Editorial

POSTED AT 06:15 PM ON Oct. 8, 2012  (UPDATED AT 06:16 PM ON Oct. 8, 2012)

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During the excitement of Homecoming week, fraternities and sororities are forced to raise the bar in creativity for their parties. The music has to be better, the decorations have to be fancier and the themes have to be better.

The bar has gotten too high. Party themes have gotten to the point where humor has crossed the line into insult.

A party this past week had a hunting theme, with the men dressing up as hunters while the women dressed up as different animals to be “preyed upon.”

Another party included a gang-related theme, where different fraternities or sororities dressed as either “bloods” or “crips.”

As if that weren’t enough, an “around the world” party featured partygoers from different countries, most notably those dressed in culturally insensitive outfits and demonstrating such idiocy as “Asian eyes.”

Of course, simply because a party has a theme doesn’t mean that the attendees will abuse it and become insensitive.

But having a theme that invites that kind of behavior just opens the door to that kind of
action.

The greek system has a fairly constant stereotype of bad decision-making and bad behavior. There are plenty of members of the IU community who look disdainfully on those in a house. That isn’t fair.

There are plenty of frat boys who are excellent young men, polite and charming. There are plenty of sorority girls who are lovely young women, sweet and kind.

Unfortunately, when the party culture kicks in, all too often, the decision-making process gets cloudy, and even the best behaved make stupid decisions.

If fraternities are looking to shrug off the nasty stereotype, they should start with their clearest act of publicity: their partying culture.

The themes of the parties that get distributed to the general public don’t make you look “cutting edge,” when you throw an outlandishly themed party. It just upholds the fact that the greek community is a bunch of insensitive, culturally ignorant teenagers.

That isn’t to say that parties are bad or that themes are stupid. Parties will always exist. We wouldn’t have any fun if they didn’t. And having a particular theme to spice up this particular party, making it different from all the rest, is a great way of making the evening special.

Those themes, though, should add to the evening, not ruin them. They shouldn’t make anyone uncomfortable, whether it is someone actually at the party, or any other member of the IU community hearing about it after the fact. The “it wasn’t hurting anyone” excuse most definitely won’t be enough.

There are some really smart, wonderful people in the greek system. But please, just because you get your groove on doesn’t mean you have to turn your stupid
on too.