I was not certain whether Denise Napoli's Feb. 13 column, "Dance Party," was an attempt at campus satire or an earnest attempt to characterize greek life at Duke.
Either way, her column shortchanges greeks, independents and campus administrators alike.
If her goal is to prompt the administration and the student body toward the "recognition of fraternities and sororities as important institutions," writing a column that from the outset discounts the opinion of "bitter independents" and singles out "Iron-Fist Nan" does not seem to be an especially wise approach.
Greeks who are concerned about the future of these institutions at Duke should think seriously about brushing up on their public relations.
It is my guess and hope, after all, that most greeks would not echo Napoli's assertion that greeks are the only "people who matter."
If so, you should consider adopting self-imposed measures to improve relations with non-affiliated students, your housekeepers, and the rest of the wider Duke community.
The reality is that as suffocated as greeks may feel on a campus that seems to push fraternities under the rug, many non-affiliated students, believe it or not, think that weekly homage to the homogeneous beer-soaked dance party paradigm stifles our imagination of what social life can look like.
Although I am one of those marginalized students who thinks that social lifeblood at Duke is rich and flowing in the non-greek corridors, I confess that greeks are both philanthropically commendable and sociologically intriguing.
And yet, forward-thinking communities sometimes need to let go of the good ol' institutions we love so dearly to make room for better ways of life.
Thus, I would agree with Napoli's fictional "Frat Guy #2," who sees incoming President Richard Brodhead as inheriting a weighty baton regarding the future of students' social and residential life at Duke University.
David Hsu
Trinity '04
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