Animal House is a funny movie. John Belushi was at his best with gratuitous vulgarity and lewdness. All of the movie's elements combine to make the film a great comedy, but that's all it is-a comedy, a witty spoof.
Tragically, many people, particularly those with strong anti-greek sentiment, view the film less as a comedy and more of a documentary of fraternity and sorority life. And as the administration continues to wage war on Duke's greek system, fraternities and sororities strive to break the stereotypes that seem inherent in them. Greek organizations are clearly misunderstood, mostly due to a lack of inside information.
As of yesterday, there were only two primary sources of information on the greek system at the University besides information provided by greek organizations themselves. The first is The Chronicle and the second is whatever studious library patrons decide to write on the desks (if you don't know what I'm talking about, by all means, go take a look before you read on).
Readers of The Chronicle can ascertain that most fraternities here are merely bastions of elitism and discrimination. They can look at a pie chart and a bar graph that indicate how Caucasian each fraternity is. The readers cannot see pictures of a fraternity party at its peak, but they can view pictures of the mess left at the scene the morning after. They can read stories about how much "damage" was done and the University's reaction.
In my two years here, the charitable events held by fraternities and sororities have received little more coverage than a nice picture and a caption. One would think that raising thousands of dollars for children might make for good news, but all that's printed are pictures and tales of broken bottles and dirty sections.
I ask, has anyone ever had a party for hundreds of people-mostly well imbibed people-and not had anything break? The morning after a party is always a big shaft for its thrower, be it a fraternity or not. Freshmen who attended can wake up in their cozy beds on East Campus without a care in the world.
In assigning the blame for party damage, two sides are pitted against each other. In one corner are the forty or so fraternity brothers who have to live and breathe at the very site of the party. In the other corner are the masses that attend the event and then leave sans responsibility for any unpleasantness they may have caused. Obviously, 40 people can reek much more havoc than 500 people can, right? Then again, I'm no math major, so my calculations could be a bit off. You figure it out.
In the stacks, one can read deep philosophical quips, like "Frat guys are latent homosexuals," or find out pertinent facts about greek life, including "Tri-Delta-two out of three go down." A visitor to the stacks can also find out who the five hottest guys were in the class of 1992, complete with their greek affiliation.
Like the giant hairy phallus depicted on a bathroom stall door, the greek lore written in the stacks was done so at the writer's most intellectual and cerebral state. The clever writings are at the same time a window to the past and a gateway to the future. Anything and everything the inquisitive, self-improving person needs to know about fraternities and sororities can be unearthed in the stacks. I think it's a crime that the University devotes no time to these inscriptions on the exciting tour of Perkins Library we all got to take in UWC.
Obviously, the two sources differ in a few ways. The Chronicle, for one, is edited for content while the stacks are completely free of censorship. More importantly, the writings in the stacks are totally anonymous, leaving us no one to credit-or blame.
But they are the same for one glaring reason-they are both misguided, and often wrong. The Chronicle consistently and predictably misses the point, but to no fault of its own. Bad press is more exciting than good press, and greek haters seem to outnumber supporters. The quips that adorn the desks in the stacks are interesting to read, and are occasionally true. But they are just as detrimental to the view of greeks as the movie in which frat guys crash the town parade in a giant float with "Eat Me" scrawled across its side.
I hope I can occasionally serve as a third source this semester, but as a positive voice. I love it here, I love going to school here and my membership in a fraternity has much to do with this sentiment. Admittedly, it has its flaws, but the greek experience, when done right, is more of a treasure than some outside of it could understand or appreciate. Ask the kids at the Agape Corner School who benefit each year from the goodness of greeks-I'm sure they will have nicer things to say than one could find on a desk in the stacks.
The Duke frat guy is not John Belushi, though he would be fun to have around.
Colin Garry is a Trinity junior.
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