There's a story about a rally of the old Communist Workers' Party in London. The fiery speaker ended by saying, "Come the revolution, it'll be strawberries 'n cream for all the masses!". A voice from the crowd shouted out, "But what if I don't like strawberries 'n cream?". The speaker narrowed his eyes and replied, "Come the revolution, you'll eat strawberries 'n cream whether you want it or not."
Fraternities at their founding largely grew out of a desire for independence, to build friendships away from the eyes of overbearing faculty and college rule-makers.
Of course our national organizations are founded on noble purposes, and wish to encourage those ideals among the membership of its chapters. But they are OUR purposes and OUR ideals. The first inclination of college administrators is to control. Whatever rules and standards they espouse and try to make the Greeks achieve is all focused on that mission: control.
There was an interesting exchange on my campus when this sort of nonsense was first proposed. The administrators were trying to tell fraternity presidents that all these rules would make them better, that all the grades and commuity service and diversity seminar and clean-your-lawn regulations and restrictions would create the ideal fraternity chapter.
One fraternity president stood up and said, "With respect, if you think all these burdensome regulations are going to make an ideal fraternity, then why doesn't the school create a fraternity chapter set up exactly the way you want it...and then see if any students want to join."
UDGreek, with respect, James is exactly right and has stated the case with more clarity than I could. The problem is not the noble purpose; the problem is the eagerness of the administration to punish any deviation from what they think your own fraternity should be. Come the revolution, you'll get strawberries 'n cream shoveled down your throat whether you want it or not.
Last edited by Firehouse; 01-09-2005 at 03:17 AM.
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