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From the Rock Issue (Sept 2000):
Disgruntled Would-Be Pledges Torture Carman Residents Ana Fitzner During the first two weeks of residency, would-be fraternity and sorority pledges wreaked havoc on the lives of Carman residents by setting off fire alarms at all hours. The alarms disrupted the sleeping habits of many first year students, forcing an unintentional habit of tardiness upon them. Some residents initially believed that the alarms were an attempt by the Orientation organizers to promote mass socializing on a more casual level than is encountered during group discussions. However, this theory was discarded when it was pointed out that some of the people forced out of the building by the alarms were not the of the type one would want to see without adequate clothing. During the second week of residency, two alarms were set off within a twelve hour period. These prompted verbal death threats against whomever was to blame for the disturbances. Upon hearing these threats, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Promote Greek Life came forward with this statement, but requested to remain anonymous: "The would-be pledges pulled these alarms to express the anger they feel about the flippancy with which Carman residents treat the Greek System. Despite a constant propaganda campaign by the Greek organizations on campus, many of the first year students on campus continue to deride the system as an anachronistic society. Why can't you just believe the flyers? They [the fraternities and sororities] really are worthwhile; they do stuff... every once in a while... for some people." The spokesperson, however, declined to comment further on the "stuff" the fraternities and sororities do and for whom they do it. The Coalition to Promote Greek Life was formed to combat the rampant and uncontrollable anger of the few first year students who intend to pledge. During Orientation, this marginalized group of students would hear many people laughing at the suggestion of pledging, "...as if it didn't matter," as one Coalition member, who then burst into tears, put it. The seriousness of the retaliation by the future pledges was intended to demonstrate the lengths to which they are willing to go to support the Greek System here at Columbia. In addition, the members thought that pranks such as these would help their chances of getting into a fraternity or sorority because the behavior demonstrated such profound loyalty to the group. The spokesperson concluded his statement with this declaration of pledge loyalty: "Group thinking is what Greek life is all about. We feel that the existence of this coalition will impress the leaders of the frats and sororities and will ease our acceptance into the Greek System. That way, we pledges will be able to blend into the crowd more easily than you 'indies.Í You all will stand out forever, while we will always have a group of people to hang out with." The majority of Carman residents, however, simply have not been convinced of the importance of the Greek System. Most have found this fortnight of false alarms an inconvenience and wish, as one student stated, that "they [the pledges] would just go back to their little houses and wait for us to come to their parties."
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