@momofthreeboys “I think that could be said about alot of colleges - the clothing, the dorm communities…it can be said about many aspects of life.”
Living in Pittsburgh, where I am not originally from, I see it every day. Pittsburghers are sports fanatics. Whether it be Steelers, Pirates or Penguins season, people are absolutely NUTS. Every Friday is Black & Gold day (don’t tell them it is really black and yellow), the fronts of houses are strewn with flags and banners, people plan their days/nights/activities around the games, our pastor mentions the game in seemingly every sermon, etc. Not being a sports fan, it is easy to think they are all crazy similar to what this student writes about in this piece. However, rather than being negative about the “cultish behavior” I think it is endearing. It may not be my thing, but I know that people derive happiness from following their teams. I am happy for them. If I time my trip to coordinate with a game, it gives me a great window to get in and out of the grocery store quickly. It is all about perspective.
That is unbelievable…sorority life is huge at PSU. No woman representation is a farce…Only men can handle the problem of lack of safety…cultural shift needed in happy valley.
“I want to emphasize again, the safety of our community is of essential importance and the University is determined to move swiftly to put these initiatives in place,” President Barron said, regarding the new safety measures that were unanimously agreed upon by the members of the Board. “These are actions that require careful planning, resources and partnership with not only our Greek-letter organizations, but their alumni boards, housing boards, councils and national organizations. And the Greek-life Response Team will be critically focused on increasing student well-being and safety and the impact from these measures.”
momfromPA, maybe look and see what depArtments have VPs and if those departments are applicable to the task. The departments PennState chose to represent seem appropriate and those positions should be able to make decisions for the student body. If there is a department that should be represented and is not and has a woman running the department it might make sense but just for gender diversity I don’t think makes sense for this advisory board. Typically sororities hAve stricter rules so I don’t know that any new rules that impact Greek Life would negatively and automatically impact sororities.
“The departments PennState chose to represent seem appropriate and those positions should be able to make decisions for the student body.”
Do you mean to suggest that it’s just a coincidence that Penn State has no women in such leadership positions? I have to wonder whether this is part of the problem. Penn State just had a student die from macho frat culture. Maybe the people already running the operation are not the right people to fix it. This happened on their watch.
@Hanna…thank you for bringing reason to the fact they did not include a single woman and yes…these were the same people in charge. I understand that some PSU defenders may be defensive because of the recent history of major issues/denials but I can not understand the determined position of preservation that consistently rises to the surface particularly when the administration has a chance to make things better for their students.
It could be Hanna. I think it is the right departments to be at the table but I could not say with certainty that the fact those 5 departments are headed by men is by coincidence or design.
While I hesitate to engage in a thread that incessantly brandishes the word “culture” (using a whiny college diatribe as support, no less) and continues to ignominiously conflate anything Penn State with Paterno, I am encouraged to read some of the new initiatives – http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/06/heres_how_penn_state_will_impl.html. In particular:
“Further details are coming on other measures, including increased parent education; collection of data for creating a public Greek-life chapter report card; and the fee to be levied on members of Greek-letter organizations to support the extra safety services and educational activities.”
“No woman representation is a farce.” – Meh. Initial stages and consider it a WIP. My expectation is that there will be modifications moving forward as they add additional staffing.
I certainly hope they’re planning to have an advisory group that includes other voices, particularly those of students, women and POC. Otherwise what will it be but an echo chamber? The task force seems extremely heavy on administrators who don’t have daily contact with students, such as the VP of Administration, General Counsel, and VP of Government and Community Relations.
@bester1 The Penguins reference was tongue-in-cheek; of course, using your methodology, even those that don’t attend the parade, never been to a hockey game, nor know Mike Lange are all-embracing supporters of the sports culture (you know, by virtue of just living here)
The team will also work with the board of trustees, and is expected to coordinate with local government and law enforcement, neighborhood groups and others during the implementation process.
... These are actions that require careful planning, resources and partnership with not only our Greek-letter organizations, but their alumni boards, housing boards, councils and national organizations,"
Strict social restrictions will remain in place, and monitoring of social events by university staff members will continue, but are expected to be augmented by additional staffing.
^^ Agreed! My perception is that the administration appears to be more about taking a stance than making real change. By appointing a task force of the same people that had no previous success with their work on the 2015 task force, we will inevitably get more of the same. Those serving on a task force to implement true reform need to have a close working knowledge of the Greek system including the women’s organizations and programs that have been successful on other campuses. There absolutely needs to be student representation and parent support to create buy in. How disappointing that the student leaders have had to reach out to the administration via open letters vs. being invited to meet and collaborate with Barron. This is not a time for the status quo. This is a time for PSU to bring together a myriad of perspectives, voices and ideas.
As Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
I know the parents want to be there, but emotionally it might not be the best thing for them or at least wait to see if an of it goes to trial and then show up at the trial. My heart breaks for them, but I’m not sure what they expected - people that are saying they are not guilty and probably believe they are not guilty are not going to sit there and “act” guilty and that obviously is difficult for the family to grasp.