The crowd at Greek Physique, Kappa Alpha Theta's fundraiser pageant on Saturday, felt a little like the crowd at the start of a wild night at Maggie's Neighborhood Bar and Grill. The auditorium of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Administration Building (WHSCAB), which was occupied primarily by Greeks, was divided by affiliation and arranged by alliance. Fraternities volunteered their finest men to present as competitors at Greek Physique and turned out en masse to show face. Among the fraternities represented were the usual suspects – Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Nu and company - as well as a selection of Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) fraternities, like Kappa Alpha Psi and Xi Kappa. Representatives from each of the seven NPHC sororities served as judges, and flocks of Emory's loveliest sorority girls gathered to cheer for their boys. The competitors got rowdy offstage.
The event, organized by Theta (and fueled by Burnett's), raised at least $2000 for the Court Appointed Special Advocate Association (CASA). CASA volunteers help take legal action to support abused and neglected children. As the mistress of ceremonies frequently reminded the crowd, "it's for the kids."
The show opened with a round of question and answer. Competitors matched wits with responses to questions like, "which of your fraternity brothers is your favorite?" The crowd laughed, cheered and sometimes didn't, depending on the strength of the competitor's answer and however "chill" the crowd thought he was. The responses consisted, on the whole, of failed punch lines and shout-outs to the bros.
Round two was the highly anticipated talent contest. The fraternities' finest stumbled to the stage, first for the group dance and finally for the individual performances. A few competitors choreographed dance routines – some more elaborate than others. Of particular note was the representative from Chi Phi fraternity, Israel Dartiguenave, who wowed the crowd with a polished step routine.
Many of the allegedly "top-tier" fraternities – a vaguely-defined class of Emory's most notorious frats, usually inhabited by Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi and AEPi – chose loving parody over precise choreography. Competitors sang adapted lyrics to popular songs and, in some cases, accompanied themselves on acoustic guitars or flimsy ukeleles.
Although Greek Physique's organizers conducted a dress rehearsal, requested scripts and lyrics in advance, and made multiple efforts to pre-approve the content of performances, the show quickly took a turn for the raunchy. The performers talked smack about their rivals with indiscretion. Their jokes made generous use of well-entrenched fraternity reputations.
A particularly common joke was for competitors to somehow say (or imply) the phrase, "Gay-T-O." The joke draws on Alpha Tau Omega fraternity's supposed predisposition for homosexuality. Beloved for its simplicity, the joke is about as creative as a stoned Pi Kappa Alpha brother. It's also terribly offensive.
One performer, representing Sigma Nu, used his lyrical prowess to rank sororities by appearance. The list began with Theta (for obvious reasons) and finished with an addendum that while Delta Phi Epsilon did not make the list of hotties, its sisters did, in fact, have good personalities.
The winner was Thomas Tassin, the competitor for Sigma Alpha Epsilon. His winning performance was a lyrical adaptation of "Take On Me," the chorus of which touted that he was exceptionally intoxicated for the sake of being successful at Greek Physique. That Tassin might win with this sort of performance, especially when other competitors had demonstrated talent for more than drunken caterwauling, serves only to exemplify the sort of values this event was celebrating.
I was troubled by the fact that this community might dedicate an entire event - and tarnish an otherwise successful fundraiser - to bringing itself down. It seems paradoxical that these brother and sister-hoods, which are intended to promote unity, devote so much energy to destroying each other. To be successful, Greek organizations must cooperate. This toxic sort of rivalry only fosters hatred and distrust.
Furthermore, the supposedly hilarious performances only reinforced the offensive prejudices and tasteless insensitivity for which Greeks are so often condemned. Sexual assault and hazing incidents have filled newspapers - and especially the Wheel - with critics claiming that Greek life promotes harmful attitudes towards the issues of gender equality, race, sexuality and appropriate sexual conduct.
It makes me proud to think that my fraternity tends to be the exception to these generalizations. But, having experienced such attitudes firsthand, I now understand the criticism.
Features Editor Nicholas Bradley is a College junior from Skillman, N.J.
Correction: (11:53 A.M.) An earlier version of the article reported that Kappa Alpha Theta raised $1300 for charity. The proceeds exceeded $2,000.
Editor's Note (November 5 at 3:50 p.m.): Comments have been disabled and deleted due to excessive use of profanity and hate language. The Wheel reserves the right to moderate the content on its website.
Editor's Note (November 5 at 6:30 p.m.): The sentence "I pride myself on the fact that my fraternity is the exception to these generalizations" has been edited so that it expresses the writer's opinion, rather than a fact.
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