Commentary
A Lesson To Be Learned From Rho Fiasco
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Staff Report
The bard, William
Shakespeare, summed it up
best when he said, “There’s
something rotten in the state of
Denmark.”
This time, however, there is
something rotten at Fayetteville
State. Recently, members of
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority
Inc., were charged by a
member of its own organization
with assault. The Broncos’
Voice won’t go into complete
detail, but let’s just say this was
a situation that got out of hand.
The jist of the scenario is that
the member who filed charges
against the others said the
attack was without provocation.
The victim said she only
reminded one of her attackers
about possession of sorority
paraphernalia in public.
Confiased?
Again, without going into
detail, The Broncos’ Voice will
make the picture a little clearer.
Sigma Gamma Rho allegedly
initiated a young lady they
knew did not meet university
criteria for admission. They told
her she would be initiated but
could not wear any of the
sorority’s letters until she met
full admission criteria, i.e.,
obtaining the required
university grade point average
of 2.5. The initiate agreed.
A done deal, right?
Not exactly.
As told to The Broncos’
Voice by the assault victim, this
initiate disregarded the plan and
took it upon herself to have
paraphernalia in her
possession. She was
approached by the assault
victim and reminded about their
agreement. The initiate
conceded she made a mistake
and promised it wouldn’t
happen again. Well, it did. She
was again accosted by the
victim and things went downhill
from there.
Now, The Broncos’ Voice
isn’t here to pass judgment, but
it feels someone needs to be
rapped on the knuckles, and
hard, for what transpired.
First, Sigma Gamma Rho
needs charm school lessons in
how young ladies should
conduct themselves in public.
Not that they are the only
fraternity or sorority who could
use instruction in manners and
civility, but when such incidents
happen in public view and they
become physical, there’s a
serious problem and it needs to
be addressed, and fast.
Criminal charges were filed
against members of Sigma
Gamma Rho by the victim. How
sad. What does this say about
sisterhood?
The university stepped in as
well and served punishment on
those involved. Vice Chancellor
for Student Affairs, Olivia
Chavis, said she punished those
involved accordingly. Bravo.
These ladies need to know such
behavior will not be tolerated,
especially from an organization
whose aim is to promote
sisterhood.
But as severe as the problem
with Sigma Gamma Rho may
seem, that’s not the issue here.
The whole brunt of this matter
is the mere fact that a sorority
was willing to sacrifice its own
high standards, and The
The Broncos’ Voice Staff
Lisa Augustine
Anthony Keene
Cordny Gilchrist
Toshanika Moore
Dawn Redrick
Angele Capel
Erica Bell
Ebony Stonewall
Aisha Brooks
Crystal Broadie
Garrett James
Y. Chuck Carr
Kantrell Shelton
Shauna Jones
Sherika Dellahousaye
LaKeshia N. Denson, Editor in Chief
Douglas L. Blake Jr., Copy Editor
Advisor
Mr. Eric Moore
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Broncos’ Voice now uses that
term loosely, for the sole
purpose of bringing in a new
member. The question The
Broncos’ Voice must ask, “Was
it all worth it?”
Let’s hope the answer is “no”,
but Sigma Gamma Rho
obviously feels otherwise. Plain
and simple, the initiate didn’t
meet all of the criteria for
admission, therefore, she should
not have even been considered
for membership. What part is
so difficult to understand?
Let’s face it, Greek-lettered
organizations have been
involved in dirty practices for
years to weed out unwanted
members, and to get those who
don’t meet all of the criteria.
Some of those practices include
rejecting individuals without
even the courtesy of granting
an interview, or interviewing
candidates and not informing
them at all of their acceptance
or denial. Or, even worse,
rejecting the individual simply
because he or she isn’t popular.
These unethical, blatant
violations of university policy
may be news to university
administrators, but they are
nothing new to Greeks who
know how to manipulate the
system. In that respect. Sigma
Gamma Rho isn’t the only guilty
party. They just got caught.
Other Greek-lettered
organizations on the campus
have been engaging in such a
practice for years. The
individual meets all of the
criteria of the national body, but
maybe fails to meet one rule of
the university.
Their excuse; “My national
organization only requires that
we ... so we ...” The group
then initiates the individual and
then tells him or her that he or
she isn’t allowed to wear
paraphernalia on campus, but
they can elsewhere with hopes
they are not seen by anyone
from their school. The group
doesn’t submit the individual’s
name as a member to the
university, but in the eyes of the
organization and its national
body, the individual is.
It is not The Broncos’ Voice’s
practice nor place to call names,
but the guilty parties know who
they are. To say this is an unfair
practice is putting it mildly. It’s
almost criminal, particularly for
those students who work hard,
have all of the necessary
credentials, but are denied
simply because of who they
don’t know and not what they
know.
Here is The Broncos’ Voice’s
charge to the university. Clamp
down hard and issue firm
punishment for those groups
who participate in such
practices. Initiating members
without the proper grade point
average rips at the underlying
fiber and principles of all
Greek-lettered organizations -
scholarship. This practice is a
cancer. It’s an abomination. It’s
a leach that’s sucking the blood
out of the sole purpose for
which each of these nine;
groups stands.
And how can the university
monitor this situation? Easy.
No Greek-lettered
organization wants to compete
for members, so most hold their
interest meetings on different
nights. The Pan-Hellenic
advisor or designated official,
graduate advisor and the
graduate chapter president or
designee must be present in
order for the interest meeting
to take place. Only those
individuals who attend an
interest meeting would be
allowed to become members of
a Greek-lettered organization,
providing they meet all criteria.
Anyone who doesn’t attend the
meeting will not be able to join.
Yes, things come up.
Emergencies happen. If an
individual cannot attend the
interest meeting, he or she must
inform the graduate advisor
and the Pan-Hellenic advisor of
his or her reason for not
attending. Once the groups
have selected its potential
candidates and are ready to
move forward with intake and
eventually initiation, the
graduate advisor and a member
of the graduate chapter should
be required to sign a notarized
statement informing the
university they were present at
the initiation, and the members
listed were the only ones
initiated.
The accountability for making
sure those who do not meet
university and organization
criteria, will rest on the
shoulders of the campus
advisor and graduate chapter.
Surely no self-respecting, law-
abiding, advising adult wants to
be a part of a plan where illegal
members are initiated. Or at
least we hope not.
Then, the university, not the
organization, will submit to the
groups’ national body, the
names of those students
initiated during the spring of
whatever year. That way, no
names can be added to the list
by, how shall we say, someone
with their own agenda. In that
regard, the student, if initiated
properly, will be officially
recognized by his or her school
and his or her national body.
Then that initiate can attend
university, local, state and
national functions wearing
paraphernalia without a cloud
of suspicion hovering over his
or her head, or without having
their cover blown by a fellow
See Report Page 8