Sororities should not be offended

n While I have found the recent commotion caused by Patrick May’s column “Silber dead after life bent on world domination” (pg. 7, Feb. 4) somewhat amusing, I have also thought it to be completely unnecessary. Almost every day since its publication, people have angrily written into The Daily Free Press in an effort to defend their “beloved” president emeritus’ honor and to toss around accusations of libel. While I have forced myself to simply disregard any such pointless allegations, Jacqueline Policastro’s letter (“Column misrepresented sororities,” pg. 12, Feb. 12) pushed me over the edge.

In her letter, Ms. Policastro complained that the entire Gamma Phi Beta sorority is “deeply offended by such radical, false statements,” implying that somehow the column tarnished and degraded Gamma Phi Beta’s image. Now, I may just be going out on a limb here, but I highly doubt that the one thing Boston University students will forever remember about Patrick May’s column is the reference it made to the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. In fact, I would venture to say that half of the column’s readers probably did not even realize that Gamma Phi Beta is an existing sorority associated with BU.

Additionally, I find it hard to believe that Patrick May meant any harm or defamation of character at the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. The reference he made to this sorority was not a personal attack, and I seriously doubt that Patrick May’s column meant to criticize or insult sorority girls in any way. Rather, his comment was just an insignificant detail of his satirical attempt toward sorting out Silber’s long, controversial legacy at BU. Members of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority need to recognize that their organization is in no way now, and never will be, connected with any lewd contact with John Silber. The fact that Patrick May added that this “alleged rendezvous” occurred in a container of pudding totally de-legitimizes his comment. BU students are all smart enough to realize that Gamma Phi Beta sorority girls never have, and never will, romp with Silber in a vat of rice pudding.

Furthermore, I would like to say that I am very surprised at how seriously BU students have taken May’s column. Have we all lost our satirical sense of humor? Patrick May’s column was way too over the top to ever be taken seriously, and I think that was the whole point of it in the first place. I guess in a way it is somewhat reassuring to know that BU students have learned something about analyzing text from their freshman English classes; however, let’s save our scrutinizing skills for schoolwork, not newspaper columns that are obviously meant to be entertaining and nothing more.

Finally, I would just like to point out that a superior newspaper columnist’s task is to get people thinking, talking and interested in what they have to write. Thus, Patrick May deserves a round of applause for being the only Daily Free Press columnist to have adequately done his job so far this semester.

Renee Plexousakis

CAS ’05