EDITORIAL: Getting the job done

The University's $350,000The University's $350,000loan for GreekNet resultedThe University's $350,000loan for GreekNet resultedfrom intense lobbying by theThe University's $350,000loan for GreekNet resultedfrom intense lobbying by theInterFraternity Council.The University's $350,000loan for GreekNet resultedfrom intense lobbying by theInterFraternity Council.Or did it?The University's $350,000loan for GreekNet resultedfrom intense lobbying by theInterFraternity Council.Or did it?____________________________ And Greek leaders say last week's announcement of a $350,000 University loan to the Greek system, for technological and life-safety system improvements in chapter houses, confirms that administrators have been equally impressed. Or does it? GreekNet aims to provide fraternity and sorority members living in chapter houses with the same technological benefits available to students living in ResNet dorms -- high-speed Ethernet access to PennNet, cable television and private telephone lines. But the only brothers and sisters to benefit from the GreekNet project are those living in University-owned or -affiliated chapter houses. What about members of the BiCultural InterGreek Council? Or fraternities and sororities whose chapter housing corporations or national organizations own their homes? While GreekNet will provide definite and tangible benefits for the next generation of Greeks at Penn, and while these Greeks will repay the University for its loan to complete the project, we wonder if University self-interest wasn't just as important to approval of the GreekNet loan as IFC negotiation. The fraternity and sorority houses that will be wired through GreekNet are really just University-owned off-campus properties in choice locations. By wiring these properties now, the University has saved itself time and probably money, should it decide to toss Greek houses farther from campus and convert current chapter houses into some part of a residential college house system. If GreekNet is intended to help the whole Greek system, then all Greeks should have the chance to take advantage of it. A lottery system for wiring or some type of phase-in would help make that a reality. After all, brothers and sisters should learn how to share, right?