Greeks respond to Albert’s bashing

Before anything else, I would like to express my deepest sympathyfor the tragic loss to the Heiderman family when their son’s life wastaken in an accident with alcohol at Chico State University.

I would like to speak to you about the column written by RyanAlbert for the Nov. 28 edition of The Daily Aztec (“Greek system anattack on the immune system”). I can understand your opinion of thegreek community. You see us as a society that spends all of ourprecious moments at school drinking alcohol and philosophizing on howwe can destroy the community. Then to make ourselves sound like aworthy organization we throw in the idea of community service tojustify it.

I ask you this, Ryan Albert, being a true journalist, where is thewho, what, where, why and how of the information that you havegathered? I know that it is not from the greek system that I am proudto be a member of. At this time I employ (sic) all of you dedicatedreaders of The Aztec, whether it be read in class, at home or in thelibrary, to come and learn the truth behind this fictitious expose.

Let us begin with community service. You state, “Several chaptersclaim to dedicate a lot of time to helping others.”

In reality, every fraternity and sorority on this campus isinvolved in community service within the greek system and in theirown chapters. Each has its own philanthropy, in which its chapterraises funds for a specific cause. In the spring, Greek Week raisedmore than $15,000 for the Radio Reading Service for the Blind.

The next topic for our readers is hazing. You claim new membersget the crap beaten out of them upon initiation.

Hazing is not practiced nor condoned by fraternities or sororitiesat San Diego State University. Hazing is practiced by ignorant andunintelligent individuals who think this barbaric method “shapes aman!” If you look at instances of hazing, you will see AdrianHeiderman did not die from fraternity hazing. He died when histhoughtless “big bro” ordered Adrian to chug a bottle of blackberrybrandy. This is the act of one individual, not the fraternity as awhole.

You claim, ” … fraternities and sororities are just asking fortrouble.” You also state, ” … there are far too many reports ofproblems at fraternity parties to say it’s a coincidence and that themedia only reports the bad stuff.”

How could we be asking for trouble when we support a system thathas very strict greek guidelines governing our events? Fellow Aztecs,when was the last time you went to a party and had to be on a guestlist? We set our greek guidelines and follow the University’spolicies to be safe and to save lives.

As for the media, why didn’t I read in The Aztec or hear on thelocal news when Nicolas Losik, Justin M. Sommers and Chance Woodruffall died of alcohol-related instances like Adrian Heiderman at ChicoState? It just so happens that they were not members of a fraternityon that campus, so they did not get media exposure.

You declared, a walk down a street near fraternity housesresembled a riot on the Gaza Strip in Israel.

Fraternities do not publicize their parties to people outside ofthe greek system. It is also a fact that no one in the greekcommunity can stop students from “cruising” Montezuma Road in thehope of finding a party.

According to a Harvard Medical School study, 44 percent of collegestudents are binge drinkers and more than 47 percent of collegestudents say getting drunk is their reason for drinking. Now, ifgreeks only account for 6.4 percent of SDSU’s total population, evenif every greek was a binge drinker, which they are not, that wouldleave 41.6 percent of the binge drinkers as non greeks.

Why doesn’t the media report on the positive aspects of being agreek? This year three greek councils sponsored the Aztec New MemberSeries, which is designed to teach new members of the greek systemabout the problems and dilemmas that can come from drinking, takingdrugs and having unprotected sex. How many of you knew that GAMMA(Greeks Advocating Mature Management of Alcohol) was sponsoringAlcohol Awareness Week from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1?

The greek community at SDSU provides a tremendous living-learningenvironment in which students may develop and refine their leadershipskills, campus and community involvement, academics and networkingpossibilities.

We are extending you an invitation to attend any greek councilmeeting to educate yourself and eliminate the stereotypes that we, asgreeks, deal with on a daily basis.

–Colin Duncan–Najla TabbahInterFraternity Council and Panhellenic VPs

Albert babbles, is called on it

After reading Ryan Albert’s Nov. 28 column, “Greek system anattack on the immune system,” I felt compelled to skip class andrespond to some of the outrageous claims he made. People joinfraternities for the same reason Albert joined The Daily Aztec — toget involved. College is not just about reading textbooks, but moreabout gaining real-life experience through real-life situations.College is supposed to be one of the best times in a person’s life,so why not make the most of it? The greek system brings character toa campus and excitement to a person’s life. It feels good to workhard to raise money to donate to charity, but I guess Albert wouldn’tknow that feeling. I don’t see The Aztec columnists tailgating at theSan Diego State University football games and then being loud andsupporting their team … I don’t see any columnists doing anycommunity service. I don’t see any columnists raising money to donateto charity … and having fun while doing it. It’s also funny howAlbert bashed the greek system, but he forgot one key piece –sororities. Sororities and Fraternities bring an unparalleled varietyof experience to a student compared to any other extra-curricularactivity. The competition of intramural sports, agovernment/hierarchy of authority, community service work and unity,among other things, are brought to a student’s life. There are fewthings that really irritate me, but people who discuss topics orexperiences that they have never experienced is one, and this columnclearly falls into that category.

