Shame on you, Amanda

To many students involved in greek life, like myself, last Tuesday’s front-page article, “Another drunken Saturday,” was yet another unfair blow to the community we are proud to be a part of.

The excruciatingly detailed narrative had a clear message: greek life fosters binge
drinking.

While many greek students disagree that “Amanda” could even be a real sorority girl living a Saturday like the one described, somewhat seriously asking questions like “Which fraternity served her strawberry daiquiris instead of grape Kharkov?” and “How could she have heard cheers from a touchdown before 1 p.m. when the game did not start until 3:30 p.m.?” she, sadly, is now serving as a face of greek life.

Shame on you, Amanda, for being a less-than-satisfactory representation of the community you chose to be a part of.

While Amanda was thinking of “flashing her tits” for food, other sorority and fraternity members were safely socializing with beer and friends, spending their day with their families for parent’s weekend, and canning for IU Dance Marathon. Though greek life is constantly publicized to be all about the parties, hooking up and alcohol, it is rarely recognized for the community enhancement and service work its members partake in.

For example, just last weekend more than 750 greek-affiliated dancers represented their chapters at IUDM.

Knowing that freshmen girls who may potentially join the greek community are reading Brown’s article is sickening. I cannot stress enough how far from typical Amanda’s thoughts and day were to what greek life can be for potential new members.

I am also confused as to why the most important issue in Brown’s article, Amanda’s negative self body image, is only touched on. Brown states, “because she’s a member of the greek system, Amanda feels pressured to look a certain way.”

The greek system is not flawless, but one thing it does not promote is a negative self-image. Many chapters implement programs encouraging sororities to draw attention to body image issues.

The greek community is also constantly working toward creating and maintaining safe environments for its members and implementing rules regarding safe tailgates and parties. Not only do the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association enforce these rules, chapters have specific precautionary measures in place to increase the safety of their members.

To generalize the greek community of more than 6,500 students into a single sorority girl’s less-than-model experience is unfair.

­— snbabcoc@indiana.edu