The First and Introductory Blog:
Last year's first mass-assembly of all official branches of Greek Life brought more negativity towards Greeks and party culture at the University of Michigan.
Last year's first mass-assembly of all official branches of Greek Life brought more negativity towards Greeks and party culture at the University of Michigan.
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"The
value of their degrees are gonna go down because of the
reputation of
the University of Michigan won't be the
excitement in the Big House...the
Rhodes Scholarships and
Fulbright Scholarship, and the famous professors...or the National
Medal for the Arts...It's going to be the 'Schmacked' videos."
-President Schlissel 2015 (Kinery and Moehlman) |
Despite good intentions of the meeting, public interest focused entirely on the disrespectful coughing during the assembly -leaving no room for positive changes and on-going efforts to make the University safer. The increasing widespread negativity towards Greek Life and party culture has forced the University administration to act: hence, the first mass-assembly in 170 years of Greek Life at the University (Kinery and Moehlman). However, the University has always pressured Greek Life with safety concerns that are really campus-wide issues rather than just Greek Life -mandating standards by threatening to take-away self-governance from Greek governments. Yet, outside of Greek Life, such standards and pressures are non-existent: no University club party or student parties are put under any regulation or scrutiny for that matter. This series, for a greater part, will expose the inner-workings of Greek Life and the unintentional bias, exploitation, powerlessness, and marginalization of significant portions of the student body according to Iris M. Young's political philosophy. Furthermore, it will not only explore the inequality of policies in the University but also shed light on the growing consequences of polices and regulation intended for the safety and well-being of all students. This series will not defend the serious wrongs committed by Greeks or other groups, but instead advocate for reasonably fair policies and solutions to address the University's missed opportunity in allowing all students to partake in their safety and some form of self-governance.
Despite the University administration's focus of Greek Life, all students and/or student groups are affected by some form of bias or oppression (in Young's terms) from the policies and regulations on Greek Life. However, these faces of oppression exist not only between the University and Greek Life but also between Greek Life and the greater student body, which is also interchangeable. For example, Greek Life faces marginalization and bias from the University and other students; while, other students face powerlessness and exploitation from the University, Greek Life, and themselves. Unfortunately, amidst this intertwined system of policies, those that affect Greek Life and its inner-workings have the most profound effect on the student body and offer the best examples of missed opportunities and failures in governance: Why is Greek Life the only student-group allowed to self-regulate and be scrutinized for self-governance when other student's lack any self-regulatory powers and are at the mercy of the University? Thus, this blog will explore these faces of oppression on multiple perspectives to advocate for a good solution for all students.
What do I mean by 'bias' and 'exploitation' in Greek Life and the Student Body?
Bias towards Greek Life has always been present and plays a vital role in pressuring the need for further policies and regulations. Having a large, visible student body that is viewed more closely associated with parties than philanthropy and other community goods, "Greek Life receives magnified scrutiny for campus-wide issues" (Moehlman). In Lara Moehlman's article for the Michigan Daily, she interviewed a fraternity member who stated that, "a lot of times when incidents happen it's people outside of the organization that come to our parties and cause trouble," yet the incident is still associated with Greek Life. This form of negativity towards Greek Life from the public perspective spurs the University administration to not only act but act on a summary collection of incidents both directly and indirectly related to Greek Life. Coupled with high visibility and surveillance, Greek Life finds itself most heavily associated with parties, drinking, drugs, and other social harms. In accordance with Young's definition of social groups as "a collective of persons differentiated from at least other group by cultural forms, practices, or way of life," partying is undoubtedly the key association in determining whether or not someone is part of Greek Life culture: a notion that would be harmless if that distinction was not magnified by various accusations (Young, 43). With the University's firm stance against alcohol, partying, and other activities harmful to the University's image, an obvious bias is made towards party culture -making Greek Life the easiest target of around a quarter of the student population (Moehlman and Sean, 3/13/2016). Sarah Barnitt, the Vice President of Public Relations for the Panhellenic Association, stated strongly that "the administration must get ride of their outdated thought that all Greek do is party, any party-related issue is connected to Greek Life, and that Greek parties are less safe than other social events. It's not true" (3/11/2016, 3/17/2016).
But how can one argue that these increasing numbers are exploited when they are so alarming?
Ironically, students outside of Greek Life, who do not have the privilege to self-regulate and enjoy a layer of protection from the University, exploit this biased association with parties and Greeks to shift blame away from themselves and their friends. I sat down with Sean Kageff, the Inter-Fraternity Council representative for Lambda Chi Alpha, who spoke a great deal on blame shifted on Greek Life and the lack of plausible verification on whether or not incidents are really associated with Greek houses. He states that, "when people are transported to the hospital, and if they mention a fraternity, it makes us all look bad whether it's really us or not" (3/13/2016). When asked about if this kind of scapegoating is real, Kageff responded with, "I definitely think so...this year, we had 30 alcohol-transports in which people said 'I was at a fraternity' but these weren't alcohol-transports where they were being picked up from a specific fraternity -they were from freshman dormitories and they easily could've said yes I was (at a fraternity)." These 30, as Kageff explained later, were from this half-semester alone and an unusually high number compared to the 32 in the winter semester of 2015 -allowing more conclusions to be drawn in a bad light for Greek Life that can be exploited by University policies and by other students simply trying to guard against blaming their friends or hall for under-aged drinking.
