Quote:
Originally posted by Divine Nine
Only 25% of the chapters have sweethearts? And where do you get these stats from? And let's assume they are correct and only 10% of the chapters with sweetheart go too far, wouldn't that be a significant amount to illustrate that we have a problem? But I'll tell you, I've been to over one hundred schools, and nearly all have at least ONE fraternity with sweethearts.
And you are wrong about political correctness. Political correctness was created as a convenient way to discredit all those who attempted to empower themselves, by pointing out the ridiculous. So the Cherokee who wanted to define himself as a Native American and a hippee from California who decides he is "smell-handicapped" and therefore want everyone to not wear perfume, are lumped together to invalidate both. Are the arguments the same? Of course not. But "political correctness" has become an Orwellian term that quite successful defined an argument, yet meant nothing in itself.
As for what is a fraternity or sorority? Well yes, it has always been a combination of brotherhood/sisterhood, business, and community service organization. And by the statistics, every organization and not just Omega, values the intrinsic values of brotherhood/sisterhood over everything. Why? Well because only one out of ten fraternity men and four out of ten sorority members are financial. So obviously, the financial aspects are not important. We almost made "how one is brought into" the organization a fetish, where there is a constant circular trap of proving oneself on line, and then getting others to prove themselves to you. Intake becomes the end and not the means.
And one other thing. The whole idea that being financial is less important than being a "good bruh" is folly. And if that was the case, then not one of our Divine Nine organizations would exist today. For example, during the Great Depression, a lot of banks failed, and most D9 organizations lost great amounts of their general funds. Omega lost about a third of its funds in 1931, and had to appeal to members for a voluntary $5 payment, whether they had paid previously or not. Now I would argue that if Omega members had decided that it was more important to be a "good bruh" to each other rather than support their fraternity financially, Omega possibly would have not made it to 2002.
And as for the community service aspect, I think the correct question is if we are NOT doing enough community service, then why are we in our organizations in the first place. I can create a brotherhood in my dorm. I can create a brotherhood in my neighborhood. I can create a brotherhood in a gang. I can create a brotherhood in my church. And all can be legit. But why do we as college men gather? Not just for mutual support, but for a greater good. That's why we include those high falootin' words in our mottos.
Lastly, whether or not single sex organizations are sexist is dependent upon on how they treat the opposite sex. Do they treat the opposite sex as equals or inferiors to be exploited? What is their philosophy? That's the definition of sexism. And as it pertains to sweethearts, do you really think they are equals to the fraternity members they serve? I think not.
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Bro. Lawrence:
Its obvious that the Sweetheart issue is some major campaign of yours. I'll defer to you on the quantity of Sweethearts. The Omega circles that I travel in, I see very few of them compared to my undergad days. In my chapter alone, we had about 60 of them and the Kappas had at least 200 Sweethearts. The bottom line is that adult women cannot be exploited in a volunteer organization without their willing participation. Being a Sweetheart is not a mandatory college experience. The 10% that I referred to is that Brothers were teaching or doing inappropriate things to/with their Sweethearts, not neccessarily something that was worth litigation.
Political Correctness:
Like ChaosDST states, Political Correctness is not about the sensible. Its about coercing others to adhere to a point of view just to make people feel better about themselves, many times to the detriment of others. No one can play dodge ball now because the fat kid gets hit first. The school choir can't sing "Come All Ye Faithful" at the school "Holiday" Program, heck you can't even use the name of the holiday in the program. Dartmouth making Greek organizations coed or they will be banned is Communism. It is forcing people to think and act the way that you want them to because "you" believe that you are right and by default that everyone else is wrong or at minimum, some unevolved fascist. Education is about teaching people alternative viewpoints and theories, not forcing them on you. To use the threat of lawsuit and financial insolvency does not make one's position right.
Isn't it funny that how one was "made" was never such a divisive issue until it was changed wholesale. Can you quote for me the same statistics of ratio for financial/non-financial for each decade. My hunch is that there isn't a tremendous variation or that that variation has been exacerbated by the divisiveness of intake.
As I stated to the esteemed LadyGreek, I never diminished the importance of being financial. In terms of "Brotherhood", being a "good Bruh" is not impacted by one's financial status. If you take my statement in the context in which it was rendered, it was about how Omega values "Brotherhood" , not to the exclusion of financial obligations, but in "brother to brother" relations. Your illustration from the events of 1931 illustrate my point. It was extremely hard for Brothers to be financial during the depression, especially those whose savings were depleted, but when called upon, the "good Bruhs" show up. As an aside, most of our organizations would be in exceptional financial shape if it weren't for lawsuits eating up ourr operating capital. Even if you relaimed 50% of your membership, that is more money for a lawyer to go after. They know just how much of your assets to seek.
Community Service:
We are doing a great deal of community service. For those in Grad chapters that are juggling jobs, families, school, church, and a social life, we are doing a whole lot for a brother/sisterhood. Yes we can always do more. We can do more if we kept more of our money from lawyers also. But the question remains, are we as Black Greeks responsible for every aspect of social service? Are our organizations specifically designed for those tasks or are we brother/sisterhoods that practice altruism. My point that I will beat to death is that if I wanted to belong to an organization dedicated solely to social service, I. will do it through 100 Black Men. What I get with Omega is much more and very different. I don't want to ruin my fraternal experience by so focused on business that I forget my "brotherhood". You can't be all things to all people, nor serve two masters.