Now University of Oklahoma sorority comes under fire over female students heard cheering along [tr]

I have never heard any “journalist” pose this question to a black person concerned about white racism:

“When would it be appropriate for you, as a black person, to label another black person as racist?”

Racism is a one-way-street. Freedom of speech is non-applicable under any circumstances. It’s not right.

Well, this has gotten out of hand. There is a good deal of misinformation from reporters and others who were obviously never a part of a Greek organization.

First off, judging by their attire, this looked to be a formal event, in which the men asked their dates from whatever sorority (and even... gasp... no sorority). It certainly didn't look like a "swap," that is to say a party with only one fraternity and one sorority.

So the fact that one of the girls has been identified as a Tri-Delt is meaningless. She was just a party-goer, and I'm not sure what was expected of her other than to hurl herself through an open window to escape.

People are invited to join fraternities and sororities by the undergraduates who are already members. This is not a socialist playground in which quotas are assigned for blacks, Hispanics, Asians, gays, and the physically challenged. They invite people they like who they believe most of them will be able to get along well with. It's a bonus if they believe that person can enhance the prestige of the Greek organization. For example, I think it was the Chi Omega chapter at Ole Miss that got to claim two Miss Americas in a row.

While I do not condone the behavior of the bus-riders, it was not really criminal. Embarrassing... yes. Criminal... no. The only "crime" committed seems to be the phantom crime of "hurting someone's feelings."

The University did not shut down the chapter. The national organization did, and they were well within their rights to do so.

My fratboy days were in the early 80's. My chapter was white, Hispanic, and Asian. We didn't have any blacks, but (hey!) we did have a guy who was paralyzed, so there you go. We didn't have songs/chants about blacks, but we certainly did about other fraternities... inferring that they were the gay bath houses of frat row.

The last update I had from my old chapter had photos that included black members.

Excellent post. Yes, this has gotten out of hand and the President of OU has gone way overboard. I understand he wants to identify everyone on the bus - men and women. The brothers are already receiving death threats - by revealing the individual names, I truly fear for them. As a Tri Delt, and fellow Greek, I’m also very concerned with my sisters at OU. BTW, my chapter pledged 2 black gals this year - they obviously felt more at home with us than the all black sorority we have on campus.

As a fellow Greek, I hope you also have fond memories of your days.

I hate these periodic stories that arise that put Greek life into such a bad light. My college life centered around my fraternity and the good friends I made there. It's been 30 years since my days as an active, and I still count my old brothers as best friends.

Sure, there were the parties... booze and road trips and chasing pretty girls, but there was so much more.

No matter how difficult the class, there was always someone in the frat who had the class before, and was able to help study, share old notes, and so forth. If someone in our fraternity couldn't help, then someone in another one could. I don't think people realize that fraternities weren't at war with each other. At least not constantly.

We emphasized community service, and had local and national philanthropies, as did every Greek organization on campus. We all held events to publicize these charities and raise money, and it was just good manners and good citizenship to help other Greeks with their philanthropies. Even on a relatively small campus, all the Greek organizations raised tens of thousands.

After a hurricane tore through our campus, cleanup efforts were led by the Greeks. Yep, those pretty-boy frats and prissy sorority girls were the ones manning the chain saws, dragging debris from the road, loading dump trucks and cleaning off in the fountain afterwards because the water wasn't back yet.

We never see those stories. My son is in college, but never expressed interest in fraternity life. Of course, he's elected to live in our basement and commute. With his scholarships, he should graduate without any student debt, so I'm not critical of his choices. But I certainly wouldn't have objected had he chosen otherwise.

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