In meetings with our reporters and editors, executive members in the Office of Greek Life insist that improving relations between the Greek Life students, who make up about 28 percent of MU’s student body, and non-Greek students is a high priority. Yet the establishment of good relations is a mere pipe dream if clear lines of communication cannot exist, and those responsible for relaying information regarding Greek Week events to media outlets have been anything but efficient and willing to do so.

This is not a new issue, under any definition, but it’s becoming an increasingly difficult one to deal with.

Many Greek Week events are undoubtedly successful, and hard-working students behind these events deserve to have their efforts publicized, not shrouded in mystery due to unreturned phone calls and requests for interviews. Information regarding amounts of money raised and the results of Greek Week events have been scarcer now than ever before in our staff’s experience reporting on this subject over the past three years, and the Greek Week Steering Committee seemingly refuses to acknowledge any inquiries.

In the extreme unlikelihood that a question is addressed, it is automatically deferred to a spokesperson, thus any other sources of information from within Greek Life, including students who do not hold executive positions, are rendered off-limits. Adequate representation of a community and of an organization cannot come in the form of one voice. The Greek Life students who aren’t being heard, aren’t being represented; the progress they’re making, the feats they’re achieving – especially during Greek Week – are going by unnoticed.

Basic social networking and word-of-mouth advertising from within Greek Life is not enough to solicit participation and appreciation of their events from non-Greek students. If broader communication with non-Greek students is a goal, as the Office of Greek Life has said it is many times before, Greek Life leaders need to be more proactive in reaching out to the non-Greek community. The self-perpetuated isolation of the Greek community fosters an exclusionary atmosphere among the student body, and ultimately creates a divided campus dominated by destructive stereotypes.

We’re working toward the same goal here: better communication, better relations. So, please, meet us halfway.