Virginia Tech-Several GLO's investigated for compromising pictures of members
 

"The Greek Avenger"
Several Greek organizations at Virginia Tech are being investigated by the office of Judicial afairs after compromising pictures of members were sent to University officials. The person or group of people behind the mailings remain anonymous.
Some Greek organizations at Virginia Tech are being investigated after several packages with compromising pictures were sent to the university’s office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
Ed Spencer, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs says three separate envelopes were mailed earlier this month full of pictures taken off Facebook and MySpace pages. The majority of the pictures showed under age students drinking alcohol.
http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/n..._avenger/6433/

“Sometimes people identify themselves, but it’s more common to get anonymous mailings in which people spot things that they think they should bring to the attention of university officials.”

In the most recent mailings, the person or group of people remain anonymous however students and others on campus are beginning to call the whistle blower the “Greek Avenger”.

Spencer says there’s a theory that the person or persons sending the mail are either part of a chapter “who are concerned about getting retribution on another chapter for something.” or the allegations may come from someone “who was unsuccessful in getting into membership at a certain chapter.”

Or, it could be hoosier.

Lessons to be learned . . .
 

1.) Don't do things which are illegal or against college policy.

2.) If you do, for God's sake don't post pictures of it - ANYWHERE. Don't take the pictures in the first place.

Everyone got that? Good.

Why is this such a difficult concept for some?

This sounds similar to what happened to Miss New Jersey a little while ago.

Want to make it interesting? $$

It amazes me, what people will do. I was told about the above when I was about ten!

Is it really a big deal if someone is caught drinking booze? I mean it is college. How naive are we to believe that underage college students don't drink?

Of course there are underage students who drinking. But whether they like it or not, it is illegal and just like with anything else, there are consequences for their actions.

Like my great-grandmother use to say, "There is a time and a place for everything." Which in today's society means, if you are going to break the rules just don't take a zillion pictures and then post them on MySpace and Facebook. I am not one to preach, but I had lots of fun in college, but I sure didn't take a picture of every crazy moment and then share it with everyone. I can remember showing my grandparents pictures from college and I would go through and take out the ones of me with beer bottles or drinks in my hand. (And even cigarettes when I use to smoke!)

I honestly think it is a generation thing. Most college kids see it as okay to post pictures of them getting drunk at a party because they live in a very disposable world where they bring their digital camera with them to every event is expected. They seem to award themselves for the big moments in their life with their pictures; for example, Peggy Sue gets drunk at the fraternity house and then pukes all over the place, well they would take pictures of that and then post it. Nothing is a "big deal" to them. Nothing shocks young adults these days. So posting pics of themselves drinking (whether of age or not of age) is not a problem to them. They also are probably reading the Tabloid Magazines and when they see the actors their age out of control in a magazine they don’t really think twice about doing it themselves. But that's just my two cents.

This takes tattle taling to a whole new level.

And, as far as the uni coming down on the students - Big Brother anyone?

I totally am one for telling the kids to not post stupid pictures on myspace or facebook - things that could come back to haunt you. But, at the same time, for someone to anonymously send them to the administration to get people in trouble - that is just LOW.

If you are such an AVENGER, why don't you put your name on the package of pictures, and take ownership of your deeds and credit for getting everyone in trouble.

Oh, srmom, how I wish you had been posting here about 2 years ago.

Oy, this sucks. A really good friend of mine is greek at tech, he didn't mention anything about it so hopefully this isn't affecting him.

First of all, no one in my sorority posts pictures of us drinking anymore. if pictures are taken in a bar, they are kept for our house photo albums or don't show us drinking. At the MOST sisters have drinks in hand while posing, but never cheering or consuming. THIS is because our greek adviser wagged her finger at us for this, though apparently it's ok for one of the huge, national, all-white sororities to have pictures of them holding glasses of champagne... as long as they look classy while doing it. I can't say for sure that our diversity had anything to do with the scrutiny, but I myself am white, and I was like... guys, this is fucked up. ANYWAY, personal issue, I digress.

Honestly, college kids drink all the time, NOT just greeks. Actually, some of the greeks at my school are some of the prissiest kids around. Universities just love it when stuff like this happens, because if you're found drinking, and you wear letters, it can be brought upon your whole group, and they can be like OMG THEY'RE GREEK, THEY'RE A LIABILITY AND HORRIBLE STUDENTS. NONE OF OUR OTHER PERFECT STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN SUCH DEBAUCHERY!

OPEN YOUR EYES, these kids would be drinking NO MATTER WHAT. I realize that it's dumb to post these kinds of pictures -- greek or not -- but it's worse to tattle, and the fact that universities have this big brother power is just ridiculous to me. (thank you srmom) Though personally, I feel that if I can vote and drive and smoke, and my best friend can go die in Iraq, we should be able to drink. So I really don't feel even a little bad when I do it. I recognize that it's law, and therefore something that will be enforced, I guess I just enjoy defying the system.
On another note, I'm also not trying to diss nationals, I have a lot of respect for the nationals on my campus, but more and more I see them trying to make greeks - especially greek women - into the stepford wives. my issues with the sexism and discrimination brought upon greek women today (mostly by their own sex) is another topic (which I've been meaning to post about) but you'll notice that these pictures featured women from every sorority on campus, and I'm sure their nationals will throw a hissy fit about standards of conduct. I bet you that the guys' nationals won't do anything of the sort.

I just feel like female university and national administrators put the blinders on when it comes to this stuff. My mom and dad always say, I'd rather you feel comfortable enough to come to me or talk freely about the stuff you're doing so that I can help you if you ever are in real trouble. I feel like the way 'grown ups' handle this stuff is like a bad parent who thinks if they just make stricter rules the problems will go away. They won't, they'll just hide it from you more.

and that's my $5.

This is actually interesting because a similar situation actually happened on my campus, a few years ago, except the person did not remain anonymous.

There were some sorority girls walking around in their bras and underwear at a fraternity. They had taken pictures of themselves and posted them on facebook. When one of my sisters saw them she printed them off and went in to talk to the greek advisor about the pictures and other problems with the chapter. There was a widespread dislike of the chapter through CPC after the chapter recolonized because nationals kicked out most of the members except the previous pledge class for hazing. The girls had been very disrespectful to other sisters on campus and were giving greek life a very negative image.

Interestingly enough-the Greek life advisor had a talk with them about appropriate behavior and that was all.

________________

On another note. Our greek life advisor now has facebook and she even has some of the sorority girls on campus as her friends.

Serena - one aspect of nationals you may not be considering is the fact they have to think in terms of risk liability. It's not so much wanting members to be "Stepford wives", but recognizing that image counts, and certain behaviors can ( and have ) lead to lawsuits. It's unfortunate, but there it is. Actually, locals should consider it, too, but they often don't.
I personally wish the drinking age could be lowered to 19 - but in the meantime, "bucking the system" can have some serious consequences. Whether it's the GLO, the university, other groups on campus or whomever, someone needs to let students know that they are not in a magic bubble where they can do what they want and not have to deal with the resulting consequences. My brother ended up with a broken jaw as a result of fraternity hi-jinks - and had he decided to pursue charges against the drunken "brother" who did it, his life would have been radically changed (he's since gone into law enforcement(!)). My brother wouldn't press charges because it was a fellow Sig and he was drunk. Many wouldn't have those reservations. And we all know of tragic stories where someone didn't walk away.
We've gone a little far afield from compromising pictures, but I think it is a good thing to have our collegians think about their actions and how they reflect on themselves, their GLO and their school.