are asians greek?
by albert chen and kory hui
Dean Wormer: Well, well, well. Looks like somebody forgot there’s a rule against alcoholic beverages in fraternities on probation! Otter: What a tool. Dean Wormer: I didn’t get that, son, what was that? Otter: Uh, I said, “What a shame that a few bad apples have to spoil a good time for everyone by breaking the rules.” Dean Wormer: Put a sock in it, boy, or else you’ll be outta here like shit through a goose.- National Lampoon’s Animal House
The Delta fraternity men in National Lampoon’s Animal House represent the stereotypes of fraternity men as academic failures, practical jokers and most of all, drunkards. However, the non-Greek community often forgets what fraternities and sororities do for the university’s students. Fraternities and sororities pride themselves on bringing the party to those who do not know how to party. Unfortunately, UC Berkeley’s department of Student Judicial Affairs often loses sight of what Greek life is really about and targets many of their ill-conceived policies towards Asian Greek houses.
Asian houses value many of the same ideals that “mainstream” houses value. The Greek life mandates that we uphold ideals such as leadership, scholarship, loyalty, self-reliance and honor. People who join Asian houses can testify to the fact that they offer legitimate brotherhoods and sisterhoods. Asian houses thrive upon grassroots work. They get the least traffic and the only reason why they are still around is because of incredibly strong individual commitments and their belief that their lifestyle is something that needs to be valued and passed on forever. Asian houses are usually located on the extremities of campus and during the school year, they are socially involved mostly with their own niche. Asian houses are unlike mainstream houses, who advertise parties with alcohol as their only source of publicity. For example, Zeta Beta Tau, a mainstream fraternity, advertised drinking every Thursday. Their house is so big that they had to sublet rooms out to Irish international students in the summer. These subletters drink frequently and consistently and the house clearly advertises these parties to underage students. Mainstream houses do not represent their organizations on Sproul or campus as much as Asian houses, whose members stand around on campus tabling, flyering and talking to strangers for two weeks every semester, but their houses thrive because they are allowed to email, flyer and telemarket incoming, naive freshman while Asian houses get fined for doing the same.
Asian houses have a long history with the university; ever since the early 1900s at UC Berkeley, there’s been an influx of Asian students during admissions. In general, house membership at campus has increased dramatically. However, with the creation of new houses, and with the creation of the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Council, not every house has been included in same Greek community. Membership in any council does not guarantee any benefits or significant advantages besides the requirement to pay Council dues. The fact that some Asian houses have chosen not to join a council allows the university to easily target and punish these houses.
This puts Asian Greek houses in the awkward position of being regulated by outside forces like the university, even though they are not fully recognized. As Jenny Jiang, National Ambassador for UCB Sigma Phi Omega, an Asian-interest sorority said, “I feel disadvantaged when it comes to support for our organization just because we are not a part of the Pan-Hellenic Council. Although we are recognized by the university, we don’t receive as much support. The university doesn’t give us the kind of legitimacy that it gives to other houses.” The Sigmas are required to join a Greek council by next year, pay council dues, but they do not expect the university to introduce incoming first-years to their house.
Sarah Suh, Vice President of Pledge Education for UCB alpha Kappa Delta Phi, an Asian-interest sorority said, “From personal experience, I feel [the university] targets us a lot, they have higher standards for us. If we don’t meet them they're a lot stricter. We're scrutinized and at the same time they don’t try and establish a better relationship with us… We've been going through a lot with the university; they've been keeping a really close eye on us. It just seems sometimes they are over critical. They always claim that they’ll meet us halfway and try to make things ‘sound’ better. For example, our last advisor was MIA whenever we needed to communicate. She wasn’t there to guide us. They don't take a special interest in our house. They just want to regulate us, more than other houses. They said we couldn't even have a carwash with another house. Other houses are having crazy parties and everyone is still… hazing.” aKDPhi is Panhellenic and part of the Interfraternity Council, but they have never been involved in new recruits’ touring process.
Indeed, in the aftermath of the recent alcohol moratorium and the administration’s crackdown, many Asian houses lost rights to assemble with each other because that would be a violation of “social probation.” Asian sororities were threatened with suspension by the university if they conducted any traditional activities with Asian-interest fraternities.
