is kind of small potatoes.

I agree with you...in the fact that if the rules say so, we have to do it. What I disagree with is the fact that even if your profile is set to private, you STILL cannot have them up.

And I fail to see the point of the rule if it's okay for alumnae to do it; I know it's only because we can't really police alumnae like we can actives, or hold their membership up for behavior, etc, but it just seems like trying to fix the stereotype won't work if the majority of Greeks can still drink in letters and put alcohol pix on Facebook.

A CBS affiliate has some updated information about the U. of North Dakota situation posted on its site:

http://www.kxmb.com/News/222272.asp

Excerpts from longer article:

A University of North Dakota sorority has been put on probation in the wake of a party in which some people dressed up as American Indians.

The Gamma Phi Beta sorority was put on probation by both the sorority's central office . . .and by the UND dean of student's office.

That office will investigate a discrimination complaint filed against the sorority by American Indian students. . . .


Edited to add this link / address for the offical national Gamma Phi Beta press release regarding the UND situation:

http://www.gammaphibeta.org/news/det...CATEGORY_ID=11

As far as my sorority is concerned, we are not allowed to drink in our letters, ergo if you have pictures on Facebook of yourself drinking in your letters, you will called into standards. You can also get called in for conduct, but usually it's not because they saw a Facebook picture (unless someone reports an incident and uses the pictures to further prove their point).

However, I've heard of people (mainly those on sports teams) getting in trouble for having pictures of themselves drinking on Facebook. But a good way to prevent that is to un-tag yourself, set lots of privacy limits, etc.

I personally think it's a bit much that someone who is of age to not be allowed to have a picture of themselves with a beer, glass of wine, etc. on their pictures and be part of a sorority/fraternity. Again, you can play the conduct card in those situations, say that there's a picture in which they are clearly in a drunken stupor/acting in bad taste. I feel like in a situation such as that, it's not uncalled for if the person in question is asked to take down the picture/un-tag their self.

As far as alumnae are concerned, I can tell you that if alcohol is on our alumnae chapter websites and "Nationals" know about it, someone will address it.

Facebook is harder to police. Alumnae should not change their behavior once they graduate, unless they are raising the bar. You still represent your organization.

Then too bad for her.

Of course there are procedures for everything. It's unlikely that she would get kicked out for the pictures. Disciplined, yes.

I just fail to see how this is a big deal.

Private profiles don't do any good. Most of the time, the picture wasn't posted by the person with the drink in hand, but by someone else and was tagged. Unless they can get their friend to remove the photo, it's up their for all of THEIR friends to see. Private profiles are also only as good as the friends you add. Pictures can just be reposted somewhere else. And last but not least, you're supposed to be in Recruitment mode year round. Unless your ONLY friends are in your sorority, it's likely a PNM will see the pictures. Why is it such a big deal? PUT THE BEER DOWN. Wah.

I have no idea what the rules are for alums in my organization. I'm not one and I have a year left. But it doesn't miss the point at all. The REASON that organizations have these all encompassing rules is that COLLEGIANS tend to binge drink and drink under age. It's a problem for all college students...I don't buy that it's a Greek issue, but the rules are a necessary response to show the world that our organizations don't support these behaviors. As a college graduate and an adult, people are much less likely to comment on your behavior in that manner.

The beer may be down, but there still might be alcohol in the picture. In fact, it might not even be in your place setting.

Maybe I was brought up with a different outlook on alcohol. Alcohol was and still is considered a "grown up" drink in my family, but it was never condemned or considered a bad thing. I watched my parents drink wine at dinner and I was given a wine glass with grape juice or apple juice so I could be "just like the grown ups." When I turned 19 (the legal drinking age here), the juice was replaced with the real thing. My official 19th birthday was wine and dinner with my family. I don't understand why other people weren't brought up the same way. Maybe if people thought about things this way, we'd have fewer problems.

