EDITORIAL: Clean up your act

Childish pranks and illegalChildish pranks and illegalbehavior are tarnishing theChildish pranks and illegalbehavior are tarnishing theGreek community'sChildish pranks and illegalbehavior are tarnishing theGreek community'sreputation.Childish pranks and illegalbehavior are tarnishing theGreek community'sreputation._____________________________ Stealing shrubs from Eisenlohr Hall, as Sigma Alpha Mu pledges and brothers did Friday afternoon, is just the latest in a lengthy list of incidents giving administrators ammunition in their quest to reduce the size of the Greek system on campus. InterFraternity Council President Josh Gottheimer called the SAM incident "unfortunate," a characterization with which we agree. The IFC fined Sigma Chi for its rush infraction, but the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs has imposed no official sanction yet. We'd like to know what the IFC and OFSA are planning to do about SAM's shrubbery gathering, for strong self-discipline is the key to the survival of Greek life at Penn. The University is unique among its Ivy League peers not because it has a thriving Greek system, but because the system's leaders have said they are committed to keeping fraternities and sororities a part of student life here -- even with a "Bring Your Own Beer" policy at parties and the undetermined way in which future Greeks will fit into the proposed college house system. Half of this editorial board is Greek, and for this reason, we're left particularly confused by fraternity and sorority members who willingly engage in unethical, improper conduct that reflects poorly on all students. Such misbehavior validates the stereotypical complaints about Greeks, rather than highlighting the good they do in the community. University President Judith Rodin was a Delta Phi Epsilon sister in her undergrad days at the University. We'd hate to see the next generation of students -- including, perhaps, another potential University president -- miss out on the same kind of formative experiences she had as a sorority member. However, that may be just what happens if the current group of Greeks can't get its act together.