Opinion

Greek system would provide social opportunities for students outside living-learning community

By Tom Cronin - Public Affairs Reporter

In my 16 months as a Journal reporter, I’ve noticed that certain campus-related themes tend to recur when I interview members of the UIS administration. Of these themes, the one that seems to be the most overarching is the major transformation that has been taking place at UIS over the past several years.
Student Government Association members are currently considering an initiative that would mark the greatest transformation to student life since the introduction of the Capital Scholars Program. As part of their examination of the pros and cons of Greek life at UIS, the SGA Greek Life Committee published in last week’s Journal the first of a four-part series of opinion pieces presenting opposing viewpoints about different aspects of Greek life.
Last week’s set of opinion pieces offered some helpful insights concerning the debate over whether social Greek organizations at any given campus are positive or negative, especially when it comes to academic performance. I have little doubt that the piece in this week’s issue and those in the next two issues will explore additional aspects of the debate, including the difference between a possible Greek system at UIS and those currently existing at other campuses.
But after noting that both of them made references to the Greek system at the Urbana-Champaign campus in last week’s pieces, I decided to weigh in. Although the Greek Life Committee will most likely fully consider the differences between the potential impact of a Greek system at UIS and the impact of Greek systems elsewhere, I don’t think that enough can be said about these differences.
When it comes to Greek systems, one of the most important issues to consider in terms of impact on student life is campus size. Compared with their counterparts on large campuses, students living on small campus tend to have fewer opportunities for campus involvement, often resulting in a more prominent role for the Greek system.
For four years, I lived on such a campus – Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. My social life during these years was strongly influenced by my decision not to participate in Greek rush. For students who did participate in rush, their social lives were equally influenced by which fraternity or sorority houses sent them bids – if they received any – and by the bid that they accepted.
It was rare to find a member of a fraternity or sorority at Drake who did not describe their experience with the Greek system as positive. For non-Greeks – or “GDIs” as they were called in some circles – feelings about the Greek system as it related to their social lives were somewhat negative.
The negativity expressed by some non-Greeks stemmed from the fact that the Greek system divided the campus from a social standpoint. The bonds between fraternity brothers and sorority sisters and their affinity for the Greek system in general were so strong that some members avoided interacting with non-Greeks whenever possible. Some events sponsored by fraternity and sorority houses were understandably closed to non-Greeks, but even so-called open fraternity parties were off limits to individuals who were “blacklisted.”
Although Greek systems tend to divide college campuses – especially small college campuses – in terms of social life, a Greek system at UIS would not divide the campus in the way that it divides the typical small campus. Part of the reason for this is that the campus is already divided between Capital Scholars and non-Capital Scholars.
The CAP Program and social Greek-letter organizations are obviously different in a number of fundamental ways, but there are some similarities between the two entities that should not be ignored when weighing the impact of a Greek system at UIS. Perhaps the most obvious similarity is that both CAP Scholars and members of social Greek-letter organizations live together. As a result of this and other factors, they tend to socialize with one another more than they do with students outside of their respective entities.
Like members of Greek-letter organizations, CAP Scholars also tend to dominate campus life. During my senior year at Drake, 18 of 20 student senators were Greek. Currently, 10 of 13 UIS SGA members are CAP Scholars.
CAP Scholars are sometimes criticized for creating an elitist divide between themselves and other students, but the fact of the matter is that the CAP Program has brought changes to campus that have benefited everyone, especially transfer and graduate students living on campus. The student body may be more divided than it was four years ago, but all students have more opportunities to get involved on campus than ever before.
A Greek system at UIS would add to the student-life enhancements that came about because of the CAP Program without significantly increasing the size of the student body. If it follows national trends, a UIS Greek system would involve more students in campus organizations and the community. Although it would inevitably divide the student body to some extent, a Greek system would also have the potential to bring students together. Beginning in fall 2006, the CAP Program will consist of two tracks: an honors program with a living-learning community and the interdisciplinary curriculum that are part of the current CAP Program, and a more traditional four-year program with a general education curriculum.
The general education CAP Scholars probably won’t be as close to one another as the honors CAP Scholars or the current CAP Scholars because they won’t be part of the CAP living-learning community. As a result, the general education CAP Scholars will have a greater need to develop close social relationships. A Greek system would not only allow them to form these relationships, but it would also give them the opportunity to become fraternity brothers and sorority sisters with transfer students, other general education CAP Scholars and perhaps some honors CAP Scholars.
In other words, a Greek program could very well end up uniting the campus more than it would divide it, but its success at uniting students would depend largely on the administration’s ability to attract chapters interested in recruiting students who don’t all fit into the same mold.

