The fall semester is in full force, and with that has come many major philanthropy initiatives from the University of Texas Greek community. However, from flipping through the pages of The Daily Texan, the only print daily student publication at UT, you’d never know it.
Coverage of the UT Greek community’s philanthropy initiatives is very rare in the Texan, with most of its coverage of Greek life focusing on negative affairs. While incidents do come up from time to time in UT Greek life, the philanthropy and other good efforts far outweigh them. Again though, you would never know it from flipping through the Texan.
For The Daily Texan especially, I see this as a major issue. At present, the Texan has the biggest campus reach, impacting student opinion more than any other student publication. It has an obligation to be fair and balanced with its coverage, and when it comes to Greek life, it unfortunately isn’t.
As a Daily Texan alumni, it’s sad for me to see members of the Greek community get discouraged at even the thought of reaching out to The Daily Texan about their philanthropy events. Being a journalism student that’s been pretty heavily involved in student media, I get asked often for advice on publicizing things at UT, and when I mention the Texan regarding Greek events, it’s almost always the same response: negative comments, often based on past experience with the publication.
When you look at some of its coverage, or lack thereof, with Greek affairs, it’s not hard to see why. The Texan failed to cover the Interfraternity Council’s golf tournament last year, it’s second-biggest philanthropy of the year, and as I write this, has yet to hit on Movember, the IFC’s biggest philanthropy initiative and one that is full of new, innovative ideas this year to make it more successful than ever before. I know that it has been contacted about both.
So, I write this piece for two purposes. Along with urging the Texan to work on its coverage of Greek affairs, I urge the public not to judge the Greek community by what you read in it. It can be easy to get the wrong idea when you mostly just see the negative, but in my experience the positive tremendously outweighs that. For every incident in UT Greek life, there are dozens of philanthropic and other good efforts. So, please, do your homework before judging Greek life at UT.
