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.