Letter to the Editor: Greek depiction in The Oakland Post

Editor’s note: The Oakland Post regrets the decision to run the “Note to Self” comic featured on last week’s “Mouthing Off” satire page. During this semester, we have covered Greek life in stories chronicling sorority bid day, Oakland’s TKE fraternity’s positive response to a national scandal, the Greek council’s reaction to the Yik Yak app, and a “Photo of the Week” featuring a Zeta Sigma Chi fundraising event. The Post has and will continue to provide objective coverage of all campus organizations and to champion their contributions to the community.

Dear Oakland Post Editor,

After reading the most recent edition of your newspaper I was very disappointed in the way you choose to depict Greeks in your distasteful cartoon. I do not disagree with students’ individual opinions and perceptions of campus activities and their choice to express it. Greeks are put under a constant microscope because public forums such as movies and the news depict these organizations to be drunken, unfocused and shameful organizations that do nothing but harm to campus life. 
 
What upsets me the most is not how students choose to express these feelings, it is your choice as an editor and as a team to release real letters of a real organization on campus to depict this image. Alpha Sigma Phi, the organization in your cartoon, is not even a chartered fraternity of this campus. They are brand new, starting fresh and have been struggling to get where they are today. They will finally be joining OU as an official chartered Greek organization this year and they are welcomed into this community with scrutiny from a fellow organization who has chosen to tear them down.

I hope in the future you take a lesson from the movies. Never once have they depicted a real national fraternity or sorority in their movies or TV shows. I can only hope that in the future you choose to have the same respect for the organizations who work hard to gain your respect. Perhaps in future editions instead of bashing a community of leaders that make up memberships in many SAFAC organizations (including your own), you can choose to uncover the truths behind the benefits of Greek membership. 

 
Best of Luck,
Erin Chatten