Thursday, September 16, 1982
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
ditooa
Greeks accused
of discrimination
Brotherhood, that magical, spiritual gift sup
posedly spreads with equal cheer throughout the
fraternity system, is at a premium at Michigan State
University these days.
Members of two houses located on the Lansing
campus have recently embroiled themselves in
situations that are far from brotherly. Specifically,
the houses have fostered discrimination on the basis
of race and sexual preference.
The first case involved the Michigan State
chapter of Delta Sigma Phi. Last fall, John Nowak
moved into the fraternity house, having been a
member for about half a year.
The chapter soon after learned that Nowak is
homosexual. He moved out on his own initiative
and the fraternity began suspension proceedings
against him.
The fraternity was bothered that Nowak's life
style was inconsistent with that of other members,
according to James Studer, the Michigan State
assistant vice president for student affairs.
After two separate considerations of the campus
policy about discrimination, a campus judicial board
found that, yes, John Nowak was discriminated
against, and yes, he should be granted his requiest to
regain full membership rights to Delta Sigma Phi.
The fraternity appealed both decisions, leaving Uni
versity President Cecil Mackey to resolve the matter.
Mackey overturned the board's decisions and said
policy did not cover "sexual preference," in
Nowak's case.
According to Studer, Nowak and members of the
campus gay and lesbian group may seek counsel out
side the university.
Although the case has severed all Nowak's friend
ships in the fraternity house, Studer said, he is
continuing to fight the president's decisions for the
"principle of the thing."
The second case was an offshoot of Greek Week.
The Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic at
Michigan State (with $1,000 from the student
government) sponsored a newspaper supplement
promoting Greeks and their activities, complete
with photos of each house's members.
In the Theta Chi picture was one additional
"member," named Willie. Willie was a statue - a
statue of a black boy with wide, white eyes.
Soon after the supplement was circulated on
campus, President Mackey called the chapter nat
ional president and the chapter was put on "univer
sity probation."
A black faculty member then brought the case to
the judical board - the same that had considered
John Nowak's petition. About four weeks ago, the
national Theta Chi chapter put the Michigan State
group on "indefinite probation" with specific
directions on how to amend its gross display of
racism. The student affairs office backed that action
with a one-year probation period of its own.
Studer said some campus members were so out
raged that "they wanted the chapter banned and
thrown off campus."
Nowak's case was de facto discrimination. The
Delta Sigma Phi house apparently accepted Nowak
as a member without knowing he is gay and then
blackballed for that reason.
"John got along with them quite well," Studer
said. Then, "all of the sudden they found out he has
this particular characteristic and they don't want to
associate with him. They didn't want to be viewed
as the 'gay frat.' "
The case of ''Willie" is less overt. The fraternity
immediately apologized for the picture and the
attitude implied by its content. While some mem
bers have maintained ignorance - that they didn't
realize the statue made a racist statement - Studer
said others were quite aware of the message sent.
As Studer said, the events are isolated incidents.
But at Michigan State, at least, they have been
happening with increasing frequency, he said.
Whether the cases are isolated or not, they don't
speak well for the entire fraternity system at
Michigan State or anywhere else, for that matter.
As the fraternities on this campus begin select
ing which pledges they are going to activate, let's
hope they display more true brotherhood than their
counterparts in Lansing.
No, what happened there isn't happening here,
but whenever a group actively selects and rejects
whojt will associate with, the opportunity for dis
crimination is present. The Michigan State stories
should serve as an example of how Greek brother
hood ought not to be practiced.
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If it's not poetry . . . what is i
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Shortly after William Kloefkorn's appointment as Ne
braska's State Poet, a UNL committee, comprised of
regents, alumni and administration, began a search of their
own for the nation's first Campus Poet Laureate.
After days of a grueling search, they selected Jacob K.
Inmula. This column is proud to have been selected as the
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Mike Frost
first showcase for the poetry that inspired the regents,
alumni and administration, and will inspire us all.
"Golly, What a Neat Place"
Boy, oh boy, UNL is neat.
It's got neat desks, it's got neat seats;
It's got neat bikes, it's got neat cars;
It's got neat kids that drink in neat bars;
It's got neat dorms, it's got neat Greeks;
It's got neat days, it's got neat weeks.
But Oh! Alas, someday I'll graduate
And that's a day I'll really hate.
But for now there's a smile on my face;
UNL, golly, what a neat place.
"Business College"
Oh, give me a home
Where accountants may roam
And Texas Instruments add.
Where seldom is heard
A Marxist-like word
And the boys all belong to some frat.
"Chancellor's Reply"
No, no; no, no.
No, no, no, no.
No, no, I said no.
Because, because, because, because
Because, because, because, because
Because, because, I said because.
"Greek Week"
Oh Henry Fonda died and Ingrid did too.
Forty Palestinians just killed a Jew.
But that won't bring a tear to my cheek
'Cause from Sunday to Saturday it's Greek Week.
A hundred people crashed in a plane,
Southern Japan got washed away by rain.
There's always some gripe for some to seek;
Not me, I'm smiling; it's Greek Week.
Continued on Page 5
Episcopalians disillusioned by changes
In New Orleans, the Episcopal Church is holding its
67th triennial general convention - an affair costing a
cool $50 million or so. There, about 1 1,000 Episcopalians
have gathered (and I do riot say this lightly, for I am one)
to do further damage to my church. Specifically, the con
vention has voted to decimate the hymnal - the collec
tion of songs authorized for placement in the pews. Hav
ing revised the Book of Common Prayer into mundane
irrelevance in 1979, those tho make decisions for the
church now have revised some songs and excluded others
from the hymnal - about 40 percent in all.
What has been happening to the Episcopal Church is
symptomatic of what has been happening to other main
line churches for at least the past decade: It has been
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losing allegiance. AealluD Poll has conclude that tha
church as experienced a 33 percent drop in allegiance
since the mid-1970s - with 3 percent of the population
calling itself Episcopalian then, and 2 percent now.
In the Episcopal Church, as in other mainliners, there
has been an undeniable drop in the enthusiasm of the
parishioners. Some have left the pews - some going to
other churches, some spending their Sunday mornings
at gardening or golf. Others have stayed - grimly, silently,
hanging on to a faith and a love for their church in bitter
definace of the waters that would wear them down and
push them out. Those waters have taken two essential
forms: (1) in many churches a heightened clericsl em
phasis on a sociological politics that many lay persons
find offensive, and (2) a rising failure of tin clergy to
provide the comfort that many parishioners seek for their
sinning souls.
Surely the church leaders have recognized that decline
in enthusiasm. Otherwise they would not have changed
the Prayer Book - making it "less offensive" adn "more
relevant" - three years ago; otherwise they would not
have changed the hymnal for the same reasons how.
Yet, in meaning not to offend, the church hierarchy has
offended meaning. Hear Cleanth L. Brooks, Gray Pro
fessor Emeritus at Yale and a lifelong Episcopalian, on
the reasons for the decline in Episcopal enthusiasm:
Another cause for "disaffection was the adoption in
1979 of a revision of the Book of Common Prayer, a
revision so thorough that it is properly not a revision at
all but in fact constitutes a new book. I am inclined to
think that the new Prayer Book has proved the worst
irritant of all, a weekly mortification of the spirit Sun
day after Sunday."
The revamping of the hymnal will run a close second.
The hierarchy sei up a commission to examine the
hymnal. Because "sexist," many favorites were approved
for being vaporized down the Episcopal memory hole.
Continued on Page 5