In regards to the letter that Lloyd Smith wrote in the Herald on Tuesday-

Fraternities at Western are MUCH more than just drunken men getting together to chase women.

Not only that but I refuse to believe that this Freshman individual thinks only fraternity men drink underage- living in PFT four years ago I saw way more drinking and trips to the hospital to take care of members of the athletics programs than I did of fraternity members. So please don’t try and pull out that line.

As for some very interesting facts about fraternities that Mr. Smith probably doesn’t know:

85% of the Fortune 500 executives belong to a fraternity.

40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were fraternity men.

100 of the 158 cabinet members since 1900 have been fraternity men.

Every U.S. President and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social fraternity was founded in 1825 have been members of a fraternity.

A U.S. Government study shows that over 70% of all those who join a fraternity/sorority graduate, while under 50% of all non-fraternity/sorority persons graduate.

Of the nation’s 50 largest corporations, 43 are headed by fraternity men.

And although he may not believe it, many of stars are Greeks, such as: Tim Mcgraw, Brad Pitt, Drew Carey, Chris Klein, Johnny Carson, Cindy Crawford, Michael Jordan, Horace Grant, Travis Tritt, George Bush, David Letterman, Bill Clinton, Anne Klein, Liz Claiborne, Jimmy Buffett, John Elway, Lou Gehrig, Martin Luther King,Jr., Ted Koppel, Neil Armstrong, Jane Pauley, Faith Daniels, John Goodman, and Candice Bergen. The list goes on and on.

Honestly, to make such a blatently abscure statement about fraternity men is extremely irresponsible.

The fraternities are the first ones that faculty and staff at the university contact when they need help with an event. The city calls on Greeks for the 10k every year not to mention other events like the home expo. Fratnerity and sorority alums contribute more to alumni donations than any other groups, (SO Mr. Smith if you don’t like something around campus don’t ask the alums to help fix things). Greeks contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to philanthropic events. Do we have fun doing it? YES, because we are with our friends and people that share a common bond with us. Our membership in our organizations is no different than a student athlete or member of bible study. We work together. Whether it is for a philanthropy, for our education, for a program that we put on, what ever the event, we choose to work together to accomplish things.

There are constructive ways to make a change in the world and sometimes you can do more with a lot of people than you can alone.

Mr. Smith may one day be looking at his boss and see some greek letters in his office, or he may meet a wonderful woman and notice some letters on her car, and he will have missed out on knowing some wonderful individuals because he assumes things about groups he doesn’t understand. Just one question, Mr. Smith, if only one of the 12 fraternities you visited during rush had an incident and you feel you can generalize what hundreds of thousands of men are, then does that I can assume that 1 in 12 Lloyds that I meet are generally have their foot in their mouths?

Sincerely,

Sarah Fahey

Alpha Gamma Delta member

Western Kentucky Alum