Gay community gets hooked: A
It’s hard to find a university in the U.S. without a diverse Greek community – one of them being the University of Texas, with its more than 60 sororities and fraternities. However, UT was missing a fraternity for one of the fastest-growing communities – the gay community.
That changed Nov. 1 when the UT chapter of Delta Lambda Phi became nationally recognized. The fraternity is the 21st chapter of the organization.
For a group struggling to find approval, this is a great move by UT, showing it is accepting of all its students, no matter their sexual orientation.
Prior to DLP’s presence, gay students at UT found it hard to get into other Greek organization.
"A lot of fraternities around here exclude gays," UT student Sean Dooley said in a KVUE news interview.
However, since UT DLP president Russell van Kraayenburg brought up the idea, the suggestion has found nothing but success.
"Everyone’s been so supportive on campus," Kraayenburg told KVUE. "There’s not been a single person I’ve talked to who’s been against the idea or even questioned the idea."
UT has taken a giant step forward with this move. We hope such trends will extend to the remainder of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Ignorance: F
There has been much praise for President-elect Barack Obama and his becoming the first black person elected to the office. Unfortunately, it has become another reason for the uneducated to speak up on the topic as well.
Earlier this month, UT football player Buck Burnette decided to add to the negativity that’s being spread.
Updating his Facebook page the night of the election, Burnette posted a racially charged comment about Obama.
It’s sad to see that a great achievement for not only the black population, but the country in general, has to face the kind of abuse we’ve been trying to overcome for decades.
Thankfully, Burnette was kicked off the team by UT head coach Mack Brown for "unspecified violations of team rules."
We hope the hateful remarks towards Obama will fade with time. Until then, let’s hope each negative comment is followed by the kind of pressure put on Burnette.
