Editorial: Pay heed to Robbins
Issue date: 4/21/06 Section: Opinion
At a heavily greek-oriented school like DePauw, a speaker like Alexandra Robbins, the author of "Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities," is bound to create controversy.
Since the announcement of her visit to campus, students have expressed a wide range of opinions. Some are excited to see her come and discuss the issues she addressed in her book. Others, however, have expressed a dissatisfaction and even animosity toward her presence on campus. Such a blatantly negative and intolerant attitude toward Alexandra Robbins is a sad commentary on the maturity level of students and of their understanding of the greek system on campus.
Those who have read Robbins' book would realize that many of the issues she discusses are prevalent in DePauw's greek system. Eating disorders, a rush process which to some extent is appearance-based, occasionally dangerous drinking habits and a lack of proper response to sexual harassment are all problems on campus.
While it's debatable whether or not these issues are as prevalent or as closely linked to the greek system as Robbins' book asserts, they nevertheless are present and should be addressed. To blatantly deny the existence of such problems is, in the end, only detrimental to the greek system.
If greeks are truly interested in creating a stronger community which will survive the current anti-greek national trend, they should take note of the criticisms made of them, honestly access how valid those criticisms are and strive to improve where possible.
By requiring all women in the greek system to attend, the Panhellenic Council has taken an important step in opening the door to discuss many of the issues which are never acknowledged or openly discussed on campus, but which do exist.
Each individual greek member should come with the same attitude: not ready to simply criticize but to honestly ask themselves if "Pledged" has some truth in its critique of the sorority system and what can be done to improve it.
Since the announcement of her visit to campus, students have expressed a wide range of opinions. Some are excited to see her come and discuss the issues she addressed in her book. Others, however, have expressed a dissatisfaction and even animosity toward her presence on campus. Such a blatantly negative and intolerant attitude toward Alexandra Robbins is a sad commentary on the maturity level of students and of their understanding of the greek system on campus.
Those who have read Robbins' book would realize that many of the issues she discusses are prevalent in DePauw's greek system. Eating disorders, a rush process which to some extent is appearance-based, occasionally dangerous drinking habits and a lack of proper response to sexual harassment are all problems on campus.
While it's debatable whether or not these issues are as prevalent or as closely linked to the greek system as Robbins' book asserts, they nevertheless are present and should be addressed. To blatantly deny the existence of such problems is, in the end, only detrimental to the greek system.
If greeks are truly interested in creating a stronger community which will survive the current anti-greek national trend, they should take note of the criticisms made of them, honestly access how valid those criticisms are and strive to improve where possible.
By requiring all women in the greek system to attend, the Panhellenic Council has taken an important step in opening the door to discuss many of the issues which are never acknowledged or openly discussed on campus, but which do exist.
Each individual greek member should come with the same attitude: not ready to simply criticize but to honestly ask themselves if "Pledged" has some truth in its critique of the sorority system and what can be done to improve it.
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