Op-Ed
Fraternity Veep’s Take: Brothers and Sisters
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By Allen Miller
In response to Katie Engelhart’s article, “Hey There, Sister,” Opinion, Nov. 13.
I’d like to start of by saying that I do appreciate Katie Engelhart’s opinion on the subject of Greek life. I believe that she brings up some great points and critically assesses some of the flaws in our Greek system and in the general Greek community. She represents the Greek system’s harshest critics and does so in a graphic and provocative manner. What transpired that night in Collegetown was horrendous and absolutely inexcusable. As the executive vice president-elect of the Interfraternity Council, I would like to apologize on behalf of the entire Greek community for the trauma she went through. I don’t think there is anyone among us who would condone such rude behavior.
Yet Engelhart’s method of drawing this to our attention, namely her harsh opinion article last Thursday, is both immature and offensive. Her logic is clouded, her argument biased and her criticism so broad and undisciplined that her article becomes more about personal failings than any failings within the Greek system. Viewed in that light, Engelhart’s rant almost becomes mildly entertaining. I sincerely doubt that Engelhart’s use of obscene language at Collegetown Pizza brings out her “maturity and poise.” Her bash of, or so called “sisterly advice” for, the Panhellenic Council serves only to cause further division and increase the implied rift between Greeks and non-Greeks. And I highly doubt that her belligerent attitude is the best way to give her sister “a lesson in self-assertiveness.” In trying to humiliate the Greek system, Engelhart succeeds only in humiliating herself.
Clearly our Greek system has suffered from flaws and setbacks over the years. We have failed time after time and the stereotypes we assume along with the negative publicity we receive have never helped. It is a sad but honest truth that the faults of a few lead to the demise of many. Yet at the same time, Greeks have brought much to this campus. From philanthropy to student government to alumni giving, Greeks get things done. And while I can’t speak for the Panhellenic Association or for the Multicultural Greek Letter Council, I do know that the current IFC executive board has worked tirelessly to better our system, to create a more unified community and to address the very issues that Engelhart brings up. Myself, President-Elect Eddie Rooker and the next IFC executive board are going to continue to do everything within our power to bring about positive change.
So I ask Engelhart, and anyone else who is reading this, to keep an open mind — to exchange the image of the stereotypical frat boy for that of the responsible fraternity man — and to open the lines of communication so that we can build back a sense of community on this campus. And if this is too much to ask for, I urge everyone to remember that we can disagree without being disagreeable. We can learn to fight the forces of fragmentation with the vision of common cause. A new breeze is blowing through this campus and better things are yet to come.
Allen Miller ’11 is executive vice president-elect of Cornell’s Interfraternity Council, which governs fraternities on campus.
Who does this kid think he
Who does this kid think he is? One week after being elected he gets on a pedestal and starts berating critics? Wow. Some leader. He goes on to name-call Katie Engelhart in exactly the same "immature and offensive" demeanor in which he's writing against. The kid calls up baseless claims that her argument isn't clear or pointed (in which it OBVIOUSLY is).
How is it obscene to tell two pranksters to fuck off? For asserting a woman's right to confrontation, Katie Engelhart gets labeled immature and lacking poise? This kid tries to turn the tables and make those poor, poor frat boys that victimized a girl on a street corner (let's be glad they didn't bring her to an alleyway) and make it HER FAULT that she stood up for her rights to privacy and peace. The Greek system and Cornell needs more strong-willed, confident young people like Katie Engelhart, to assert their rights, and to tell those that fuck with them to "fuck off".
Her article is meant to show that the Greek system is a huge farce that people will themselves to believe in--impressionable people like Allen Miller--and then come to realize they're nothing more than a bunch of people setting rules for themselves, buying friends, and using every ounce of their energy to believe the Greek system's (and their chapter's) sanctimony.
To Allen Miller--grow up.
