Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl
FWIW, I don't understand the compulsion to post every picture you take online either. I would never do it. But apparently it's something that college students these days find to be important in terms of self expression and just saying "don't do it" isn't making them stop.
If we see large numbers of intelligent young women disaffiliating or choosing not to go Greek at all because they feel they can't express themselves as they want, the sororities need to rethink the policy, not just say "if you can't follow it then you shouldn't be Greek." The internet is still a new thing - I'm sure the sororities went through something similar when prohibition was repealed or the like.
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Are large numbers disaffiliating because they can't post drunken pictures on facebook? Really?
Personally I don't want to deal with people that are going to get so upset over something so small. They're more trouble than they're worth. They are the type that will raise a battle flag over every small injustice, causing chaos and havoc in the chapter. It's ESPECIALLY important in any group to pick your battles. We're talking facebook. I guess I can't understand facebook being such a part of a person's identity that they feel they're being stifled if they can't post a picture with a beer.
I have a much bigger problem with the chapters that choose to mandate their members' personal appearance. I don't think that should define an individual either, but it SHOULD be, to a healthy person, much more important to personal identity than a facebook profile.
You do know that sports teams kick off team members that, say, get in trouble for drinking too much even if they are of legal age? Drunken pictures do NOT have an effect on just you. It is 100% a problem for all of your sisters.
a) Even if you are of age it effects the image that ALL people have of Greeks. Greeks absolutely have the reputation for being shameless drunks. Obviously, this is NOT true for everyone. There are Greeks from teetotaler to responsible moderate to shameless drunk.
b) It effects recruitment. If you're trying to recruit a bus load of party girls, that's one thing. If you want to throw in some campus leaders, that could be a problem. For students who are not familiar with campus life, they are choosing a sorority based on what they can see in just a couple of weeks. This includes the reputation the chapter has on campus as well as how they present themselves. If you have a bunch of sisters doing shots off of each other or who have a beer bottle in almost all of their photos, what message does that send? Why is alcohol so important that it MUST be shown? If it's not secondary, then there's a problem. There's meetings for it.
c) It is too hard to have to go through every facebook picture of every member to approve it or not. There is a place for blanket rules in our society. Schools have them, work places have them, teams have them...that's the way society works.
Actually, the US constitution does not guarantee "all or nothing" free speech. There are limits to everything. It IS stretching your parameters to compare not including alcohol in your photos on an online site to having to change your personal appearance. May I also point out that private organizations and businesses have THE RIGHT to "censor" if that's what you want to call it, their members or employees. The government does not, in most cases, but sororities do.
You missed my logic. My logic is based on the FACT that drinking has become an issue, problem, and liability for the entire greek system. It's also based on the fact that, legal or not, drinking always has the potential to be dangerous. It IS about image, but on a much deeper level than your future job interview. It encompasses every Greek organization that exists today. Why else would they all address alcohol...and not your method of dress? Why does NPC make statements about alcohol and not clothing? Bottom line...it's a bigger deal.