Greek Life

KJVJohn316
Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:01:35 +0000

Wilmingtonwave, you bring up a good point, you said “I also see a huge difference between underage drinking and breaking the honor code–which I can assure you people take very seriously.”

Ok, so lets see, here is the WFU Alcohol Policy, directly from their website: "…All individuals must be at least 21 years of age to consume alcoholic beverages on Wake Forest University campus.

It is unlawful to use identification fraudulently or to allow another person to use one’s own identification fraudulently to obtain alcoholic beverages illegally. The use of fake IDs is strictly prohibited.
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Failure to comply with the WFU alcohol policy and applicable laws, subjects the individual to judicial action within the University and/or in a court of law.

Students are responsible for adhering to WFU policies/federal and state laws while attending all social functions both on and off campus."

That was about the alcohol policy, now the Honor Code: “When a student signs an application for admission to Wake Forest, they agreed to live by the honor system at Wake Forest. In specific terms that means that you and every other student have agreed not to deceive (lie to) any member of the community, not to steal from one another, not to cheat on academic work, not to plagiarize academic work, and not to engage in any other forms of academic misconduct. It means that we can trust each other, and that we willingly accept responsibility for our own conduct and activities.”

So, when an underage person breaks the rule on alcohol (whether they lie about their age, or are deceptive by using a fake id, etc…), they break the honor code (“lie”, “deceive”). And with that, they can’t be trusted (“we can trust each other”). So, if I can’t trust you on this point (alcohol), I can’t trust you. I can’t trust you not to cheat on exams. My point stands.

Now, I am not saying that all the kids at Wake break rules, there are many that don’t. A lot of them are very serious, hard working, caring, great students.

It is unfortunate that certain events at WFU contribute so much towards the labeling of the school. People in W-S certainly have an opinion about the school (after so much of bad publicity). Basically, schools have labels, good or bad, they have labels. I went to a liberal arts college in Illinois, near the Wisconsin border. University of Wisconsin was considered to be a party schools, kids that went there had a certain negative label. It is unfortunate, but it is a human nature.

Just like a personal reputation needs to be cherished and protected, so does the college’s reputation.