A bad case of “meh.”

By Carly Hawkins - Columnist

I blame February.
Every year around this time, things just get boring. If you’re not slogging through snow, you’re slogging through a mountain of homework. Even the warm snap that allowed for flip-flop wearing wasn’t enough to spice up the doldrums of the semester and the season.
John Negroponte leaving his Ambassadorship to Iraq in favor of becoming the first intelligence czar? Meh. I’ve gotta say, I’m really just glad that he’s no longer going to be involved with yet another country that appears to be rampant with human rights abuses. He never should have been sent to Iraq in the first place, he’s so inappropriate for that job. Does having Bush loyalists in positions of power even make an impact anymore? Are there any other kind of people in the inner circle of presidential advisors?
The new Secretary of Education, Margaret Spelling, condemns a segment from the PBS children’s show “Postcards from Buster” that featured a visit with a family consisting of two mothers. Meh. Are we really living in a country where airing a segment on diversity has become a form of peaceful protest by some stations?
The Bush Administration has shady ties to paying off columnists and giving permanent press passes to ambiguously associated writers. Meh. Is this supposed to be surprising now?
“There is no First Amendment protection” for the journalists involved in the Valerie Plame case.
Virginia Tech beat Duke and Texas Tech beat Kansas.
Howard Dean finally, finally got elected to the chairmanship of the Democratic Party.
The NHL cancelled the remainder of its season.
Meh, double meh, meh and meh again.
The only bright spot in my entire week thus far (well, okay, Virginia Tech beating Duke was pretty sweet, don’t get me wrong), the only thing that made me sit up and say something other than “meh” was an article in the Chicago Sun-Times about the ideological differences between black and white Evangelical Christians. (It was entitled “One faith, one Bible – but two races,” from the edition on the 14th if you want to read it yourself.)
In it, Rev. James Meeks of the Salem Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side (and also an independent State Senator) says the following: "Our church's social agenda and the social agenda of the white evangelical church is totally different. It seems as if the flaw in the white evangelical church is that it will fight tooth and nail to protect an unborn child in the womb, but won't lift a finger to assist a child once it's been born. Where is the [white] evangelical church on issues outside of abortion and outside of homosexuality?"
And at that point, I said “Amen.”
Rev. Meeks has an extremely valid point, and one that I hope Dr. Dean and the new leadership of the Democratic Party are absorbing. It’s clear after the last election that Democrats can no longer function in reactionary mode. We can’t afford to let the Republican Party define the issues and then work all of them to their advantage. We have a point, too. But we somehow have to figure out how to get out from behind this image of moral-free, snobby hedonism that the GOP has been extremely successful in pinning on us.
A case study: a couple of weeks ago someone called me a liberal like it was the worst thing they could ever say about me as a person.
I think the Rev. Meeks’s quote is the direction, politically, that the Democratic Party should be moving in. We have a rare opportunity at this point in our history to drastically redefine what we stand for and the way in which we do so. It is an opportunity that should not be wasted.
Maybe by the time March rolls around I’ll be up to it myself.

