censoring shirts?

[littleangel2017]

hey everyone,
Hope you all are having a WONDERFUL summer, anyhow this thread is in concern with censoring shirts for sorority/fraternity members. Our panhellenic council has proposed this agreement for all sororities to censor their shirts. the agreement goes something like this: (before you read, this agreement has yet to be passed and voted on, but it's in the workings):

In an effort to protect the public image of the Panhellenic Council, the member chapters at USF hereby agree to adhere to a high standard of professionalism through selecting and producing tasteful slogans and graphics on all event themed shirts and publicity, examples of inappropriate content include, but are not limited to, use of foul language, derogatory vocabulary, or references to alcohol, drugs, or sex.

allegations of an infraction would be reported to the panhellenic council EVP who would follow up with the accused chapter with mediation. Please feel free to contact the EVP in advance for an official opinion of anything questionable.

Anyhow i was wondering what all of you thought about this? do you think it violates our right to free speech? does changing a shirt really change the image of a sorority/fraternity? or should there be a better member education that can teach chapters the importance of image? PLEASE LET US KNOW...this is great thing to voice out your opinion to!! thanks bunches

in Greek unity,

silverlee hernandez

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I think this is a good idea. At my school, if anything is questionable, it is safest to run it past the VP-PR before making it.

[sherbertlemons]

I think it might be a good idea to try to firm up what constitutes a reference to any of these things. Are really mild references allowed, or is anything that could be possibly construed as sexual out of the question?

I think if this is taken pretty rationally, it could be a good thing.

[kddani]

That rule sound like one that most national orgs have already implemented..... and as long as they're clearly defined, really can't hurt at all. It's not like one or two groups are going to go down the tubes because they can't have an "Absolut XYZ" shirt made
Plus a lot of those shirts just perpetuate the stereotypes of drinking and sex being hand in hand with being greek.

[KillarneyRose]

I think this could only help erase the "sex, drugs and rock & roll" image non-greeks seem to have of us.

[littleangel2017]

WOW, thanks for the responses...that's awesome. And to let you all know, i completely agree. I'd have to admit at first i was sorta not sure about the agreement but after hearing what some of you had to say and how you too want to change the image we have, it's made me realize that we're all greek and we all represent each other. thanks again.

in greek unity,
silverlee hernandez

[James]

I guess I am the only one to think this is a bad idea lol.

My view comes from serving as VP of Greek Council which among its many responsibilities, also covered judicial matters.

Creating a rule is easy. Creating a rule to correspond with an ideal is even laudatory.

However, enforcement becomes tricky. As sherbertlemmons said, if enforced rationally it might not be a bad idea, if you think its a good idea to have an umbrella agency rule on your ablity to express yourself, something that will be different every year with a different group of officers.

Especially because almost all guidelines about what constitutes being "obscene" are going to be very vague.

What you will end up seeing is the rule enforced selectively and chapters made examples of, and people turning eachother in and creating hard feelings.

Umrella organizations such as panhellenic and IFC should be very reluctant to take on policing roles with their member organizations. It weakens the system in the end.

If people really thought that this was important, or is important, they will pass rules within their individual chapters.

I am curious about what even brought this up? Why is this even a Panhell issue? It sounds like something an administrator would (and have) suggested to "improve the image of Greek Life".

[PhiSigFly]

Yeah, I completely agree that shirts should be censored... At my school, one of the fraternitys made a shirt in which the slogan was "Our Fraternity is tighter than your little sister." Personally, I think it was completely inappropriate and it makes the entire Greek system look bad. I think the cocky shirts are cute (If you're going to be Greek why not be a goddess) but sexual ones just further implement the sterotypes. I think a good way to judge is to imagine you were meeting your national president. If you wouldn't wear a t-shirt because of the slogan in front of them, you shouldn't be making them in the first place.

[AchtungBaby80]

Originally posted by James
I guess I am the only one to think this is a bad idea lol.

No, I tend to think it's not the greatest idea, either, reason being that a policy like this is hard to enforce and even harder to get people to understand. Defining what's obscene and what's not is difficult because it's so subjective, and even though I have seen some really offensive shirts (to me, at least), I still think the responsibility should be left up to individual chapters to use good judgement. If a group thinks it's cute to wear a shirt with a nasty slogan, well, that's their business. I realize there are some people who say that off-color t-shirts perpetuate Greek stereotypes, but so do a lot of other things and I really don't see how making a policy like this will magically change things.

[DZHBrown]

I think it's a pretty good idea. Greek already have a bad stereotype, so shirts with sex, drugs, drinking, etc. just solidify that stereotype. There are plenty of cute shirts to make that don't involve those things!

[DeltaBetaBaby]

What if, instead of actually policing the shirts themselves, the councils simply reserved the right to copy the shirt design and fax it to your national office?

[pinkyphimu]

hmmm, i think that this does have good intentions, but after reading james' post i see that enforcement could be a problem. i do fully agree that t-shirts should should avoide sex, drugs and alcohol connotations, but i could see how this could be a nightmare when girls are "turning" each other in for violating the rule.

does your campus have a problem with sororities purchasing and wearing items perpetuating these stereotypes? i might be naive, but i am hoping that most women's groups wouldn't be walking around in shirts that said, "alpha alpha where all the girls with the biggest boobs go." i would think that men's groups would have more of a problem with the sexual stereotypes.

do you have lots of locals under the panhel umbrella that don't already have such national rules in place?

[fire1977]

Originally posted by DeltaBetaBaby
What if, instead of actually policing the shirts themselves, the councils simply reserved the right to copy the shirt design and fax it to your national office?

I agree with you on that one. I have real issues with any campus panhellenic overstepping their boundaries. Too many of the chapters I deal with see their CP as a governing body that can make any rule without chapter input and enforce it rather than as a means of education, discourse, and NPC unanimous agreement enforcement.

That being said. If they were offensive I'd send them to their HQ.

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally posted by DeltaBetaBaby
What if, instead of actually policing the shirts themselves, the councils simply reserved the right to copy the shirt design and fax it to your national office?

I think that's a much better idea. After all, most groups have "tasteful shirt" policies anyway. If Panhel objects to a group's shirt, it should let the group's HQ deal with it.

[Optimist Prime]

That's the worst idea I've ever heard of.