“Fraternities at Western are useless.”

Last Thursday night, the goat-boy, Jim Breuer, performed at DUC. I was in line, but turned away when the theater’s capacity reached its max. Hundreds of others just like me were turned away. Meanwhile, up the Hill, fraternities and sororities held their “Stomp” to a less than capacity crowd at Van Meter, which holds more people than DUC.

So why wasn’t the goat-boy at Van Meter where more could see him? I will tell you. Frat Attack. Yes, similar to a heart attack, but making it worse is the fact that a frat attack can be avoided, but never is.

Fraternities at Western are useless. They are nothing more than drinking clubs. They hold parties, trash campus and make the moral-minded sick to our stomachs.

You say they do philanthropic activities. But when asked about one of these activities, a frat boy (or fraternity brother) will say, “We have to do three (or how ever many the case may be) philanthropic activities per year.” It’s never “We get to…” or “We want to…” Fraternities care nothing about these events and only do the bare minimum, never going above or beyond.

How about having them curb underaged drinking on the Western campus as a philanthropic event? The school, student body and community would all benefit.

But alas, these fraternities actively promote underaged drinking, with older members giving or selling alcohol to younger ones. I participated in rush, but did not pledge this year. The second night, a drunken (fraternity) alumni approached me and informed me that college wasn’t about studying, class and grades, but about drinking alcoholic beverages and getting women. (He used a different word for the latter.)

At the time, I thought this was a joke. But to the average frat boy, this is no joke. It is life.

Western fraternities should clean up their acts or get off my campus!

Lloyd Smith

Franklin freshman

Herald should mention all options

In Thursday’s Herald there was an article titled “Many Paths to God.” The article was good and encouraged people to be aware of diversity, but there are other organizations on campus that I feel could have been recognized.

There is another Christian ministry on campus known as H.Y.P.E Ministries (Helping Young People Endure). We meet on Thursdays at 6 p.m. There are also two extensions of this ministry, a women’s group, Women of Virtue that meets on Tuesdays, and a men’s group that meets on Wednesdays.

Also, there is the Baptist Student Union that is active on campus, and several other religious organizations that meet.

I know the Herald may not have been able to do a whole article describing in detail each organization, but you could have at least mentioned each group that is on campus. Maybe someone is looking to find that spiritual place where they belong. If the Herald could just mention all of the options that are available, someone could make the greatest decision of their life.

Mandi Wansley

Nashville freshman