It is rare that anyone, let alone an administrator, would look at these alcohol-transport numbers and consider them in any positive light, but not everyone looks negatively on these numbers. Mary Jo Desprez, director of Wolverine Wellness in the University Health Services, states: "when alcohol-transports go up, I don't necessarily always think that's a bad thing," because "sometimes an increase in alcohol-transports can be a sign of a caring community -that people are looking at people passed out and caring about them and calling for help" (Moehlman). Both Sean Kageff and a president of a sorority, who chose to remain anonymous due to various reasons, echoed Desprez's words in that the Greek community is certainly more "vigilant" and is on the "up-swing" (3/11/2016, 3/13/2016).
Unfortunately, even with Greek governments' continuous self-regulatory practices like the Social Equality Management Procedures (SEMP), Social Regulatory Committee (SRC), Michigan Ambassadors Program (MAP), and other safety protocols, Greek Life continues to be badgered when other party scenes and incidents go unnoticed or simply blamed on Greeks (Kageff, 3/13/2016, President, 3/11/2016). The current system of reporting and bias only perpetuates this exploitative cycle that not only victimizes Greeks but also students who do not have any form of protection or self-regulatory powers from the University that they must resort to dishonest measures for their safety.
The next blog of this cumulative series will expand on the powerlessness of all students: Greek or non-Greek, they all deserve the right to some self-governance against an administrative-king of sorts.
What do I mean by 'bias' and 'exploitation' in Greek Life and the Student Body?
Bias towards Greek Life has always been present and plays a vital role in pressuring the need for further policies and regulations. Having a large, visible student body that is viewed more closely associated with parties than philanthropy and other community goods, "Greek Life receives magnified scrutiny for campus-wide issues" (Moehlman). In Lara Moehlman's article for the Michigan Daily, she interviewed a fraternity member who stated that, "a lot of times when incidents happen it's people outside of the organization that come to our parties and cause trouble," yet the incident is still associated with Greek Life. This form of negativity towards Greek Life from the public perspective spurs the University administration to not only act but act on a summary collection of incidents both directly and indirectly related to Greek Life. Coupled with high visibility and surveillance, Greek Life finds itself most heavily associated with parties, drinking, drugs, and other social harms. In accordance with Young's definition of social groups as "a collective of persons differentiated from at least other group by cultural forms, practices, or way of life," partying is undoubtedly the key association in determining whether or not someone is part of Greek Life culture: a notion that would be harmless if that distinction was not magnified by various accusations (Young, 43). With the University's firm stance against alcohol, partying, and other activities harmful to the University's image, an obvious bias is made towards party culture -making Greek Life the easiest target of around a quarter of the student population (Moehlman and Sean, 3/13/2016). Sarah Barnitt, the Vice President of Public Relations for the Panhellenic Association, stated strongly that "the administration must get ride of their outdated thought that all Greek do is party, any party-related issue is connected to Greek Life, and that Greek parties are less safe than other social events. It's not true" (3/11/2016, 3/17/2016).
But how can one argue that these increasing numbers are exploited when they are so alarming?
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| Councils of Recognized Greek Governments InterFraternity Council (IFC) Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) National PanHellenic Council (NPHC) Panhellenic Association (Panhel) |
It is rare that anyone, let alone an administrator, would look at these alcohol-transport numbers and consider them in any positive light, but not everyone looks negatively on these numbers. Mary Jo Desprez, director of Wolverine Wellness in the University Health Services, states: "when alcohol-transports go up, I don't necessarily always think that's a bad thing," because "sometimes an increase in alcohol-transports can be a sign of a caring community -that people are looking at people passed out and caring about them and calling for help" (Moehlman). Both Sean Kageff and a president of a sorority, who chose to remain anonymous due to various reasons, echoed Desprez's words in that the Greek community is certainly more "vigilant" and is on the "up-swing" (3/11/2016, 3/13/2016).
Unfortunately, even with Greek governments' continuous self-regulatory practices like the Social Equality Management Procedures (SEMP), Social Regulatory Committee (SRC), Michigan Ambassadors Program (MAP), and other safety protocols, Greek Life continues to be badgered when other party scenes and incidents go unnoticed or simply blamed on Greeks (Kageff, 3/13/2016, President, 3/11/2016). The current system of reporting and bias only perpetuates this exploitative cycle that not only victimizes Greeks but also students who do not have any form of protection or self-regulatory powers from the University that they must resort to dishonest measures for their safety.
The next blog of this cumulative series will expand on the powerlessness of all students: Greek or non-Greek, they all deserve the right to some self-governance against an administrative-king of sorts.
Edited 3/23/2016 for Clarification. Originally posted 3/17/2016
Edited 4/13/2016 for One Spelling Mistake (form to from)
Barnitt, Sarah. "Panhellenic Greek Council." Online interview. 11 Mar. 2016. Interviewed through 3/11~3/17/2016
Kageff, Sean Paul. "IFC Greek Life." Personal interview. 17 Mar. 2016.
Kinery, Emma, and Lara Moehlman. "Schlissel to Greek Life: Party Culture Devalues University." The Michigan Daily. The Michigan Daily, 13 Sept. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. <https://www.michigandaily.com/section/news/administrators-urge-greek-life-culture-shift-mass-meeting>.
Moehlman, Lara. "Looking Back on One Year after Infamous Greek Life Ski Trip Incident." The Michigan Daily. The Michigan Daily, 24 Jan. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. <https://www.michigandaily.com/section/news/one-year-after-ski-trip-incident-greek-life-undergoes-change>.
"President of Sorority." Online interview. 11 Mar. 2016. interviewee chose to remain anonymous due to publicity reasons
Young, Iris Marion. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1990. Print.
National Panhellenic Conference (NPHC) |
| Official Greek Life at the University of Michigan is comprised of four councils: Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) Panhellenic Association (Panhel) Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) National Panhellenic Conference (NPHC) |
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