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By Britt Cole Staff Writer Bcole1@my.westga.edu
An article in last week's issue of The West Georgian created uproar in its first twelve hours of publication. The article "Join a Frat with Buck Futter, Jr." hit campus Wednesday morning in print form, with the online version following shortly after. The article had not even been published for twenty-four hours before it was the topic of many conversations and disputes amongst students and alumni.
The article was sarcastic, offensive and full of outrageous assumptions and malicious stereotypes in regards to the social Greek Life organizations present on the UWG campus. Those offended by the article include, but are not limited to, those who are involved in social fraternities and sororities on campus, students not involved in social Greek Life on campus, UWG Alumni and others who are not students of UWG that obtained the link to the online version through Facebook or other means.
Although the print article was published under a pen name, the author could easily be determined after reading the article. First and foremost, The West Georgian was not the author of the article, simply the publication in which it appeared. The author of the article, as published on the online version, is Jacob Lovell. Lovell's article appeared in the opinion section, thus allowing him to exercise his First Amendment right to free speech.
Although he was exercising his rights, many feel it could have been done in a more tasteful way.
"I don't think it's an article that's fair. Granted, it's an opinion, but it's only pointing the finger," said Shelley Donaldson, a philosophy major and non-Greek student at UWG, after reading the article, "I could say lots of horrible things about people who aren't in frats and ignore the good things, which is what this article is doing. They only look from one side, if they want to present an intelligent and good argument, then they would look at all the aspects. The article only shows their ignorance. It's a poorly written argument."
Donaldson continued, saying that she is "not in a sorority or anything, but [she does] think they can serve a really great purpose."
Lovell wrote the article as a result of getting his car keyed. Combined information from the article and a reward flyer distributed by Lovell insinuate that simply because his car was parked at the bottom of the stairs next to Boykin Hall, a "frat guy" is the obvious perpetrator. It is outrageous that such an assumption would be made towards a certain group when there are no limits to the types of people that walk through the parking lot and climb those specific stairs daily. Lovell has forgotten the fact that, due to the bookstore and McDonald's, those particular stairs are a high traffic area on a daily basis for any number of students. The fact that the car was close to Boykin is irrelevant and the location is not hard evidence against any fraternity members.
In addition to keying cars, Lovell accuses fraternities of "yelling racial slurs at celebratory crowds of black people, harassing people who question the validity of [their] organization, and hazing new members." It is easy to negate each of these accusations. His reference of yelling racial slurs is a misconstrued recollection of the events that took place on Maple Street between members of Kappa Alpha Fraternity and celebratory Obama supporters.
"They came up and were yelling, so we yelled back," said KA brother Eddie Palladino, "They were throwing bottles of urine at us. I am sure there were racial remarks from both sides."
The accusation that members of fraternities harass those who question them on their validity is greatly exaggerated without proper evidence. Yes, there may be people who get defensive over the organization they are involved in, but harassment is a completely different thing. Everyone has a right to have, and defend, their own opinion.
In regards to hazing, it is strictly forbidden at UWG and in the state of Georgia. Any organization, social fraternity or otherwise, will be immediately removed from campus if hazing occurs. Which social fraternities have been removed from campus for hazing? None.
Lovell's disgust towards fraternity and sorority members incorrectly places the blame. Many false and despicable statements were made in his article in reference to fraternity and sorority members. He refers to fraternity members as "over-aggressive alcoholics that have no sense of responsibility" that would "rape a passed-out drunk chick." These phrases, as well as many others found in the article, are not only untrue, but defamation of character towards all members of the Greek community worldwide. Another line is overstepped when referring to sorority chicks as "totally easy." Lovell even goes far enough to mention a particular organization and individual with whom he had a previous discrepancy.
UWG and Chi Phi Fraternity Alumni, Ben Musgrove, was appalled by the article.
"As a UWG alumni and Greek member I find this article highly offensive. West Georgia is supposed to be a university based on unity and growth as an individual in a personal environment," said Musgrove, "An article like this not only makes the Greek system look bad, but UWG as a whole. I support freedom of speech, but slander is a different matter. Names of organizations should not be listed, much less names of individuals. I wish the guy would have done research on fraternities before writing such blasphemy. I hope readers will honestly look at this article, and see that there is little truth, and that Greeks are a vital and useful part of any university."
Many other students, alumni and Greek affiliates had comments along the lines of the statement given by Musgrove.
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