If you're a member of a fraternity at Ball State University and you missed David Stollman's speech, "Buy In or Get Out," Thursday, you might want to get the notes from another fraternity member.
Ask any fraternity member on this campus who has made it to senior status, and he will tell you that our fraternal community has been not-so-slowly declining over the past few years. We've lost Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Tau Omega, Lambda Chi Alpha and Delta Chi. These are chapters that played a major role on this campus not more than 10 years ago - and now they're gone.
I am a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Although we have a good reputation among Ball State faculty, I am well-aware we have one of the worst reputations among non-Greek students on this campus. I am even more aware that it is completely undeserved.
I hear the same thing at the beginning of every school year - it never fails. I tell some girl I've never met that I'm a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and she casually says, "I heard you guys put roofies in drinks," or "I heard you guys rape girls."
What am I supposed to say to that? How do you think that makes me feel?
I usually have the same reaction every time.
First, the smile drains from my face, shortly followed by a long sigh, then a sickening feeling in my stomach. Sometimes, I walk away in silence and sit by myself until I can think about something else. Other times, I become enraged and ask who said that about our fraternity. The source of the rumor is always the same: one of the other fraternities on campus.
This is a perfect example of what is wrong with fraternities at Ball State - we don't support each other. We put down one and spread rumors about another, and we gain nothing but a few enemies around campus. We should keep the competition on the intramural field and in the classroom, instead of competing to see how many freshmen girls and potential members we can spread rumors to.
Our chapter has always used rush tools such as having a house grade point average above the all-Ball State average, consistently winning at intramurals and philanthropy and having great alumni support. They're not bad rush tools - usually bringing in a pretty solid pledge class.
With the 2004 No. 1 ranking among Ball State fraternities for GPA, we've only have academic competition from Phi Gamma Delta, which has an alcohol-free chapter house. They are also our only competition in total number of community service hours, and we seem to have no competition in money raised through philanthropic events - except sororities, of course.
This leads me to believe that if I were to attend a rush event at some of the other fraternities on this campus, I might hear things like "We throw the best parties," or "We'll get you laid" or "Sigma Phi Epsilon members are rapists."
Well, if those are the rush tools that bring a solid group of future leaders into your chapter, by all means, keep using them. Just know that when those things are said, it reflects poorly on the whole Greek community, not just the chapter being slandered.
As Stollman said on Thursday, "We're all Greek together."
Oh, and by the way ... we would love to have some competition.
Write to Tim at
sigep363s@yahoo.com
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