Editor,
I am writing in response to the article by Caleb Fort about fraternities in Wednesday's Daily Lobo. In this article, one of the people interviewed, Bryan Deshayes, explained how great for him it was to join a fraternity. After this explanation, Deshayes described two cases of rape, the hazing of a blind student, the suspension of three fraternities and the probation of another - and there are only 11 fraternities - as "a few problems."
To me, these seem to be major crimes, but to Deshayes they are incidents that make headlines and not as important as a couple thousand dollars. I would like to ask the person raped and the blind student who was hazed how much the price of their integrity is.
This discussion is not about how good or bad one particular organization is, nor is this discussion against fraternities or sororities or about how each of us may like them or not. This is about well-financed systems that allow, directly or indirectly, certain behavior. This is about those fraternities that tape swastikas to people's cars, discriminate against minorities and women, then don't get punished.
Why does it seem so hard for many Americans to become socially active without having to reach out for a well-structured group that does it for them? Why can't many Americans make friends and have fun without signing into a group that offers this? We can discuss the answers for this later. The point is that when position and respect within a group depends on putting one's integrity at risk in order to be accepted, then we may see a crossing of the line into the realm of illegality and immorality.
Fraternities and sororities help the community and raise money for charities. This should be encouraged and supported. However, rules have to be set, and people have to be ready to act upon the criminal actions of any group or person - no matter what.
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Sebastian Pais
UNM student
