Snotty suffixes and initials make Forum page less legit

Eric Brown, in his November 26 letter to the Daily, mentioned the “pretentious” middle initial that Henry M. Bowles III used to sign his Monday letter. “As if that wasn’t far enough, he goes a step further with the self-absorbed suffix (III),” Mr. Brown says. According to the esteemed letter writer, where he’s from, “that alone would get your ass whooped.”

Apparently Mr. Brown is not from the same town as the new Forum Editor, whose name, if you read the page carefully, is John J. Hughes III. Whoa, this dude uses exactly the same sort of pretentious initials and suffixes.

I, for one, will never take the Forum page seriously Winter Quarter, knowing that it’s run by some kid who by all appearances was born in a gated community with a silver spoon sticking out of his mouth and some oppressed minority nanny taking care of him while his parents were out working at evil oil companies coming up with ways to screw the masses while making a tidy profit for themselves.

Wait a minute — I never took the Forum page seriously to begin with. Lighten up, folks.

Matt McLaughlin

Medill sophomore

Whether it’s for fun, friends or food, give rush a chance

I stood there in the freezing cold, just waiting to get in. Stupidly, I had worn open-toed shoes, thinking more about how much I loved these shoes and less about the winter weather. Girls around me were waiting impatiently to get in as well. Our Rho Chi then started counting off the seconds, and at “zero!” she rang the doorbell. The door swung open, and we stepped inside a brightly lit and warm house, greeted by smiles and handshakes.

There is nothing quite like sorority rush. Never had I met so many people in such a short amount of time; never before had I made so many connections in less than one hour: “You’re from Ohio?! Where in Ohio?” “I loooove musicals too! Which ones have you seen?”; and never before had I been treated so kindly by so many strangers — someone constantly talking to me and others constantly offering me food. One friend admitted that her sole reason for attending rush was for the free food: root beer floats, cookies, gummy bears and cheesecake, to name just a few of the choices.

Before coming to Northwestern, I had not even been aware of its Greek system. I could barely tell one Greek letter from another, and I had never dreamt of being in a sorority. All I could think of when it came to sororities were bad teen movies and “Animal House.” None of it appealed to me. But as registration began, more and more of my friends began to register, and I finally decided that I would regret avoiding it more than actually going through it. So I signed on with no intentions of pledging a sorority.

But here I am, a sorority member for the past three years, an executive officer of my house the past year and a Panhellenic recruitment officer this year, with a group of friends that I cannot imagine my life without and who I might not have met if I had never gone through rush.

I cannot stress to all the new female students on campus just how great of an opportunity sorority rush can be. But that’s just the problem: I cannot fully convey to anyone my own positive experiences with rush and the Greek community. I’m just hoping that my words convince you to give it a chance.

If you missed the Sorority Recruitment Forum on Monday, you can still register until noon today in the Greek Affairs office in the basement of Scott Hall. Bring $35, cash or check.

Hana Choy

Education senior