Although the administration had good intentions, the decision to add extra Greek events may actually be detrimental to increasing campus unity. Non-Greek student organizations were not informed of the additional events before they were planned, and this has created a problem with scheduling events on campus. There is little or no function space available for other organizations because it has been filled by the extra activities. As student groups, Greek Organizations have a right to use campus spaces, but when they hold events on campus that would typically be held in a Greek house, it takes away space from other student groups and freedom from the Greek organizations to use their houses for events.
Traditional Rush events are obviously expected, but adding extra events funded by the administration makes it seem like the administration considers students in the Greek system the only students on campus. Greek organizations already have a great deal of power and presence on campus; why should they be given more control then they already have? Giving that much control to one group is not my idea of what campus unity should be.
Smaller student organizations are more than likely interested in encouraging unity as well, but may not be able to afford to sponsor similar events. Perhaps a better solution would have been to create special funding for several events; each co-sponsored by a Greek Organization and a different non-Greek student organization. This would give different groups a chance to learn more about each other and work together putting on an event, and would give smaller organizations a chance to gain more visibility, and some extra money to put on events that might not otherwise be possible. It would also give the freshman class not only exposure to the Greek system, but to other ways to be involved at WPI.
I believe that campus unity cannot exist at WPI without first developing and encouraging tolerance between different student organizations and social groups. Tolerance will not be achieved by forcing the philosophy of one group on the entire community, but by giving everyone an equal amount of opportunity and space to express their views. Most importantly, tolerance is about accepting the views of groups outside your own., even if they are not the most powerful or popular group around.
Once we learn to accept the beliefs and presence of other groups and respect everyone's right to have a place, we can then work together to achieve true unity.
Sarah Walkowiak, Associate Editor