I just have one suggestion for Albert: join a fraternity andactually live the life, then write about what “an attack on theimmune system” it actually is. As for the hazing remarks, there wereonly two alleged hazing incidents on campus this year, that werequite clearly misconstrued by The Aztec, that were unrelated to thefraternity itself. So, Ryan, next time you decide to babble, at leastdo a little research and get some factual information involved.

–Jake VigilKappa Alpha Orderbusiness sophomore

Moore’s comments disrespectful,ignorant

I am replying to the column you wrote concerning the jungle feverepidemic (“Jungle fever plagues the dating scene,” Candace Moore,Nov. 28). I am an “other” race female who is really shocked by whatyou wrote. First off, I would like to think being that we are comingup near to the year 2001, as a society, we could be knowledgeableenough to understand that each ethnicity has a proper name: Hispanic,Caucasian, Asian, etc. Furthermore, I would hope that students at SanDiego State University would have enough exposure to all cultures torealize that each one of them is individual and cannot and should notbe stereotyped into categories. I really did not appreciate yourviews of what a Caucasian woman’s behaviors are in a relationship.Being that you are not part of my race, you really have no idea what”we” act like in a relationship. I would not put judgment on how youact with your significant other, so in return I would hope that yougive me the respect I offer to you.

In today’s world, it is hard enough to find a person you cancommit yourself to without having to add thought to their background,economic status and race. I am not offended when I see a Caucasianman with an African- American woman, or vice versa. I have envy thatthey are in
a relationship at all. I would hope that our fellowclassmates feel the same. At SDSU, we have a plethora of cultures andethnicities, we are in classes together, friends with each other andwe might just dare to date someone out of our own race. In turn, I donot think that this will ruin your chances of finding someone. As forthe rest of SDSU’s students, hopefully they are not as ignorant asyou have proven to be.

–Amanda Flemingliberal studies senior

Reed accurate, has very fine opinion

I enjoyed your very fine opinion that appeared in the opinionsection of The Daily Aztec (“Sports complex sidelines qualityeducation,” Reed Albergotti, Nov. 27). I quite agree with what youwrote. I used the former Terry Pool frequently for 15 years until itwas destroyed last June. Indeed, I was part of an ad hoc committeethat tried very hard to persuade University President Stephen Weberand the university’s campus planning committee that destroying TerryPool before a substitute facility was in place was a mistake. As Ipointed out in a letter and in a subsequent meeting with Weber, minewas admittedly a biased vantage as I used the pool. However, Ipointed out that multiple user groups (e.g. recreational swimmers,the women’s swim team, physical education classes, Special Olympics,swimming lessons in the summer months, etc.) depended on that pool.Weber appeared to listen patiently and agreed with many of the pointsthat I brought up but ultimately told me they were going to proceedwith the master plan for development on the west side of campus.

Reed, one thing that became very clear from this is that money notonly talks but screams. As you likely know, John Moores has given avery substantial amount of money to build the facilities on the siteof former Terry Pool. That obviously makes Weber look very good interms of attracting money to the university. Further, my involvementwas an eye opener into just how powerful the athletic program is oncampus. Well-placed people on campus have told me that Rick Bay hasWeber’s ear, and that basically Athletics gets what it wants. Mindyou, I am not anti-athletic. I participated in high school andcollegiate athletics, and until this season annually bought seasontickets to the Aztecs home football games (I didn’t do it this fallsemester out of disgust with the pool’s destruction). However, I havecome to see the tremendous pull that athletics has on this campus,and as you accurately point out in your article, at the expense ofothers on campus. Further, this is an athletic program that is achronic loser and is hemorrhaging money. Moores was quoted last Mayin The San Diego Union Tribune (in a very revealing article on thestate of SDSU athletics) that “if SDSU were to drop Division Iathletics, the value of an SDSU diploma would drop like a rock” (orsomething very close to that). The statement was quite foolish and itoutraged several colleagues who actually had the hubris to believethat academics should have primacy on campus.

Enough said. I find it incredible that a campus with 32,000students and a Division I athletic program does not have an on-campusaquatic facility. I have never been associated with a high school,community college or university that did not have at least two25-yard pools on campus. The state of affairs here is a sick joke. Onthe other hand, those large offices being constructed for athleticcoaches on the site of the former Terry Pool will doubtless attractquality athletes and raise the academic visibility of this”university.”

–John F. O’Learygeography department professor

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