Discussion of the feasibility of Greek life on campus

The Greek Life Committee, a subcommittee of the SGA, is charged with exploring the potential, both negative and positive, impact of Greek letter organizations on the UIS campus community. The following represents the second in a four part series, where members of the committee examine the pros and cons of various aspects of Greek Life. After the guest commentaries have been presented, the committee will develop a survey to be held concurrent with spring SGA elections, to assess the student body's sentiments regarding Greek Life at UIS, after which the committee will report to the SGA and campus administrators with their findings and recommendations.
PRO The myth of fraternities and sororities acting solely as facilitators for cliques is currently being dispelled. Greek life works as a melting pot to bring people together across age groups, races and international cultures. Fraternities and sororities provide an opportunity for students in the university setting to network and make lasting friendships with fellow students. There are a plethora of types of fraternal organizations. On any given campus there is the opportunity for Greek life that can accommodate to the needs of the students and campus community as a whole. These organizations can be philanthropic, social, national or local. The variety of Greek organizations that are available provides an opportunity for many students to become involved in programming events, charity work, and various other constructive activities. Fraternities and sororities are acclaimed for providing a sense of belonging to students. Many young college students find it hard to discover their place within their peers. It is very apparent that retention rates decrease when students do not find a positive social atmosphere and entertaining nightlife at their university. As UIS grows, we need to provide more opportunities for campus involvement. However, we are in a unique position as we can invite Greek organizations that will work well with our student body population. For a campus such as UIS, Greek life will be a step forward in efforts to bring the community together. Fraternities and sororities give students a sense of identifying who they are and what they would like to achieve. We would hope that Greek organizations would provide an even more diversified campus by providing a variety of options available for students to connect within the campus community. Greek organizations could give students a strong and real sense of inclusion during their years at UIS.		CON UIS is not the standard university. Our demographics are primarily divided along lines of age. We have students who show up for one night a week, then leave and give little thought to anything else. We also have full-time students who live on campus and are heavily involved in activities on campus. And somewhere in between we have a multitude of students along this spectrum. Greek organizations may help to increase diversity on campus, but there are concerns to consider with this perceived diversity. While the organizations will bring diversity, they will also bring exclusivity as they evolve into cliques. Suddenly our diversity has become a source of division, which leads into issues related to the myriad of demographics represented at UIS. UIS does not have a singular contiguous identity. We already find ourselves segregated by age, ethnicity, academic program and level of involvement within the institution. Why add another layer of division? We must consider that student life on this campus is propelled by a small but dedicated staff and around 100 highly involved students. Why commit resources and time to organizations that may steal away students from those groups that have formed the traditions on this campus? What kind of impact could Greek organizations have on our campus’s identity? Very few people really identify with UIS as an experience. It is preposterous to think that adding Greek organizations to a school that lacks a central identity in the first place will truly benefit the school, let alone enhance the experience. We need to guard against diluting and dividing our already fragmented student body by bringing additional organizations, which are largely exclusive. When students graduate they should be proud and think fondly of UIS, the institution as a whole, not just their time in an organization designated by a few Greek letters.

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Counselor's Corner:
The dangers of obsession with weight

By Sarah Triplett - Guest Commentary

Ever find yourself obsessing over a part of your body that you feel does not meet society’s standards, say your arms, your stomach, or your ears? You may have issues with your body image, which can range from very serious to minor obsessions.
The problem with body image for most young people today is that society sets such a high expectation as to what the standard of beauty is. What is real though? What we see in magazines, or what we see everyday on the streets, in class, or out downtown?
The reality is that society does not fit into a magazine, and what’s sad is that many men and women find themselves being tricked by the images they flip through or see on TV and in the movies. People who have poor body image may suffer from low self-esteem, poor confidence, depression, anxiety and even eating disorders.
Some obsess over what they want to change and become fixated on what they can scrape off, remold, or suck out. In fact, in 2003, 6.6 million people in the United States had cosmetic plastic surgery, and over 85 percent of them were women.
Women take the brunt of what society wants them to look like and they fall into this trap, often falling so far down the rabbit hole that they put themselves in danger of jeopardizing their physical and mental well being.
These obsessions with weight and image can often manifest into an eating disorder, which is a serious problem and is not to be taken lightly. Some signs of eating disorders are dramatic weight loss, wearing baggy clothing to hide weight loss, skipping meals, dryness or redness of knuckles, hair loss, insomnia, obsessive exercising, frequent trips to the bathroom immediately following meals, and/or visible food restriction.
If you feel that you or a friend may be developing disordered eating, help is out there. February is Eating Disorders Awareness Month and it’s the time to look at you and realize that we all should love our bodies no matter what.
The National Eating Disorders Association would like to spread the word on eating disorders and utilize this spotlight to get information out there. There are serious consequences to eating disorders, like depression, anxiety, suicide and death from physical complications. Don’t waste time, if you have a problem or know someone who does, get help. The UIS Counseling Center is open on campus to help you. Call 206-7122 or stop by SAB 30.

Greek System would provide social opportunities for students outside of living-learning community

A bad case of “meh.”

Greek Life on Campus

Comic

Counselors Corner