As a member of the inter-Greek council executive board interviewing potential new board members, I asked applicants questions pertaining to their impressions, ideas and visions for the Greek community at Tufts. I commonly asked the question, "In your opinion, what is one of the major problems facing the Greek system at Tufts?"
Hearing the popular answer, "Well, the Daily hates us," made me cringe.
I have heard many frustrated students express that a negative Greek image can be attributed to the fact that Greeks are always "slammed in the Daily." Whenever I hear Greeks or non-Greeks say something to this effect, I always respond that unfortunately, the Daily does not make up its stories. I do not think the Daily hates us, and I'm a Greek!
As Public Relations Chair of the Inter-Greek Council for the past year, I have maintained the attitude that the Daily does not intend to maliciously slam Greeks. While last spring's headlines were less than desirable as representations of the Tufts Greek community's values, or of Tufts as a whole, I believed the Daily merely reported news.
In his interview, a potential applicant for my current position told me he had done some research and had not found a single article that I had written for the Daily about the positive aspects of the Greek system. I told him that he was absolutely correct. I have never written an article to "plug" the Greek system. In my term as Public Relations Chair, I have only submitted information to the Daily about positive Greek efforts and programming.
Having faith in the democracy of our campus media, I strongly (perhaps naively) believed that this information alone would contribute to positive press. Since this has not been the case, I look like an idiot and still hear "The Daily hates us" from Greeks and "The Daily hates you" from non-Greeks - which I must admit, is worse. In restoring the Greek image on campus, I do not think it is appropriate to try to mask negative press by personally writing an article emphasizing the positive aspects of the Greek system. Before I continue and list the abundance of recent Greek efforts which may or may not have been overlooked by the Daily, I must stop myself at the risk of being a hypocrite. If I do not personally believe "the Daily hates us," and that it is not my job to try to repair the Greek image by writing "positively spun" articles - why am I doing exactly what I have vowed never to do?
In the Tuesday, Nov. 15's Daily, a small shaded box on the bottom left corner of the page two nearly made me choke on my campus center salad. I was infuriated upon seeing the "From the Daily Archives" box on Nov. 15, 1988, "Thinking of increasing your pledge class? Think Again," about Sol Gittleman's efforts to limit the size of the Greek system. The article does not reference the current state of the Greek system or even the current recognition process for Greek new members. It is merely a Greek headline.
I cannot make the argument this information is false. I do not think the Daily included this information "because they hate us." However, I cannot help but question the Daily's motivation for printing the information.
I completely understand the decision not to report on positive Greek stories when there are other stories which take precedence. I find it inexcusable, though, to go to the archives for a Greek headline when there are plenty to be found.
The Daily's most recent selection regarding the Greek system is disappointing and insulting. It has become harder for me to maintain my stance that 'the Daily does not hate us.' Especially when, despite the abundance of Greek activities this semester: Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, sororities participation in the Breast Cancer Walk, participation in Halloween on the Hill, a Fall Semi-Formal, and various other philanthropy projects and community outreach programs, the Daily uses ink to reprint a scandalous headline from the eighties.
Luckily, it is not 1988. As a Greek Community, we look forward to spring recruitment where we will "increase our pledge class" with bright men and women. They will come to spring recruitment - if for no other reason than to find out what we are really about (perhaps because they've only read scandalous headlines). They will learn that Greeks are some of the finest leaders on the Tufts campus whose efforts contribute to the Tufts community, local Medford and Somerville communities, and to the global community.