To the IFC--you need to look long and hard at who you've just elected. Maybe it's time to hold people accountable for their actions. This kid speaks for nobody but himself. As a fraternity man myself, this kid does not represent me, my chapter, or any other fraternity man that I know. He is a basher, an immature youth that groundlessly bashes people for disagreeing with the bullshit he espouses. A leader? Never.
This incoherent attack on a
This incoherent attack on a Sun columnist is oddly out of place in the opinion pages. It should really have been a letter instead of a standalone column, because the authors lose their way after the first 50-100 words or so.
I think Katie Engelhart's column was spot on. As a former sorority sister at Cornell, I was deeply disappointed in the lack of substance afforded to the members by each institution. I found practicing for the sophomore year rush skit to be humiliating, and was hazed in my freshman year, regardless of Panhel's rules. Ultimately I found many other more intellectually stimulating activities at Cornell, and by the time I was a senior, few of my friends from these activities knew I was even in a sorority. Today I don't have any mention of the sorority on my resume.
Instead of verbally abusing Engelhart in the pages of The Sun, leaders of the Greek community should take a step back and absorb what she has to say. She makes a great point. If the Greek community thinks it is anything more than a giant drinking club, it is kidding itself. Major changes need to be made if the Greeks want to be taken seriously as a student community.
Miller Says "Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Heads, Girls"
It in no way shocks me that the powers that be in the Greek system sent a man to do a woman's job. Well in reality they had someone write a piece that attempted to take a more serious and less casual tone yet says nothing of substance. They attempted to make a "young lady" seem emotional, seem illogical, and seem stupid. Katie Engelhart's piece was opinion. And Allen Miller conceded that while it was in fact opinion, she brought up some good points. So why doesn't he ever speak to these supposedly "immature and offensive" claims. He only calls her a fool. Now that is what I call an immature response from an official body. If we are being completely honest with ourselves (we being the Cornell community), then we are aware that fraternities and sororities are governed by very different rules. From the first time a freshman female is made aware of the Greek system at Cornell, she is faced with the fact that women are not treated as equals to men. Sounds like Allen Miller didn't want to face the fact that woman are treated as second class citizens within a system he represents. I guess Miss Engelhart got fined for speaking her pretty little mind.
i came across this article
i came across this article then read katie englehart's, which this was a response to. after reading both, the approach by the exec vp elect seems a little ridiculous.
what the future VP does not seem to acknowledge is that this isn't some kind of "bad seeds" thing, this is a systematic issue; a fraternity is encouraging, supporting and ritualizing this behavior, its not just two asshole guys pranking someone that the author assumed were frat guys-- they WERE frat guys, and were acting as a result of fraternity ritual. disgusting.
thats an issue that needs to be addressed on a systematic level, not just by condoning the behavior of two specific people and acting as though they're acting independently and creating a "bad rap" for everyone else.
A lame defense of the Greek system.
I agree with all of the comments above; Mr. Miller's response to Ms. Englehardt's legitimate criticisms of the Greek System is lacking in logic and perspective. The idea that it is Englehardt who "humiliated herself" in her article is laughable; I'd love to see Miller try to explain his naive commentary in a future job interview.
As an alumnus and a former fraternity member, I'm sad to say it, but the Cornell Greek System is broken beyond repair. The stereotypical frat boy is not a stereotype; he is a reality. The responsible fraternity man? I'd challenge every member of the Cornell Greek system to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask himself if he's treated women in a way he'd want his little sister to be treated. It is not the few who give a bad name to the many; rather, it is the few who have failed to right the ship. For my part, I wish I would have done things differently at Cornell, but instead of being an part of an organization that taught me important life lessons, I now find that all I learned from my fraternity experience was how to be a boy, not a man.
Insults
Miller's article is shameful. The broad, generic apology is followed by a string of insults directed at Englehardt. It does not disprove her original article or present a different perspective; it simply insults her. I write this as a male, and as someone who really has no skin in this game. In fact, I started reading Englehardt's article wanting to hate it, but in fact, it was an excellent article. Miller has only hurt, not helped, his cause. (Or more accurately, he's exposed his cause as a dishonorable one).