I said that I could have drawn a picture of a fraternity brother raping a girl, and people would have identified with it better than had I drawn a fraternity brother with his arm around a kid he was mentoring.
I said that to the president of a campus fraternity, and I think I was being honest. I later relayed what I had said to some people at The Daily Cardinal, and within a day everyone seemed to have misconceptions about me and what I had said.
It's all about misconceptions, and we're all being judged by people who don't really have a clue. I think very few people really know about me, and I don't really know anything at all about fraternities or much of anything else for that matter.
I do know that a lot more sexual assaults happen in dorms than in fraternity houses, but that doesn't stop me or anyone else from having negative stereotypes about Greek life.
Last Tuesday, I stereotyped Greeks in a cartoon in the newspaper, and I don't regret the stereotype at all. I drew a guy in a fraternity shirt burping as he drank a beer, and that's how I always have, and probably always will, perceive fraternities. I, however, also perceive the typical college student in much the same way.
Last week, I upset the members of one particular fraternity with my cartoon. The problem, as is usually the case, stemmed from misconceptions by both them and me, and it all led up to Sunday night when I sat down with Brian, the fraternity president.
Originally, I think Brian had expected a newspaper-style interview from me, while I just wanted a conversation with him. In the end, we got a little bit of both, and I took home one quote in my notebook: \Everything you do sends a message.""
That's pretty much the key, and maybe I've just been getting the wrong message. Or maybe I've been listening to some messages louder than others, but I'm still not a supporter of Greek life.
I still can't get past stories of racism and sexism, and I can't get the images out of my head of rushing sorority girls drunk on State Street in their rush outfits on this September's National Day of Mourning. I can't get past feelings I have of the entire Greek system being superficial or hypocritical either; I've just gotten too many bad messages.
I know I've sent out bad messages about myself, though, too. I've done a lot of things that I think give people misconceptions about me, and I'm not happy about that. It doesn't make me feel good when I know people are telling stories out of context about things I may or may not have said about rape or anything else.
I know it doesn't make Brian feel good either, when people assume things about him just because he's in a fraternity. It goes with the territory, though, and I'm not exactly sure what it is that people do assume about fraternities.
I'm sure a lot of what they assume is right, but I hope they really don't associate Greek life with sexual assault, as I told Brian I think they do. That's just my perception, and I hope it's my misconception.
andrewmiller@students.wisc.edu
