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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Selectivity is an integral part of campus life that can not be eliminated
Letters to the Editor | 10/23/07
Posted online at 11:23 PM EST on 10/22/07
To the Editor:
I would like to comment on Alan Light's letter to the editor ("Fraternities do not deserve a place at Brandeis or anywhere else," Oct. 16 issue) regarding fraternities at Brandeis. Brandeis is my alma mater too, so hopefully that makes my differing opinion on the subject equally valid.
It seems unfair and somewhat hypocritical to say fraternities are one group that "has no place at Brandeis." If Brandeis is being true "unto its innermost parts" in its claim to be striving for diversity in its student body, then why are students who want to assert their individuality by aligning themselves with a fraternity being shunned?
Brandeis boasts about the ease of forming new clubs on campus. The bottom line is that no one is forcing a student to join a fraternity, just as no one is being forced to join any other ethnic, lifestyle, sports, political religious or academic group.
Students have the freedom to choose which clubs they will pursue. Likewise, no one is forcing Brandeis to endorse a fraternity. But to achieve diversity, the school must accept and make room for different interests.
I don't understand why it's "farcical" for the fraternities "to claim they'd like to "create solidarity among Jews on campus." Am I the only Jew who has experienced a sense of disconnectedness from my religion because
I do not meet or always agree with the criteria for acceptance into the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements? Also, a lack of solidarity among Jews is an issue that continues to plague our Jewish homeland, Israel.
Light talks about selectivity and its repugnance to both the University and American society. Then he makes a statement that selects out the "sort of person" who wants to belong to a fraternity, and rejects him as someone who is not right for Brandeis. These statements about selectivity and acceptance are not only hypocritical but unrealistic as well
I would like to comment on Alan Light's letter to the editor ("Fraternities do not deserve a place at Brandeis or anywhere else," Oct. 16 issue) regarding fraternities at Brandeis. Brandeis is my alma mater too, so hopefully that makes my differing opinion on the subject equally valid.
It seems unfair and somewhat hypocritical to say fraternities are one group that "has no place at Brandeis." If Brandeis is being true "unto its innermost parts" in its claim to be striving for diversity in its student body, then why are students who want to assert their individuality by aligning themselves with a fraternity being shunned?
Brandeis boasts about the ease of forming new clubs on campus. The bottom line is that no one is forcing a student to join a fraternity, just as no one is being forced to join any other ethnic, lifestyle, sports, political religious or academic group.
Students have the freedom to choose which clubs they will pursue. Likewise, no one is forcing Brandeis to endorse a fraternity. But to achieve diversity, the school must accept and make room for different interests.
I don't understand why it's "farcical" for the fraternities "to claim they'd like to "create solidarity among Jews on campus." Am I the only Jew who has experienced a sense of disconnectedness from my religion because
I do not meet or always agree with the criteria for acceptance into the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements? Also, a lack of solidarity among Jews is an issue that continues to plague our Jewish homeland, Israel.
Light talks about selectivity and its repugnance to both the University and American society. Then he makes a statement that selects out the "sort of person" who wants to belong to a fraternity, and rejects him as someone who is not right for Brandeis. These statements about selectivity and acceptance are not only hypocritical but unrealistic as well
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Michael Schakow '01, MA '01
posted 10/23/07 @ 1:17 PM EST
Tolerating fraternities would not give students "the freedom to choose which clubs they will pursue." Rather, clubs would have the freedom to choose which students they pursue. (Continued…)
Alan Light
posted 10/23/07 @ 2:52 PM EST
Although your well-thought-out comments are directed at my "letter to the editor", you should know that I never wrote anything of the sort.
"The Justice" extracted one (out-of-context) comment out of many I made in a discussion forum thread, added a "to the editor" salutation and falsely represented it as a "letter to the editor. (Continued…)
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