Before anyone goes blaming someone for this action, realize that this really isn't necessary. Don't blame IFC, because they did what they did for the best interest of the fraternities. Don't blame Newspeak, because we didn't ask for an end to the corners. In fact, it should be noted that the purpose of the editorial in last week's Newspeak was not to get the Greek Corner removed from the paper. As stated, we want to cater to the community, since we are the student newspaper. If the Greek Corner is something the community wants, we'd be more than happy to have it. The purpose of the editorial was to encourage organizations to write better corners. Granted, it probably sounded a lot more like a gripe session, which it kind of was. But in the light of current events concerning the Corner, we feel it was warranted.
We were quite surprised when we got a press release from IFC stating that the presidents of the chapters voted to stop submitting Greek Corner entries. Rather than attempt to have organizations write better corners, the IFC decided to end them altogether. At worst, we figured, maybe the IFC would require that Greek Corners get reviewed by IFC before they get printed. We fully didn't expect to lose that section of the newspaper.
Unfortunately, while there have been some Greek Corners which do a good job of informing their members about ongonigs in the organization, there are a few which fail at this attempt. We realize that many organizations like the Corners for what they have turned into: a combination of in-jokes and generally fun, inconsequential stuff. We wish the Corners could be a little bit more significant.
There has been some confusion this past week about if Greek Corners were going to be printed or not. We tried to clear up as much of this confusion as we could; we sincerely apologize for any confusion or inconveniences these past couple of weeks have had on Greek Corners.
Newspeak will welcome press releases and announcements (as long as they are legitimate) from any organization on campus.
One final note: I can't help but think that this somehow contributes to the Greek/Non-Greek schism that so many people on campus complain about. Please realize that Newspeak is not anti-Greek; we're not trying to make life difficult for Greek organizations. We would, however, like to have responsible and intelligible submissions; we don't see why anyone would have a problem with this request. And for those of you who still think that Newspeak and Greeks don't mix: you might find it comforting to know that it was a Greek who wrote last week's editorial, as well as this one.