Low Blows at the Greek Houses

[WingNut]

A couple of issues ago in our student paper, the 'music experts' put forth a list of "Songs You Might Hear At These Greek Houses", most of them were pretty funny, but it still made me frustrated that non-greeks would put something like this in the paper for all to see. Here's the list-

ATO - Nada Surf - "Popular"
SAE - Reel Big Fish - "I'm Cool"
Sig Ep - The Offspring - "Self-Esteem"
Beta - Bloodhound Gang - "I Wish I Was Queer so I could get Chicks"
Kappa Sigma - The Clash - "Fought the Law"
Sigma Nu - Beck - "Loser"
Fiji - Bloodhound Gang - "Pretty When You're Drunk"
Pi Beta Phi - Weathergirls - "It's Raining Men"
Alpha Phi - Limp Bizkit - "Counterfeit"
Sigma Kappa - SR-71 - "Right Now"

Now these were written up by the same people who wore shirts that said "DONT RUSH - SAVE YOURSELF" shirts during Fall Rush last year.

My house is kind of indifferent to it, but I have friends in other houses that were completely pissed off, so who knows what will happen. Has anyone had similar experiences on their campus? If so, did you do anything about it or just let it slide?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

In 1995, the Daily Illini published an editorial taht was very, very condescending towards Greeks. Greeks then canceled all their subscriptions (about 70% of total subscriptions). They also wrote letters to campus businesses asking them not to support the DI by purchasing advertising space. It worked, and the DI almost went out of business. The University had to step in with additional funding. An apology was printed, and a Greek section was added to the paper with a Greek editor and Greek writers.

The thing is, Greeks run my campus. How much influence do you guys have there? How is the paper funded? Are there any editors there who would be friendly to the Greek cause?

And a final word: DO NOT, under any circumstances, stoop to their level.

[The Icon]

As a former editor of a student newspaper, here are some options that make you and the Greeks look good.

1) Write letters to the editor. All of you. While the paper may be editited by a non-Greek, a responsible editor cannot ignore angry readers. It's negligent and unprofessional.

2) Meet with the editor. Do not try to find the writer as he or she will have no authority. Tell the editor how you feel WITHOUT being confrontational.

3) Write an article of your own. Most student papers are hurting for content, so the likelyhood of getting published is good. However, DO NOT write a PR piece. If the article uses adjectives throughout, then it won't be published. Hell, have your pledges apply for jobs. You benefit becasue you have someone who knows Greek life and the paper benifits becasue it's getting new writers (Note, that this only works if pledges can, in fact, write).

[WingNut]

On our campus, I would agree that the Greeks run the campus leadership, it's just that the rest of campus is living in stereotype land and does not acknowledge us for all the good work we do.

And the editor of the newspaper is a Sigma Kappa, which makes me wonder about why she let it be put in the paper in the first place.

And due to it being the end of the semester here, there is nothing that can be done until the Fall concerning an editorial piece from the Greek Community. So we will see what happens next fall.

Thanks for the good ideas.

[LeslieAGD]

My suggestion: Get a Greek on the newspaper staff.

One of my sisters is on the newspaper staff on our campus and she's really got them looking at Greeks differently by introducing them to positive examples of Greek Life. We've also gotten a lot of good Greek publicity from philanthropies, etc, being featured in the paper.

[33girl]

umm, I might be in the minority but except for the Sig Nu and Beta ones I don't find any of those to be extraordinarily offensive. I mean, it's not like they used Celine Dion songs or something...Just be obnoxious and play that song at every party/event you have.

DBBaby, maybe this is common at large schools, but you mean you actually have to subscribe to the student paper to get it? Ours was free, paid for by student activity fees.

[Optimist Prime]

whats wrong with the clash?