By Mollie Shambeau
the daily cardinal
Double secret probation, you ask? Dancing around in togas singing the lyrics, ""A little bit softer now?"" Get the ""Animal House"" stereotype out of your head, fellow Badger. When it comes to good deeds, we put Bluto's reputation to shame.
Madison Greek life is in full swing this spring. As we take time to commemorate 150 years of Greek life at UW-Madison, you can see Greeks all over campus this week sporting light blue T-shirts emblazoned with the ""Ancient Greeks"" theme for our annual event, Greek Week.
This past weekend marked the 59th annual Humorology performance. In the name of ""Humo,"" the largest non-profit student service organization in Wisconsin, over 300 Greeks dedicated hundreds of hours throughout the year to produce a musical comedy show that raises money for charity. This year, Humo raised over $30,000 for Camp Heartland and the Chris Farley Foundation.
On a less cheerful note, Greeks hosted a candlelight vigil Monday night honoring the lives lost at Virginia Tech. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Dean of Students Lori Berquam and guests spoke words of support and encouragement to the crowd.
So far, this week's philanthropy included a Blood Drive for the American Red Cross that yielded over fifty donors, a fundraiser for the Make a Wish Foundation that raised over $600 and a food drive for Second Harvest of Southern Wisconsin.
Also, Greeks attended ""Can I Borrow Your Closet? How a Tough Guy Overcame Homophobia,"" a speech by Mike DeStefano. Partially funded by WASB, Out and About Month and the Office of the Dean of Students, DeStefano's show was a hit.
To reciprocate WASB's support, we attended ""Club Bucky"" Wednesday at Madison Avenue. In true form, the nonalcoholic event was toga themed.
Ultimately, Greek Week offers members of the Panhellenic Association and Interfraternity Council a chance to unite with the Greek organizations of the National Panhellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council. The ""Step, Stroll and Salute Competition"" hosted by Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. and an All-Greek Soiree hosted by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. will provide meeting ground for the Greek groups.
So you see, my friend, togas don't have to correlate with drunken fraternity parties, and double secret probation is strictly for the fictional Delta Tau Chi's of Faber College. Though we do live in Greek houses, UW-Madison Greeks aren't the animals we are often made out to be.
