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Greeks, Part I
Daily Nebraskan editorial policy is the
product of an editorial board consisting of
Editor-in-chief Jim Gray, Managing Editor
Tom Lansworth and News Editor Randy
Beam. Individual editorials represent the
views of the writer but not necessarily those
of all editorial board members.
Last year's Cornhusker contained an article
bemoaning the creation of a new minority on
campus-the Greeks. According to
information received this week, however,
members of fraternities and sororities at UNL
may not be as much in the minority as was
thought.
Basing enrollment figures on last year's
total, admittedly somewhat low, and basing
Greek membership estimates on figures given
by fraternity and sorority advisor Jane
Anderson, it appears one out of every five
undergraduate students at UNL is Greek.
Of a total undergraduate enrollment
estimated at 16.900 (last year's fiqure:
16,738) and an estimated Greek enrollment
of 3,400, the Greeks score an apparent 20.1
per cent of the total undergraduate
enrollment.
Of those 3,400 Greeks, 2,000 are members
of fraternities. In an estimated male
undergraduate student body of 10,300 (last
year's figure: 10,234), this represents 19.4 per
cent.
The 1,400 sorority members, in an
estimated female undergraduate student body
of 6,600 (last year: 6,504) are 21.2 per cent
of the total.
These figures which include only
undergraduate students, only begin to tell the
story, however. During the past few years,
fraternities and sororities nationally have
decreased enormously in members. Only
recently has the trend to decreased
membership reversed itself nationally, taking
again an upward turn. The total number of
fraternities and sororities on most campuses is
greatly decreased from 10 years ago.
At Nebraska, however, this is not the case.
Membership in fraternities and sororities at
UNL has remained remarkable steady in
contrast to the national trend. According to
Anderson, membership has reached a plateau
which has held for about the past five years.
This unchanging membership trend can also
be viewed in figures from Rush Week, the
culmination of membership activities this year
and in years past.
This year, employing both open rush and
pledging during the summer as well as formal
Rush Week, the fraternities at UNL pledged
412 men by the end of Rush Week. This
compares with 400 pledged at that time one
year ago. It represents a slight increase over
the past few years.
Using only formal Rush Week activities, the
sororities pledged 376 women this fall,
compared with 380 last year. These figures
are fairlv even with results of rush weeks the
past few years.
UNL has not lost as many Greek houses as
other campuses have recently. In the past
three years the campus has lost two
fraternities-Zeta Beta Tau and Pi Kappa Phi.
There are currently 26 fraternities affiliated
with UNL, 25 of which have chapter houses
and 25 of which belong to the Interfraternity
Council.
In the past three years, two
sororities-Sigma Delta Tau and Delta
Zeta-have left UNL. There are currently 16
sororities, all of which have chapter houses
and belong to Panhellenic.
Compared to many campuses nationally,
where fraternities and sororities are running at
less than half their former strength, the UNL
Greeks have weathered the storm remarkably
well.
All this success in the Greek system makes
the fate of the single floundering sorority,
Sigma Kappa, seem all the more ludicrous. It
seems truly sad that an apparently-hardy
system was not able to save the house in the
interest of strengthening the entire system.
In the future, the system must make a
definite attempt to prevent such disasters
from happening if it plans to prosper and
continue its leadership. It is the responsibility
of every individual within the system to solve
the problems inside and outside the house
which have plagued the Sigma Kappas.
Only when these problems no longer exist
can the Greeks claim total success.
Jim Gray
Galahad
Goodheart's
salvation
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against WAR.
STY
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Once upon a time there was a
young man named Galahad
Goodheart, who was kind and noble
and good. In fact, Galahad Goodheart
was so kind and noble and good that
he almost seemed to glow, particularly
in the dark. ,
Just watching Galahad pass by
made people feel better inside. Babies
stopped crying at the very sight of
Galahad. Children stopped crying at
the very sight of Galahad. Children
stopped squabbling. And grown-ups
would shake their heads and sav to
each other: "Isn't that a fine young
man!"
And then they'd suddenly decide to
visit Aunt Hesther in the hospital or
make out 'a check to The Mbongan
Vegetarian Miisionary Fund or do
some other good deed they'd long
been putting off. It was uncanny.
But, then, kindness and nobility
and goodness are contagious, as we all
know. By hearsay, anyway.
So young Galahad passad glowingly
through life, spreading a small share of
kindness, nobility and goodness as he
went. But, of course, that wasn't
enough.
"It isn't enough to be kind and
noble and good,", he said to himself
thoughtfully. "One must also fight
hatred, intolerance and badness." So
he did.
The baddest thing he could think of
was war. So he decided first to fight
against that. Ha went on peace
marches and shouted peace slogans
and sang peace songs and made peace
placards and . . . But the President and
the Congressmen and the Generals
didn't seem to pay him much heed.
"What's the matter with them?"
said Galahad with a frown. 'Why can't
they be kind and noble and good like
me?"
Also bad, he decided, were the
giant corporations. So he joined
Naptr'i Raiders and provtd
conclusively to great public acclaim
that giant corporations sometimes cut
corners in their search for a buck. But
the giant corporations didn't seem to
mend their ways.
"What can you expect from soulless
money-grubbers," cried Galahad with
a scowl.
Bad, too, of course, was pollution.
You couldn't save the world without
mopping up pollution. , So Galahad
printed up some leaflets pointing out
how SockO detergent was wiping out
sockeye salmon in the Sokkup River.
And he handed them out to ladies
entering the SockO Supermarket.
Imagine his horror when the very
same ladies emerged with Sock-O
detergent in their shopping bags. It
was too much. "You stupid idiots," he
shouted at them. "Don't you want to
save the world?"
There were so many bad things to
tfcht, GsSoftad hardly had tlma to
sleep. Every day was one long fight. If
he wasn't fighting the hated generals,
corporations and polluters, he was
fighting the disgusting litterbugs, the
despicable defenders of the draft and
the loathsome bigots.
In fact, it was in a fight with a bigot
armed with a pick handle that Galahad
got the shuffling limp and the snarling
scar that tended to frighten small
children-even in the daylight.
Just watching Galahad pass by,
screaming this slogan or that, changed
people inside. At the very sight of him,
babies howled, children cowered and
grown-ups glowered at each other and
went off to kick their cats. It was
uncanny.
But then, hatred, intolerance and
badness are contagious, as we all
know. Mostly by experience.
Moral: If you'd save the world, for
starters save yourself.
tcopyfitfnt Chronlcl Publithlng Co. 1972)
page 4
daily nebraskan
friday, September 8, 1972