Editorials
February 25, 1993
Page 2
Viewpoint
There’s more to life than letters
The scene is almost sickeningly collegiate; girls running hand
in hand around the fountain, Greek letters splashed across their
chests, balloons held high, while the masses crush them with hugs
and screams. This is bid day for panhellenic rush at Elon.
The scene is almost sickeningly heartbreaking: girls in tears
comforting each other in the halls of their dorms, chairs thrown and
glass shattered. This too is bid day at Elon College.
Greek life is considered a joke to some, like another Saturday
NJght Live skit. To the 241 women who registered for formal
rush this spring, however, becoming a part of that life is no
laughing matter. To them it is in fact considered not only a test of
their self-worth and acceptance by their peers, but also considered
their only outlet to a social life on this campus.
Roughly 30 percent of Elon’s campus is Greek; prior to spring
rush, 900 Elon students were members of Greek organizations. The
number of such organizations at Elon has ne^ly doubled in the last
ten years. Greekdom at Elon is widely considered the end-all-be-all
of social activity, enough so to prompt some people to virtually
throw themselves off bridges when they are not accepted into
Elon’s own “cultural elite.”
The truth is that letters on a shirt arc not a cure for all that ails
a collegiate social life. And being non-Greek does not have to mean
death to any hope of such a social life. Elon has so much more to
offer for those who are willing to venture in different directions.
Of course Elon promotes Greek life. Greek organizations are
great for retention of students. But it is also true that without the
letters, many students feel devalued on this campus, that they are
somehow not quite as important or as popular as the Greeks. The
presence of Greeks by their very nature can spell division and
separatism, forces that make those on the outside feel inferior and
removed from campus life.
Therefore Elon needs to make more of a concerted effort to
promote groups that bridge the gap between Greek and non-Greek,
that give all students options on their weekend nights, to engage
students actively in their campus and community inclusivley, not
exclusively.
One such effort was Elon Volunteers’ Preserv program, which
recruited freshmen before they even stepped foot on the campus to
hammer away in a group project for Habitat for Humanity. Most of
those freshman are still actively involved in the organization,
having gained a head start on finding their niche here.
But when students start making plans to transfer or drop out of
school, when they start threatening physical harm to themselves
and others because of being shut out of the Greek system,
somewhere the perspective has gotten skewed. Somewhere we need
to re-evaluate just what makes a campus a community and how to
get that back again. There’s more to life than letters.
The Pendulum
Editor: DuoDuc Carowan
Maitu|{in|{ Editor: Tonya Taylor
Commentary Page Editor: Jack Duval
Sport* Editor:: Krick Gill
Entortuiiimcnt Editor: Jennifer Hudaon
Roportcm: Kriatin Blaaa, tx)ri Haley, Katie Urock,
Rick Griinca, Courtenay Houston, Jon Kimball, Amy Stinion
Entertiiinmcnt Reporter. Ashley Stone, Brian Tane
SportH Reporter: Matt Itall
Photoip-uphcr: Erick Oill, Scott Hildebrand, Hill Harvey
Advertisin|{: Lisa Keating, KuflTHarah, IjiToya Whitt, Jennifer Vann
Gruphics: Knb Mancuso
AdviMor: llrad Hamm
Omcu; 102 Williamson Ave., Elon Collc«o, N.C., 27244. N«wb:S84-2331
r T«/NK IIL JUST
SIT DOU/N
READ “me PAPE*^
n
I LL JUST
AMD
COMPtfTf — irajj
Coy£RA6£ /NStDE.
Slacker students
The column you won't read
You take what I write as
gospel. You love Elon College,
Elon the town and, as a matter of
fact, there's nothing in this world
that you disapprove of, right.
What do I say these things,
you ask? Because, Eugene, you
never write me letters.
I've tried everything. 1
endorsed the re-legalization of
marijuana, called for the
extermination of Elon's squirrel
population, told you to vote for a
misanthrope (look it up
902/0er's) for the board of
trustees, slamdunked a professor
for a weak-as-circus-lemonade
argument and continually abused
conservatives from here to
Nurcmburg.
And yet, you have written
nothing. I'm the Commentary
Page Editor, I need letters.
The way I figure, your silence
can mean only one of three things;
you're all cither pro-choice, pro-
decriminalization, anti-TV, anti
establishment, liberal, rock-n-
rollers like myself; too stupid to
form opinions about what you
read: or just too lazy to pen a
Jack
Duval
letter to the editor.
To see where you fall on the
Wheel of Misfortune, answer this
question: Whenever I find myself
in bed with a beautiful boy/girl, I
usually; a. I don't understand the
question; b. pass me the Cheese-
Wiz; c. huh?; d. you mean a
person of the opposite sex?; e.
could you repeat the question?; f.
God is a communist and I don't
believe in boy/girl distinctions; g.
"/ am Myra Breckinridge whom
no man will ever possess”', h. B
and F only; i. A and E only; j. C
and F only.
If you understood the question
and answers, then you know they
were not meant to be understood.
It was a literary device (much like
a remote control) used to make the
reader question why I wrote it, lo
which the answer is - to make a
point about stupidity.
But, of course, it didn’t work
because here I am in the next
graph, spoon-feeding it to you -
the very people I was insulting in
the first place. I'm stuck in the
paradox of explaining stupidity to
stupid people.
And can 1 have any other
opinion of you? Everywhere I go I
hear you complaining about
something that's effecting your
lives and how "someone ought to
do something about it"
Well here’s a news flash for
ya', people - write a letter to
the editor. I'll print it, it doesn’t
matter what it’s about - as long as
it's in the realm of good taste.
(And with the morals of this staff,
that leaves the door open.)
Now all you MOFA's (people
who're so sedentary they’ve
become part man, part sofa) out
there arc busy making up excuses
about how nobody will read your
letter anyway, so what’s the use.
Well, here’s another news
flash for ya' - 1 drop 50
See Uuval, rage 9