I was shocked to see the front page article âÄúU greek Enrollment hits 20-year high pointâÄù in the March 2 issue of the Minnesota Daily. It was almost unthinkable that the Daily could publish an article that shows the greek community in a positive light. However, the factoid underneath gave the article a negative spin: âÄúBut with only 1,800 members, the UniversityâÄôs greek membership is still last among Big Ten schools.âÄù
Somehow, the Daily managed to turn an article about the accomplishments of the University of Minnesota greek community into a negatively skewed story about our campusâÄô fraternities and sororities. The article spends little time on the recent accomplishments, but instead it highlights irrelevant setbacks from 1991 and other campusesâÄô higher membership levels.
I would like to see the Daily publish an article portraying fraternities and sororities with the respect they deserve. With the greek community representing around 8 percent of the undergraduate enrollment, an extremely disproportionate amount of leadership on campus comes from fraternity men and sorority women.
Additionally, hundreds of thousands of dollars and volunteer hours are generated through greek philanthropic activity.
It is time for the Daily to shed its âÄúAnimal HouseâÄù stereotypes and start acknowledging the positive impact fraternities and sororities have. Fraternities and sororities are giving their members the skills they need to succeed in the next levels of their lives, regardless of if the Daily realizes it.