In response to Prince’s concern over the fair representation of the Gustavus Greek community, I would like to assure him that it was not my intention to exclude any interested or affected Greek members from contributing to the article.
Though the article by no means reflects the many diverse opinions of Greeks on campus, this is due to a lack of response from other chapters I requested interviews from, and an intentional focus on local chapters, who are experiencing their primary regulation by the Inter-Greek Senate.
I deliberately chose to speak with Greek members who could discuss their interaction with IGS on either personal or chapter level in order to report on personal experience rather than speculation.
When sending out requests for interviews, I sent one to representatives from both Omega Kappa and Nu Upsilon Gamma (the Grays). I thought these would be important voices to include, as both are undergoing transitional periods and need to incorporate IGS involvement into their new vision for their chapters.
Omega Kappa received recognition as an active fraternity this year after being inactive since 2006, and I thought it would be interesting to contrast their perception of communication with the other local Greek chapters that have been active more recently.
The Grays also seemed an interesting choice because they are currently an off-campus fraternity that has been working to get back on campus, so they have had a different experience as well. Unfortunately, however, neither of the members that I requested an interview with responded to my request.
The majority of chapters on campus are local and receive regulation by the College rather than national standards, so I believed this to be an important difference to emphasize. In my discussion with Megan Ruble, she explained that IGS often encountered fewer incidents/problems with national chapters during pledging, and therefore had less interaction with them on the whole regarding that aspect of Greek life.
So, it was a conscious choice to focus on local chapters and seek to express the opinions of the College, IGS and affected students in order to facilitate a dialogue using The Weekly as that venue; a goal which was communicated, understood and supported by all those who were interviewed.
Rebecca Hare, ‘14
Copy Editor and Reporter of Tensions arise in Greek system over communication issues
This notion of Democrats invintigatesg the Republican cesspool is just a toothless, cosmetic PR campaign; how appropriate that the term “good-cop/bad-cop roles” is used to describe the empty gesture that this alleged transparency-in-government effort is without addressing the real problem that caused this sickness in the first place. I have no doubt that Mr. Brin has good intentions. His plan (especially the crucial whistle-blower protections and amnesty-for-testimony provisions of the long-overdue truth & reconciliation work that needs to be done) is logical, well thought and cogent and doomed to utter failure since it refuses to look at the causes for the mess we’re in.The truth is as obvious as it is hidden: (and that doesn’t even begin to address how they control, influence and direct what they don’t directly own.) This blind faith in the virtue of the mythical (and therefore “invisible”) hand of the “free market” is what undercuts the otherwise laudable body of work that Mr. Brin has written on reforming the empire. For that is what we’re dealing with folks–imperialism, not free market capitalism, which is just part of the high-flying, death-dealing, disparity-ensuring rhetoric with which the owners justify their predations.I very much agree with Mr. Brin’s suggestions for transparency, but they’re not enough, for two reasons. First, they don’t dismember the hydra that Big Business has become. Anti-trust legislation of the type that’s needed would never pass through a congress controlled on both sides of the aisle by the corporations who’ve looted the treasury and turned American democracy (if it ever really existed) into some kind of . Second, the public will not understand the significance of such a reform if they still believe the fairy tale propaganda of American Exceptionalism that informs their textbooks, their movies, and the stirring speeches of corporate apologists.What I’m suggesting is that the truth & reconciliation work needs to go back a lot further than 1947, when the rule of law was officially subsumed by the national security cabal. If de-Nazification was a necessary prerequisite for the installation of McDemocracy in postwar Germany, than de-Capital-lousing here in the land of the free is even more necessary if we’re to have any hope of turning this rabid empire into a country of laws.I know, I’ve already been dismissed as a “snarling lefty” (I objected to Mr. Brin’s mandatory Joys of Capitalism lecture), but, just in the interest “getting around the old Right/Left antagonisms” (giggle, giggle), you might want to survey a view of the news & issues that’s just a little different from the standard thin gruel. Here’s one that’s not too snarling. I think they’re actually libertarians, which puts them way to the right of folks like me. Good luck!