A Greek Rant
by V.E. on November 19th, 2005
filed under ladyamedeus, politics, school, thoughts
Okay, for the record: I wrote this on Wednesday evening right after Greek Council elections but just got a chance to type and post it tonight. Also, this is NOT about Greek people from Greece. Rather, it’s about members of the “Greek system” present on many college campuses,
I love my Kappas. My big sister was a founding member of the chapter here at F&M; the Gammas are the best class in the world; Sigma, Robyn, Jen Whinney, Katie M, and Noel (members of other classes) positively influenced me while I was pledging and since then they’ve remained faithful friends. I don’t know the Deltas and Epsilons very well, but I know they wouldn’t be part of Kappa if the women I love didn’t love them. For all my bitching, I will never abandon my Kappas.
That said, I hate Greeks. I attended the Greek Council elections and had to hold back vomit at the way people were elected. The official-ness of it was fine; everything went smoothly and there were secret ballots and everything. It was orderly and well-handled. Kudos to Doug Fox (the current VP) for that much at least.
But Gods! The people who were elected! >.< I wanted to puke. Here’s what was wrong with Greek Council elections.
1. The fraternity to sorority ratio is almost 2 to 1; there are seven frats but only two sororities.
2. The vote is by majority, not plurality; that means 50% plus one wins the vote for any given position. If you do the math, 5 out of 9 Greek organizations must vote for a single person for that person to be elected to office.
3. The case being as it is, the frats need ZERO sorority votes to have “one of the boys” elected, BUT each sorority needs either FOUR frat votes OR the other sorority vote and THREE frat votes to have a Greek woman elected.
4. There are eight positions up for grabs: president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, social chair, recruitment chair, judicial board chair, and community relations chair. And, yes, that is in order of importance. The Council’s constitution says that there must be (a) no more than two members of one frat or sorority on the board at a time, and (b) an equal representation of women and men on the board at all times. That means four women and four men. That would be fine EXCEPT, for the entire life of the Council (which thus far is a little over two years), part (b) has been waived by a majority vote on the part of the member frats.
5. That means that there have been about two women and six men on the Greek Council for its entire existence. The excuse is “It’s more representative this way” but COME ON. It’s the FRATERNITIES that have shitty average GPAs, not us. It’s the FRATERNITIES that have their houses condemned by the county because they didn’t leave the heat on over winter break, not us. It’s the FRATERNITIES that throw mixers like “Secretaries and CEOs”–like that’s not suggestive?!?
6. Not to mention that the elections themselves were sadly only popularity contests. It was pathetic.
Eck. I’m so sick of Greeks. I am NOT a sorority girl and if ANYONE ever calls me that, they won’t have fingers soon afterward. I just want to…. GAH I don’t even KNOW I’m so mad. Gods, it’s like having an ANCIENT mindset while living in the present. We are NOT objects and we DO have a voice. Just you wait, frat brothers, just you wait.
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