Tout education over dry housing
Editor’s note: Jeffrey Adam
Hotchkiss originally sent this com
mentary as a letter to University
• President Dave Frohnmayer.
O ver the past few weeks, a lot
has transpired within the
realms of the University’s
greek community. There have been
mandates handed down (including
efforts designed to prevent those
mandates from going through), as
well as numerous letters, editorials
and articles having been written, all
regarding the issue of “dry hous
ing.” I thought it seemed about time
you heard from someone very
knowledgeable on the subject, a re
spected member of the greek com
munity here at the University.
I have been a fraternity member
here for several years, and in that
time I have seen, heard and learned
many things. Along the way, I have
developed a good understanding of
how our greek community works
and what is necessary in order to run
an efficient and productive greek
community. Turning to dry housing
is not one of those necessities.
Moving past the reasons for not
forcing greeks to go dry (i.e. increas
es in off-campus parties and drink
ing and driving), I would like to
Guest Commentary
Jeffrey
Hotchkiss
present another resolution for you
to consider. I do agree on the matter
that overconsumption of alcohol
and underage drinking is a problem
not only within the greek commu
nity but also throughout the Uni
versity. I have seen and dealt with
far worse problems from drunken
individuals who are not affiliated
with Greek Life than from those
who are — such as those involved
in the Halloween riots — but that is
another topic. By forcing fraterni
ties to have dry housing, a “prob
lem” is not being solved, but mere
ly swept under die rug.
In my opinion and experience, ed
ucation is the surest way to go. In ed
ucating greeks, specifically new
members and freshmen, about the
dangers of alcohol and how to han
dle themselves if they do choose to
drink, we would solve a great deal of
the problems we’re facing. I have tak
en several of the classes and week
end seminars where alcohol was the
topic of discussion, and I learned
more on the subject than I ever had
ever imagined possible. This school
already has an excellent resource in
Miki Mace, the Substance Abuse
Prevention Program director. Per
haps these classes ought to be
mandatory for those entering the
greek community, and potentially for
all students entering the University.
On a separate point, throughout
all the words that have been ex
changed on this subject, those in
volved in Greek Life have come out
looking flawed. I would like to
point out the most recent Universi
ty awards ceremony and bring at
tention to, as well as congratulate,
the numerous fraternity and sorori
ty members who were recognized.
A number of students won various
awards and were inducted into sev
eral academic honor societies, in
cluding the Friars, Koyle Cup, Bess
Templeton Cristman and Dean’s
Service awards. Whether these in
dividuals included alcohol in their
greek and college careers has cer
tainly and obviously not hindered
their accomplishments.
Jeffrey Adam Hotchkiss is a senior
political science major and a member
of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
Letters to the editor
U.S. government needs
to disclose information
I would first like to laud Victor
Wold’s call for a revolution in pop
ular thinking about the war on ter
rorism (“Citizens can not give up
privacy rights,” ODE, May 30). My
letter is directed to a far more per
nicious problem: Conservative
pro-war media bias on the part of
' '! nearly levery major American news
outlet.
Americans who desire an honest
objective analysis of their govern
ment’s attitudes and activities
should be on notice that they are
not receiving the full story. Sen.
Dick Armey was recently quoted
in a respected British daily, The
Guardian, as advocating the
forcible complete removal of the
Palestinian people from Israel. The
Guardian expressed its shock that
Armey’s comments went almost
completely unreported in the Unit
. ed States while they, of course,
elicited the shock of nations
around the world at a time of great
v tension for the region.
We may well wonder why it is
that we as Americans are reviled
around the world when we are not
privy to information like this. Our
leaders are busily pursuing poli
cies that serve to destabilize the
present situation in the Middle
East and plant the seeds of hate in
hearts of those who might not oth
erwise call themselves our ene
mies.
If we do not wish to be held ac
countable by terrorists for our gov
ernment’s foreign policy, we must
first be able to make ourselves
aware of what is going on. I en
courage Americans to be intensely
critical of domestic news outlets
and to seek objective information
about the war on terror outside of
this country.
Colin Barey
law student
Violence is no cure
for terrorism
One truly has to wonder
whether or not Tym Parsons’ com
ments (“Ruthlessly crush terrorist
states,” ODE, May 29) were meant
as a dark satire of current Ameri
can politics; perhaps in an attempt
to epitomize the most extreme and
dangerous views floating around
lately in American sentiment.
Though I believe this is the case,
for any who might sympathize
with Parsons’ uninformed words I
would add that there was once a
man with similar feelings and
emotions — who attacked ruth
lessly in the name of “security.” I
am referring to the one we all love
to use as a baseline for immorality,
the late Adolf Hitler.
Further, let us ask ourselves,
“What is a terrorist?” A terrorist is
you or I, when we are reared in an
environment so oppressive that
there seems to be no way out other
than through violence. A “war on
terrorism” in a literal sense (i.e. not
as an empty political tactic) is akin
to choosing hand grenades over
food to “go to war” on hunger.
“Terrorism” is as old as civil
conflict — it is in a sense almost
human nature. Attempting to con
vince the oppressed people of the
world to be passive and compla
cent by shooting and bombing
them unfortunately only makes the
situation worse.
William Moglia
senior
Steve Sack KRT
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