Newspaper Page Text
September 26, 1984/TKe Maroon Tiger/Page 2B
Where Are The Greeks?
By Mitchell Smith
Editor of ‘Torch’
The Morehouse catalogue
states that Five Greek-Letter
fraternities have chapters on the
campus: Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa
Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi
Beta Sigma, and Alpha Phi
Omega, a service fraternity.
However, in the past few years
these fraternities have been
having problems staying on
campus. In this two part article
on the Greek-Letter fraternities
of Morehouse College, part one
will deal with the ad
ministration’s viewpoint on:
Morehouse’s Greek-Letter
fraternities; how well these
fraternities are living up to their
purpose of existence; and what
results when these fraternities do
not meet the stipulations of the
College. (The following informa
tion was supplied by Raymond
Crawford, assistant Vice Presi
dent for Student Affairs.)
The administration believes
that “there is a lot of good that
the fraternities’ can offer to
student life on campus.’’ The
administration feels that there
are some services that frater
nities can offer. Among these
are: 1) providing tutoring service
to fellow students; 2) organizing
a campus beautification cam
paign; and 3) provide substantial
feedback to the administration
concerning college life and
college services. However, in the
WhyMe?
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American Heart Association
t
past few years, the administra
tion feels that “four of the five
Greek-Letter fraternities have
not lived up to their purpose as
stated in their charter.” Now that
the administration’s general
viewpoint on fraternities has
been given, this article wiil now
address the fraternities that have
not lived up to their purpose.
When asked “Why are Alpha
Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi,
Omega Psi Phi, and Alpha Phi
Omega off campus?” Dean
Crawford responded, “Before I
explain to you why they have
been suspended let me explain
the actions taken by this office
(Student Affairs) to life their
previous suspension. At the
beginning of last school year,
several of the fraternities were
on inactive status due to
previous violations of College
fraternal regulations. We were
apprised prior to Homecoming
of each fraternity’s situation and
their request to become active
for the Homecoming Game. This
office, in cooperation with the
regional and national fraternity
offices conducted extensive
coordination to lift these
suspensions prior to the
Homecoming Game. Being a
fraternity man myself, I
recognize the importance of
Greek Fraternity involvement
and of all the joy of being an
active fraternity man. After ex
tensive coordination with each
(Cont. from Page 5B)
knowledge of the actual doc
trine of the nation of Islam
knows this to be a false distortion
of the reality.
In an effort to instill pride in his
histeners, Farrakhan teaches that
the Black man and woman were
the original people on the earth.
He stresses unity and collec
tive economies among Black
people and Black businesses as a
way to pull themselves out of
their generally miserable condi
tion. The media has traditionally
viewed Black collectivism and
Black pride as being anti-white.
Consequently, Farrankhan has
been attacked because of the
paranoid misinterpretation of
the white media. An example, is
the alleged death threat that
level of fraternity organization,
(including national head
quarters), all of the fraternities
were placed on active status
during October 1983, prior to the
Homecoming Game.”
An Inter-Fraternity Council
was formed in Spring 1984 so that
the fraternities that wanted to
increase their membership
could do so. This council con
sisted of a Coordinator (Dean
Crawford), representatives from
each fraternity, and the fraternity
faculty advisors. This council
outlined the College’s fraternity
rules, administrative pledge
procedures, and established a
pledge time frame.
The first fraternity to be
suspended due to violations of
the College’s regulations was
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. “This
suspension was a result of exten
sive hazing of pledgees on the
part of several Alpha members,”
said Dean Crawford.
Omega Psi Phi fraternity was
the next fraternity to be
suspended. As quoted from
Dean Crawford, “This suspen
sion was due to the extortion of
larger sums of money from
pledgees by fraternity
members.”
Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity was
suspended next. Unlike the
other fraternities, the Kappas’
suspension came after the com
pletion of their pledge period.
On this suspension Dean Craw-
Farrakhan made against Black
journalist Milton Coleman (the
reporter who was responsible for
the Jesse Jackson “hymie" quote
in the text of the speech in
question.) Farrakhan specifically
urges Blacks not to harm
Coleman. He says that the Black
community should ostracize
Coleman and that God will
punish him. These are admitted
ly harsh words, but they are
hardly a death threat. Farrakhan
is a religious teacher who uses
the straight forward language of
scriptural metaphor to get his
point across; and, as a result, his
words are misconstrued by the
headline - hungry press. To put it
simply, Farrakhan is the furthest
thing in the world from a
bloodthirsty mad man.
There have been other
ford stated the following: “A
regional Kappa administrator
reported that the Kappas at
Morehouse had not submitted
the funds for those students who
had pledged. The Kappa Alpha
Psi fraternity members could not
explain the location of the
missing funds nor the details
surrounding them. Several days
later the funds were forwarded
to the local fraternity regional
director. During our coordina
tion with the regional office it
was requested that the Kappa
Alpha Psi fraternity be placed in a
suspended status.” Based on this
request by their regional office,
the fraternity was placed in a
suspended status for violating
the College’s rules governing
fraternity activities.