Last year, UC Berkeley enacted an alcohol moratorium as a result of bad behavior on the part of a few fraternities. Specifically, a hazing incident involving Pi Kappa Phi, a mainstream Interfraternity Council fraternity, and a fight that broke out on a ferry boat party sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi, an Interfraternity Council fraternity, led the University to take action. The administration decided to enact an alcohol moratorium to show all Greeks who was boss. But that is exactly where the university failed. They equivocated drinking with bad behavior and decided to regulate by investigating and targeting specific houses.
Reinforcing this false connection, the Daily Cal publicized the punishments of fraternities as if cracking down on drinking really counteracted hazing and “other issues.” On September 8, 2005, the Daily Cal printed a front-page article about Asian fraternity Alpha Xi Omega, which the university acknowledges to be an established fraternity, but not affiliated to a council or a student group. On September 13, 2005, The Daily Cal published an editorial called “Crying Over Spilt Beer,” with the accusatory lead, “The recent temporary suspension of Alpha Xi Omega demonstrated a few things: traditions die hard, drinking is an integral part of rush and some people don't know how to not get caught.” Was the real issue then, about not getting caught? Wasn’t it about ending hazing? Or was it about not drinking alcohol? The editorial solidifies the university’s policy of sidestepping around the real problem. The editorial continued, “The university knows that if it simply lifts the moratorium, the measure will have been a meaningless PR sacrifice at the media's altar…Bearing that in mind, the slow-and-steady policy that the administration has adopted is the best possible way to deal with a realistically untenable situation.”
As even the Daily Cal recognizes, the administration’s first concern is public relations and the liability of embarassment for bad behavior on the part of Greek members. The university wants to look pro-active in the public’s eye in light of all the news about a few Greek houses’ bad behavior. Governor Schwarzenegger already passed the anti-hazing bill, so hazing must not even be an issue. The moratorium then, was enacted purely for the sake of saving face. Consequently, Greek life suffered because of this beauracratic inability to deal with the crux of the problem. It was much easier for the university, with the help of the Daily Cal, to attack the legitimacy of a few houses in order to make it look like justice was served.
The Daily Cal staff missed the fact that the administration’s policy for this situation consisted of unfair meetings, zero compromise and absolutely no room for many Greek houses to regain their campus legitimacy. Asian Greek houses can best testify to this argument. The Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) panel meeting with Alpha Xi Omega consisted of an administrator literally telling the President of Alpha Xi Omega to “Shut up and sit down.” SJA then mandated the house to pay the university thousands of dollars in fines. SJA never again contacted the brothers after the last meeting, not even to collect the money that they supposedly owe for breaking rules. Since Alpha Xi Omega was not even considered a “house” by the university, then Student Judicial Affairs ought to have no jurisdiction over their parties. Threatening the brothers of Alpha Xi Omega with suspension and even expulsion for non-compliance, the university overstepped its boundaries and regulated anyways.
Other Asian-interest fraternities also suffered the wrath of the administration.The Alpha chapter of Pi Alpha Phi, a nation-wide Asian-interest fraternity lost their house and their charter. Members declined to be interviewed for this article for fear of even more backlash from the university. Asian-interest fraternity Lambda Phi Epsilon also faced harsh restrictions.
The Daily Cal editorial argued that “…all Greeks need to follow the rules for a few brief weeks or risk getting caught. And when they do get caught, there’s no need to complain. It's not classy either. Alpha Xi Omega’s members claimed it wasn't fair to be singled out. It's true that luck got the best of them-but that's no excuse for breaking an agreement that is fair, given the circumstances.” However, the moratorium was never an agreement, let alone fair. It was more a mandate that no one except the administration agreed with. In the early twentieth century, millions of citizens disagreed with the United States’ prohibition of alcohol. No one accused these dissenters of being “not classy” because eventually legislators realized that the prohibition fostered even more illegal alcohol production and gang activity. The moment that fraternities stop complaining about totalitarian-like investigations and punishments for trivial reasons, is the moment that UC Berkeley forfeits all its historical progress in the free-speech movement and the right of students to assemble.