The Brown & White

Last Thursday three of my non-Greek friends and I went to the Delta Gamma/Alpha Tau Omega dance competition. We had all been last year and thought we knew what to expect. While we enjoyed the performances in the beginning, the dialogue of the emcees quickly ruined the experience.

The show got off on the wrong foot; within minutes, a female emcee was demonstrating an "Eiffel Tower" with her two male counterparts, head bob included. While this should have been embarrassing for all the emcees and the houses they are affiliated with, what bothered me most were the insults to specific people, Greek houses and minority groups that followed. To give you an idea of what was said by the emcees, here are a few quotes that I took down during the show: "I would wear a mask if I was in [Fraternity X]" "I don't know what the f*** that was, [Fraternity Y]" "Snack time is over" "Jack and Jill went up the hill to be a little too gay for comfort."

Calling an entire sorority fat, insulting anything that someone has worked hard on, or ever saying something as vulgar and demeaning as "what we've learned is all sorority girls want to do is hump each other throw their p****** around" is absolutely appalling.

While I am aware that one house has reprimanded two of the students in question, there are greater values at stake here. Not only should students never feel it is appropriate to offend individuals or groups within or outside of our community in such a horrific way, but students who witness such acts should not condone the behavior by remaining complacent. This is a call to action, to keep our community safe by speaking out against such unwelcome words. The emcees of the dance competition were representing not only their own houses, but also the whole Greek system and thereby the greater Lehigh student body. We must consider: do we want this behavior to be a part of our community? On April 16, 2009 I was embarrassed to be a student at Lehigh University; I hope I never have to feel that way again.