A new year, a new semester. Either way you look at it, now is the perfect time to make some changes. You could change your hairstyle, change your major, or, if you are a member of Sac State’s Greek community, you could change your pattern of behavior.

An incident-free semester should be the number one resolution for Sac State’s fraternities. Sorority girls, you can get involved too. Encourage the boys, guide them whatever they need. Just help them stay out of trouble.

Fraternities have a long-standing reputation of trouble making. Movies about college portray frat boys as drunken over-sexed party animals. In fact, in any college frat movie, you can be sure of two things: someone’s getting drunk, and someone’s getting laid. Cult classics like “Animal House” and “Revenge of the Nerds” and newer films like “American Pie” and “Road Trip” glorify bad behavior, promoting irresponsible attitudes about sex, boozing and school.

The frat boys at Sac State have certainly lived up to this rowdy reputation. In the past few years, hardly a semester has passed without some incident caused by a fraternity. In 2002, two high profile incidents made headlines and landed the guilty parties in serious trouble with university officials.

The spring of 2002 was a relatively scandal-free semester, but the boys from Delta Chi put a stop to that. In May, during a Greek Week fundraiser for the ASI Children’s Center, a Delta Chi member performed an impromptu strip show while his frat brothers cheered him on. It wasn’t enough to offend just their fellow students, they had to violate children and enrage parents in the audience who saw the whole thing. The Interfraternity Council suspended the fraternity for the rest of the semester.

Prior to this Delta Chi was in trouble for a tape that showed the hazing of pledges. All of this was just too much. During the summer, the IFC disbanded Delta Chi and the fraternity’s international headquarters revoked their charter.

It must have been a long boring summer for the members of Sigma Pi. On the first day of the fall 2002 semester, the fraternity planted hundreds of recruitment signs on campus depicting stick figures doing keg stands and sex acts. Not only were the signs offensive, they violated the fraternity’s ideals. And just a few days before that, Sigma Pi thumbed its nose at IFC rules banning alcohol at parties during the ”dry” recruitment period. As punishment, the IFC required Sigma Pi to post signs portraying a positive Greek image, and also sponsor an event with the Women’s Resource Center.

Even as the current semester begins, neighbors of Tau Kappa Epsilon are threatening lawsuits over rampant partying and disturbances at the fraternity’s Sierra Blvd. house.

Seems that these guys can’t tell the difference between what is funny and what is cruel and offensive. I guess no one ever told them that just because you see it in a movie doesn’t mean it will work in the real world.

FYI, it’s funny in the movies because…it’s the movies! It’s funny because we know, (or hope) that no one in his or her right mind would really behave like that.

Now I know I’m going to get tons of email informing me of all the wonderful, charitable and saintly things that Greeks do besides tasteless jokes and pranks. Thank you for the input, but I am well aware of how much work most organizations do for the community. However, you guys know that the pranks and jokes are what get you noticed; I think that’s half the reason you do it.

This semester, do us all a favor: stick to the saintly charity work, think twice before you put anything on a sign and consider following the rules for a change. The rest of the campus will silently thank you.