Alpha Phi Omega fraternity
was also suspended due to a
request from their national
headquarters. Their suspension
was due to extensive hazing of
their pledgees in the spring of
1983. This, evidently, was an
“underground line” that was
divulged by a written complaint
forwarded to the national office.
The question that is on the
minds of many students is,
“When will the suspension be
lifted and when will they have a
pledge line? At the present time,
the only fraternity that is not on
suspension is Phi Beta Sigma. The
Sigmas are the only fraternity on
Morehouse’s campus eligible to
statements taken out of context
which have been used to show
Minister Farrakhan in a bad light.
Whether the misconceptions
about him are the result of a
deliberate conspiracy is an
academic question which can
only be left to speculation. The
fact of the matter is that the name
Farrakhan strikes fear in the
hearts of the white community as
well as in many Blacks. However,
if placed in the proper historical
perspective, Farrakhan,may well
be the most effective Black
spokesman of his day. Farrakhan
inarguably has the talent for
shocking the American public
while at the same time raising the
level of consciousness among
Black people. We must
remember that Farrakhan was
repudiated by the government
have a pledge line. The suspen
sions of the other fraternities are
“for an indefinite period of time,
pending a review by a committee
established by the Vice President
for Student Affairs,” said Dean
Crawford. While on suspension
the fraternities cannot conduct
any business or participate in any
activities on or off campus. Also,
a suspended fraternity’s
members are not to wear any
fraternity paraphernalia on cam
pus.
For all who are interested in
pledging, the rules governing
pledging of fraternities at
Morehouse is outlined in The
Student Handbook on pages 23-
25.
In a closing statement Dean
Crawford stated, “...We feel that
there are many functions which
Greek-Letter organizations can
perform here at Morehouse.
Based on the history of frater
nities operating at Morehouse,
there is an obvious requirement
for an educational program
explaining the roles and respon
sibilities of the fraternities... We
are also aware of the concern
that fraternity members and
future pledgees have, and the
desire to get the suspension
lifted at the earliest date.”
NOTE: Part two will deal with the
individual fraternities and their
views on their past, present, and
future. Look for it in the next
issue of The Maroon Tiger.
for exercising his constitutional
right to free speech and not
because of any immoral or
criminal act. It is also interesting
to note that Black leaders of the
past such as Marcus Garvey,
Malcolm X, and Martin Luther
King also struck fear in the hearts
of the white establishment of
their day, and drew harsh
criticism from both media and
the conservative Black
leadership. These men proved to
be the guiding voices of .their
people. Minister Farrakhan is
very good company to say the
least. Even if you do not agree
with this appraisal of the
Minister’s stature, you owe it to
yourself to hear him speak for
yourself. Don’t let another great
Black leader have to die before
you can appreciate his work.
Re-Evaluating Farrakhan
Washing Machines At The ‘House’
After almost a year of hard
work and determination, the
laundry room at Morehouse
College has finally been
equipped with efficient washing
machines. Vice President of
Student Affairs, Robert Williams
was extremely pleased when he
was informed that five new
General Electric washing
machines and five new General
Electric dryers were being in
stalled in the basement of Unit 5,
Mr. Williams worked diligently
on behalf of the student body to
acquire the machines.
The push for new machines
began shortly before Thanksgiv
ing last year when Quinton
Parker, then Freshman Class
Student Court Representative,
was displeased with the condi
tion of the laundry room and
decided to do something about
it. “I went to Vice President
Williams seeking advice about
alleviating this problem,” Parker
said. "I was taught that the best
way to confront an issue of this
nature was to circulate a petition
throughout the student body in
order to prove that there was a
student demand for new
machines.” Parker said he
returned to Vice President
Williams’ office approximately 3
days later with a petition con
taining almost 400 names. Parker
made special mention of the fact
that more than 300 of the signees
were members of the class of
1987.
“After the petition was turned
in, I was in Gloster Hall just about
every day hoping to make some
sort of progress on the issue,”
said Parker. “I found Vice Presi
dent Williams to be very con^
cerned and cooperative in ac
quiring the machines,” he
continued. Mr. Parker an
nounced at the final Freshman
Orientation last year that the
administration had approved
plans to install new machines by
the beginning of the next school
term.
"I am so glad that our new
machines have arrived,” Parker
stated with a sigh of relief. “Now
the students will have an alter
native to paying the exorbitant
fees charged at the laundry
rooms in our vicinity.”
The installation of the new
machines will be completed in
the very near future; however,
since the student laundry fee was
extracted from the college
budget quite a few years ago, a
nominal fee is required in order
to keep the machines main
tained.