By Nick Adams, Delta Chi
In the last issue of The Charger Bulletin, a writer by the name of Anonymous decided that it was his or her responsibility to shed some light on the “behind the scenes” activities that take place in the Greek community here at the University of New Haven. The information contained in the article titled “The Truth About Hazing on Campus” offended many members of the Greek community not only because the writer chose not to share his or her name, but because the information contained in the article was grossly inappropriate. In addition to our traditions that are far from acts of hazing, we all support and raise money for charitable organizations and perform countless hours of community service each semester. This response is not an attempt to begin an editorial war between the Greek and Non-Greek members of this campus community, but to inform people of the real truth about our organizations.
In the aforementioned article, a specific organization was referenced as having “demonstrated their ability to orchestrate the public hazing of their associate members.” The truth about the “coming out” event for the brothers of this fraternity is that the men involved in the “public hazing” were already initiated members of their organization. Their participation in this event in the quad is an honor for all of them because they are sharing their success in becoming a new member of a truly elite organization. If Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous were to confront one of these newly initiated members, they would become educated in the fact that the men were not only participating voluntarily, but that it was one of the proudest moments in their lives.
At this moment, many people who dislike the idea of Greek life and may or may not have been outspoken about it in the past would most likely be saying something along the lines of how pathetic they think it is that the participation in the coming out event is such a highlight in the lives of these young men. In my organization and all other Greek organizations, becoming an initiated member is something that we have all worked very hard to accomplish. The style that traditionally ethnically diverse organizations, such as the one exemplified in the last issue of The Charger Bulletin, use to show their pride in their organizations may not be something that outsiders understand. This should motivate you to ask questions, not give you the license to assume that you know what is going on from the outside and voice your opinion about it.
In the future, this non-anonymous, proud pro-Greek would like to ask that everyone on this campus take the time to learn the true facts and benefits about being a member of the Greek life here at UNH. We are a small and diverse population as a school, let alone the size of the Greeks. This makes us unique as compared to the traditional Greek life image seen on larger campuses that is wrongfully bestowed upon us. Finally, if you still choose to dislike Greek life on this campus and don’t wish to learn about the values and traditions that we’re proud to share, we respect that it’s not something you’d like to become involved in. With that, we request that you respect that it’s something that has made college life so much better for most of us and that we wouldn’t go back in time to change our decision to join, even if we could. The Greeks don’t deserve bad publicity.