This seems to be the root of all of the issues you vent about here. It's a big wide world full of people from all sorts of different places and experiences. If you embraced that a little more maybe you wouldn't sweat so much of the small stuff.

You keep forgetting you're from Canada. The attitude toward alcohol there is much different (IMO much healthier) than the US (most likely the French influence, whether you live in Quebec or not). At least that's the impression I've always gotten.

Stupid Puritans.

My chapter doesn't have a problem with pictures of members who are at a bar, but if there's a drink in someone's hand, different story. Same with a vineyard. IMO, a vineyard would be less of a problem, considering typical bar behavior vs vineyard behavior.

lol at the idea of "vineyard behavior"!

I've been laughing to myself about this thread since it started. Our chapter advisors don't even have a glass of wine with dinner prior to attending a chapter meeting!

Crazy as it may sound, there's a reason for probably every rule that anyone may find stupid.

That's nice and all, but the rest of the world DOESN'T revolve around your family. I used to think it would solve all of the world's problems as well until I started hanging out with European students. I don't know anyone else who can get so completely plastered and start again at 8 in the morning. Binge drinking isn't a US problem. Nor is drinking underage. But both are huge problems for greek organizations.

There is a REASON the code of standards states that alcohol cannot be associated with our letters. Too many bad eggs ruined it for the rest of us. Greeks have a hard time dealing with the constant onslaught of negative publicity for binge drinking and underage drinking as it is. It does not help to be drinking in your letters.

Blanket rules in schools, clubs, greek organizations, etc. are there for a reason. No one can wiggle their way out, that way. Better safe than sorry.

There are bigger things in the world to get upset about. If it is THAT important for alcohol to be prominent in your life that you can't just keep some pictures on your bulletin board or coffee table, then you are not in a healthy place mentally. I don't care where you're from or who you are, it is a VERY small thing to ask that you not put alcoholic photographs on facebook. If you can't handle it, maybe you don't need to be a part of ANY organization or team. Part of teamwork is making small compromises and sacrifices so that the individuals can work as a group.

You know, I think you have some issues yourself. In any case, sometimes, the photos aren't even from the person's profile. The person could have been tagged and from someone who didn't realize that it was wrong to have alcohol associated with letters. Honestly, I think some people DO have issues with alcohol and yes, I agree with 33girl that it's probably because of religion/culture. Of course, it's very difficult to change things because culture is so ingrained in us :-(

You know what I'd do if *I* made the rules? As long as the person isn't WEARING LETTERS/Letters aren't in the photo, then it should be okay. But I don't make the rules. I just don't think some of the regs are all that considerate of some cultures at times. It's only a personal opinion...that's all.

In any case, I guess I really shouldn't be saying anything, since I'm alum and it doesn't exactly affect me.

The US/Canadian thing as far as Greek regs in general has been going on for a long time and I know we've discussed it on here. I know our policy just used to say follow the laws where you are re alcohol. Now since the states all got blackmailed into passing the 21 law, it's undergrads can't have alcohol, period. That would be fine except that the US isn't the only country that has fraternity & sorority chapters. I'm sure it hasn't helped any of the Greek orgs get more of a foothold in Canada.

Actually, that isn't necessarily fine even if Canada didn't have GLOs. People travel, and people take pictures when they travel. You probably won't be wearing a lettered shirt while you're in Italy, but you may still have something GLO-related in your profile.

My only issue here is that I have sense enough to realize that it's not going to kill me to not post every single picture that I want to post on facebook. Fortunately, I'm able to accept that being part of a group means making small sacrifices and compromises. This is a VERY small thing to ask.

Right, they could be tagged by someone else. You untag them. Unless they were drinking in letters, drinking underage, or are absolutely out of control, no one's going to bring them up. They can't control who has a camera at the bar.

You just can't explain why it is THAT important. We're talking facebook. I know it's fun to make photo albums, BUT your friends probably aren't going to cry themselves to sleep at night if they miss that one picture from the bar or that one picture on vacation.

