Greek shakeup

Recently, the All-Campus Judicial Council has ruled against Sigma Alpha Mu in connection with the theft of Christmas ornaments from Rochester neighborhoods, suspending the fraternity’s housing privileges. This decision, unfortunately timed so that SAM cannot live as a group next year, comes in the wake of a similar action which prevented Alpha Delta Phi from retaining their house. There has been growing concern lately among students, the administration and trustees about Greek life at UR. Unfortunately, there are some elements of Greek life that have marred an otherwise laudable reputation, most notably in the recent case of larceny. Indeed, fraternities have been under closer scrutiny by trustees and administrators due to the unfortunate actions of a few. A negative perception of Greek life is beginning to arise among the rest of the community because of isolated incidents such as these, which have received much attention from local media. We believe that the Greek community has and continues to contribute positively to this campus, devoting themselves to charitable causes. If anything, recent negative attention should encourage each individual fraternity to defend themselves against unfair stereotyping with continued charitable activities by upholding the values that lie at the foundations of these . This is a great opportunity for each fraternity to respond to the rulings against SAM and ADP in a way to show the rest of the Rochester community that, despite reprehensible mistakes that might have received a great deal of attention, Greek life will continue to make positive contributions to both the university community and the Rochester community.