Our View
By:
Shandra Jordan – Editor in Chief
J.J. Babb – Design Managing Editor
Colleen Buhrer – Managing Editor
Willow Welter – Visual Editor
Kyle Endres – Campus Editor
In a supposed show of school spirit and tradition, Alpha Tau
Omega decorated a rock with paint and their Greek letters.
There is also some obscene vandalism, which ATO says they have
nothing to do with. That’s great, we’re all glad you’re mature
enough to avoid high school pranks, but why is any vandalism
OK?
How self-defeatingly immature can you be? Let’s just start with
how it reflects on that fraternity. If they bill themselves as a
service organization, what kind of service is this exactly? And can
we opt out of it? We understand that the majority of Greek Life and
possibly many members of ATO disapprove of this action. We know
many members work very hard to defeat the stereotype that Greek
Life is synonymous with partying, hazing and worse that is so often
perpetuated in our media. It is certainly unfair that Greek Life
has this reputation when overall it does so much good in our
community, and it is unfair of ATO to compromise the progress other
organizations and they themselves have made toward righting this
misperception.
Secondly, of course, this reflects badly on our school. Maybe
you didn’t mean to represent all of CSU when you went out to
vandalize a rock, but you did just like the drunk freshman who
throws up on the Fort Collins resident’s lawn represents all of CSU
to that resident. People are quick to judge and slow to forget, and
we as students need to recognize the impressions we are making and
show ourselves as responsible up-and-coming adults.
Finally, the obvious question: why? What was the point? Want to
leave your mark on CSU, Fort Collins, the world? Start a charity,
work for a charity, sweep up some leaves – all things most
fraternities and sororities work very hard to do, more than most
people do. Vandalism is never, ever the answer if you want to leave
your mark on the world whether you are an individual or an
organization.
Of course, we do all make mistakes, some stupider than others.
It is good that ATO is admitting that they have made a mistake and
is taking steps to rectify it. Let’s hope they learn from their
error and grow.
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