It might not only be about friends. It might be about family too. Think about that.

Oh. My. God.

Is there such a thing as an I'm-gonna-poke-my-eyes-out smiley? I need one.

For Pete's Sake. You joined the sorority chapter. This is a rule at the chapter. If you don't like it, there's the door. There's no fundamental right to post photos of yourself with alcohol on the internet. Period.

No one is trying to deny anyone's legal right to drink or to take photos. But everything that you post on the internet has the potential to become public, even if you keep your profile on private.

You know how during recruitment you want your sorority to be seen as the best and most desirable? This ties into all of that. We want to have a clean-cut image. By passing and enforcing this rule, your sorority is attempting to take part in a larger public relations and image building campaign to show its community, its members, its members parents and others that sorority women are not a bunch of drunken slobs, contrary to media stereotypes.

If you don't like the rule, try to change it through the proper channels OR get out of the sorority. I don't see this rule being changed even if it comes up for a vote. Back in my day, we didn't have Facebook or MySpace and we still had rules that you couldn't have photos of members with alcohol. You never knew who could get their hands on them and make snap judgments about your sorority.

Guess what? Back in the day people did things like get photos printed and mail them. Or make photo albums. Why in god's name is it going to kill you to not post this stuff on FACEBOOK?

Are you just bored and want to argue? Because otherwise you don't seem like you have the right attitude to be in any organized club or team. This is beating the dead horse into a pulp. You chose to go greek, and part of that is making small sacrifices. This is absolutely 100% a SMALL sacrifice. If you need things to be YOUR way ALL the time, a sorority is definitely not for you. If the sorority and your sisters are important enough to you, you can handle this little issue. It's not all about YOU.

This kid is awesome.

And he made a very good point.

It is pretty funny.

But while he's making fun of the administration and it's funny...it still highlights reality. Reality is that if you have the red cup in the picture, people assume you are drinking. It's just the way it is, fair or not.

This may have been mentioned before, but the other option is to not mention your affiliation with your GLO group on facebook. Personally, I'd still hope that people who keep their postings and photos within the boundaries of good taste, but if you don't really wholeheartedly accept a group's attitude about alcohol, you could limited the issue by not having letters, symbols, greek crests, family trees, etc in your profile.

While I don't think it's a big hardship to not have photos boozing it up online, I also don't think anyone should take the effort to Puritanical extremes. For instance, and this is totally hypothetical since I have no authority in this area, I don't think I'd try to take action against a member who was above the legal drinking age who posted no photos of herself with alcohol connected to her page, but who appeared to be drinking a photo tagged by others. The effort not to connect GLO signs, symbols, or letters with alcohol doesn't extend to requiring that members of legal age not drink in public ever, so I'm not sure why a photo, which wasn't otherwise inappropriate in content, of a person with something that appeared to be alcohol generally being on the internet would be a big problem, tagged on facebook or otherwise.

I suspect that having a outright ban on alcohol images connected with GLOs is just a whole lot easier than making the repeated judgment calls about, well, this photo with a beer bottle is fine but this one isn't because you look drunk, etc.

Assuming that the person is of legal drinking age, I'm in agreement with the rule that you'd make, assuming, of course, that there wasn't anything else wrong with the picture.

A photo of a legally adult young woman with a glass of wine really isn't that big a deal one way or the other. I don't think a GLO is harmed by it.

On the other hand, as I mentioned above, I can see why it's a easier to say all alcohol photos are forbidden to avoid trying to regulate which are acceptable and which are not. Who would want to take on that job? Keg stand, no; champagne at wedding toast, yes; shooters at spring break, probably not; etc, etc, etc.

I see you nailed it perfectly earlier, Nittanyalum. Exactly.

I doubt anyone would get that upset about a tagged photo...just de tag it, no big deal.

