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Educated: You are more than welcome to your own opinions, as I am to mine. But before you take my statements out of context, or respond to them so rudely, please consider how uneducated your previous post made you sound. This is a discussion forum, not a place to trade insults.
In reference to the newspaper article- nowhere did I say that DOC's fish incident was the instigating event for that particular article. I was simply stating the irony behind the situation- their members are so concerned with the perpetuation of false titles and stereotypes, and yet their members perpetuate these exact same things.
I don't particularly care what Matt and Casey did or did not admit to...if they were responsible for these actions, as all sources I have read have indicated, then I think they should be punished. If they aren't responsible, I truly hope that their good name is cleared.
Never did I say that I think it's right that the whole group is being blamed for this, only that I can understand the University's position on the matter. If it were any of my sisters, I would of course be upset about the injustice. But none of my sisters would have signed away their right to privacy, or invited the level of attention that DOC petitioned MTV for. By asking MTV to come here, DOC put themselves on the line, plain and simple. Of course UCSC isn't happy about this, of course UCSC is going to take the strongest possible action against them. Combine these facts with the rumors (true or untrue) that DOC caught that fish and then cooked and fed it to their pledges- now that's a whole fraternity activity.
We chose our sisters based on qualities that we consider to be important- intelligence, common sense, and respect for our organization among them. We have taken the time to all come to agreement on what sort of fun is appropriate, and what isn't. We've made our mistakes and learned our lesson, many many times. I hope DOC has learned theirs. It isn't my place to criticize their choice of members, or what activities they feel are appropriate to engage in. I'm trying to point out the others side of your story- that it isn't just some huge conspiracy against DOC. What they did had tangible consequences, and that's something they have had to deal with.
If DOC had not, for instance, worn the t shirts that they did, or if they didn't throw their booze cruise quarterly, or if their website didn't have a video of a bunch of drunk people acting stupid- maybe UCSC would have had more tolerance. But everyone knows that our school hates Greeks, and in order to balance that out, we don't have the option of necessarily being as wild and crazy as other schools might. Yes, it sucks. I wish all the time that our Greek system was more expansive, and our faculty and peers more open minded. But this doesn't seem to be the right battle to pick to try and fight against those injustices. No, it isn't fair: I've said that before and I'll say it again. If you want to change the system, by all means, go for it. But here's a suggestion: if Greeks aren't happy about the treatment they are receiving, or the higher standards they are set to, there are better ways of changing the status quo than by protesting the backlash when your brother does something illegal and moronic.
And to anticipate your next comment- Nope, I don't like DOC. My interactions with them have proved to me that as a group they aren't worth my personal time, and certainly not my sorority's time. On an individual level, some of the guys are cool, and some of them I truly dislike. I have found them to be rude, disrespectful, immature, and not holding the qualities that I respect in people. But those points aren't particularly relevant to this conversation. I'm posting on this thread because their actions necessarily affect me, and my sorority. I have spent too much time and effort to simply sit back and watch while DOC behaves the way that they have been. I can't stop them, and I know they don't care what I think at all. But I don't want anyone else to mistake my opinions, or those of UCSC greeks in general, to be in congruence with DOC. I dislike considering that people will watch them on MTV and think that other orgs on our campus are like that, or that they are what fraternities are all about. So I'm posting here, in an effort to at least know that my opinion has been voiced. I have tried VERY hard to be fair in my considerations of this situation, and to not let my personal opinions affect my judgement.
Educated, you seem to be taking my comments very personally- it's fine that you're friends with them, but try to step outside the box and look at this from some other points of view please.
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