EDITORIAL: "Shades of Animal House"

Most of the future pledgesMost of the future pledgesin Meyerson B-1 had oneMost of the future pledgesin Meyerson B-1 had onething on their minds.Most of the future pledgesin Meyerson B-1 had onething on their minds.It wasn't signing bids.Most of the future pledgesin Meyerson B-1 had onething on their minds.It wasn't signing bids.____________________________ However, we think these meetings could be used to talk about a few subjects besides? Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. But let's talk about sex. It seemed to be the prevailing topic of conversation at the bid signing Monday evening. Over 300 rowdy -- and apparently, randy -- young men turned out to sign on with houses. Ever heard that statistic that men think about sex once every seven seconds? Think about 300 men thinking. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. This isn't bad, really -- as long as you're not thinking out loud. But at one point, Tricia Phaup, director of the office of fraternity and sorority affairs, decided to ask these guys why they wanted to join a fraternity. It wasn't brotherhood, it wasn't leadership and it wasn't even a nice house on the Walk. The reason these bid signers joined the fraternity system, demonstrated by a standing ovation, was to meet people of the opposite... Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. Worse still, Phaup was greeted by whistling and hooting as she spoke. Here was Phaup -- the University administrator, the department director, the mature adult -- getting wolf-whistled at by 18-year-olds with bad complexions. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. Maybe Phaup wasn't offended by this behavior, but we are sure many students were when they read about it the next day. Call them over-sensitive. Blame the behavior on popular entertainment that exudes sex. But this wasn't joking between friends, it wasn't self-deprecating wit, and it wasn't casual humor. It was an attack. We understand the difference between a double entendre between consenting adults, and verbal assault. It's called respect. Look into it. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. The Animal House disciples of Meyerson B-1 went on hooting and howling, without giving a second thought to Phaup's feelings, without regard to the sensibilities of the "more enlightened" men in the room, without consideration of how it would make anyone else on campus take it. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. This was school yard misogyny, plain and simple. Many laughed along, or enjoyed it to themselves. No one in the room stopped it -- not the new pledges, not the fraternity brothers and not the administrators. Inadvertently, the bid signing became a real-life laboratory in harassment -- the kind of harassment based on? Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. Yes, boys will be boys, but these boys should soon be men. We're completely confident that current fraternity brothers will make a serious effort to guide the journey to maturity -- so long as they are not busy reinforcing those Greek system stereotypes we all agree are so unfair. · The problem is not solely with the educators -- who made a good-faith attempt to use their time with the captive audience wisely. They obviously did their homework and realized at least one sure way to get through to this particular audience: Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. After Phaup unearthed why men join fraternities -- it's not the economy, stupid -- other speakers continued this motif. Jeff Dansikle, an alcohol and drug awareness consultant, talked about how sniffing, smoking and shooting affects? Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. There are a few reasons to "just say no" besides unwanted pregnancy, diseases, poor performance and next-morning regrets. There are a few reasons that have nothing to do with? Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. As one student said: "They put together the program thinking everyone joins to have sex with random women and drink large quantities of beer." That's a valid criticism. Besides, if officials expect the worst, they won't be disappointed. Unfortunately, most pledges affirmed the educators' belief that men only think about one thing. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. The real problem lies with the current state of the fraternity system. The only way to change this is to change the impression pledges get from moment one. While officials had a captive audience, they could have held the Greek system to higher standards. We should try showing the pledges some respect, too. Maybe they will learn by example. From time to time, let's talk about something other than sex.