It is definitely easier to just say don't do it then have to figure out what situation is ok. And leaving it open also leaves room to discriminate against one girl versus another.

It IS an option for a woman of legal age to choose between being affiliated online with her letters or posting pictures of booze. What I can't wrap my head around is why anyone would choose the booze.

I can't imagine consciously choosing booze, but I can see deciding that I wanted to be free to post pretty close to whatever I wanted rather than having to filter it though someone else's group standards, especially when I was 21 or so.

Even here and now when I'm a lot older and not posting photos, I have enjoyed not having the GLO reference in user name more that I would have guessed when I started.

I didn't get the feeling that Taualumna had the big personal investment in the issue that some people were reading in her posts, but I understand some of what she's feeling in terms of not seeing much fundamentally wrong with alcoholic drinks and therefore finding any strict absolute policy a little rigid. I think it can also be irritating when folks latch onto certain rules about how the group looks while ignoring or promoting images that might be equally distressing to some group members: Barbie chapters, etc, (which I'm not trying to suggest anyone in this thread would do, just that messages about image are trickier than maybe they'd first seem).

ETA: In practice one probably should de-tag a photo like we discussed. In theoretical terms, I don't think she should have to. If it's not illegal or embarrassing and she was drinking in public at the time the photo was taken, it seems a little silly and maybe even hypocritical to worry about de-tagging it. People should think carefully about what they have in their profiles, but in cases where there's nothing wrong with a photo. . .

I think the reason for the all-out ban on alcohol in pictures is because while you can trust most members to use common sense, the few idiots would spoil it for everyone. So, a lovely shot of a bride and groom toasting each other with champagne would not be a problem for me, but any of the horrible drunken antics shots that we've all seen would be a BIG problem. As usual, the few ruin it for the many.

Yep.

Rules are there for a reason. And in this case, they are up for change. If your chapter has a rule you don't like, why complain about it instead of change it? My chapter doesn't seem to have a problem with it, fortunately. We all love facebook, but I'm thankful my girls don't take it so seriously that they would take issue with just refraining from posting pictures with alcohol.

I just don't really care. If someone were telling me I couldn't drink, I would raise hell, because that's a right the government actually gives me...it's one of the few you are automatically given. But I wouldn't choose to have alcohol on my profiles either way. If I've got really amazing pictures from a party and there's a beer in my hand I'll leave that for my picture board in my apartment, no big. I'd rather choose that than leave pictures up that might give future employers the wrong impression.

And as I've said, the few ruin it for the whole. It would cause WAY more problems to leave the rule open to interpretation of situations than to just say hey...don't do it.

I guess I'll just never understand what the big deal is. Being part of a group means compromise. It's just not a big thing to ask.

And lastly, I don't think people focus on this "rule". It was made the focus of this thread, but for my chapter at least it's not something we often have a problem with in the first place. With very few exceptions our girls are cooperative and mature enough to just do the small things they are asked to do, like keep their pictures with booze to themselves.

If people in the past hadn't acted ridiculous (not saying they still don't do it, but it came with the times) and Greeks didn't have such a bad name and weren't pelted with negative publicity then alcohol wouldn't be such a big deal. But it is, and it comes with the territory. Oh well.

I can't really imagine caring that much about the policy that much either, but I can see why the option to not display the letters might appeal to some folks more than having to accept someone else's standards for a medium designed for personal expression like Facebook.

On a slightly different note, isn't Alpha Gamma Delta's policy an international one? I don't think that this is a change-the-rule-through-your-chapter-level thing, but I agree that I don't think enough people are really bothered by it to matter at any level.

I guess I think if you feel like that you shouldn't be Greek at all. I told my PNM's as a gamma rho...if you're going to have a huge problem with people telling you what to do sometimes, this is NOT for you.

I'm not sure because I lost my password to the site and my paperwork isn't with me...even at a national level...there's always room for change. Or people could just follow the rules.