Columnist unfairly stereotypes fraternities as irresponsible

First off, allow me to relay to you how much I enjoyed reading your attack on, and stereotyping of, not only greek letter organizations but also their members, after stating how both are unfairly stereotyped and caricatured (“”Fraternities need to shape up,”” April 1, 2009).

For the sake of clarity, I would be deeply interested in your personal experience with fraternities and fraternity members. There is no sense in denying the fact that yes, we throw parties, and yes, we may have some problems with the university due to acts of recklessness, but when you say that “”everyone else is smart with it”” I feel that your lack of knowledge truly shows.

Considering that you yourself are obviously not part of a Greek organization, you would have no way of knowing the amount of planning that goes into having a big party or event. The majority of the time, security is hired, a dozen sober members are present for crowd control, and cabs are called for departing partygoers by members of the house. To hear you degrade fraternal safety tactics when you have no idea of what they really are, or how hard each and every fraternity is trying to improve these tactics is more than insulting.

Since the start of the semester, the Interfraternity Council has made it clear to fraternities that we must improve the handling of social events, and since the start of the semester, every house has been trying three times as hard to improve our social life.

The three houses that were kicked off this semester suffered their punishments due to incidents during fall of 2008, and I doubt you’ll see any more losing a charter. We are a lot smarter than you give us credit for, so don’t attempt to belittle us by telling us how to improve. We don’t need your uneducated articles in the Daily Wildcat to tell us how to improve ourselves.

What experiences of yours could ever bestow upon you enough knowledge to author such an attack on Greek Life? What do you know of our principles, requirements for member selection, intended purposes as an organization, and ideals? What gives you the right to kick the already struggling Greek Life when it’s down? If you’re trying to get ahead or add to your portfolio with articles such as these, please stop.

Paul A. Vega

undeclared freshman