Eliot Sherman: A case for the Owls

I have no personal affiliation with the Owl Society. As a freshman, I attended a few of their rush events, but I was cut fairly early in the game. They were fun -- a touch of class and pretty girls who mingled and reported back to the brothers, which I figured was a method of evaluation, so it's little wonder that I didn't get very far. However, everything I know about the Owls is utterly circumstantial and unproven, so I figured it was only appropriate for me to throw in my two cents on the issue while it's hot.

Everyone knows that the Owl Society supports international coups in the Middle East, right? And that it keeps Tupac Shakur and John Lennon cryogenically frozen in its basement but occasionally let them out for rush events? And that the Grand Owl, a seven-foot-tall German named Hans, is a genetically-engineered CIA assassin who hasn't slept for years?

Good. I'm glad we got that out of the way.

As recent events illustrate, the Owls are all too human. They have a house, which they rent from Campus Apartments. There's obviously plenty of money floating around, but the same could be said for many fraternities. They have a pool table, wear suits from time to time and don't like talking about their initiation rituals.

Now doesn't that just sound spooky?

I cannot figure out the source of the quest against "pseudo-Greek organizations." Many seem to believe that their appeal will draw students away from the Greek system, but with an undergraduate body of 10,000 of which more than 20 percent report Greek affiliation and more than twice that number attend their events every weekend, how great a concern can that be?

The assertion that the Owl Society falsely purports to be part of the Greek system to better lure freshmen is ludicrous. Quite the opposite is true: the Owl Society emphasizes its mystique and the fact that it is not part of the Greek system, and as far as I can tell, it is this mystique that fuels the interest of prospective Owls, at least in the early stages of the game. There's nothing like the curiosity of those on the outside looking in, but sometimes I think that curiosity is a tad misplaced.

As for the statement that these societies remain unregulated and therefore can perform super-secret initiation and pledging rituals that may or may not involve drinking (no!) and various indignities, as far as I'm aware, the same could be said for frats. But then again, as I am not affiliated with any frat, I remain unaware of their particular initiation and pledging rituals. They're secret, remember?

Which, of course, brings us to the two notorious events in Owl history. The first one, a kidnapping in 1990, cost Psi Upsilon the Castle for eight years and led to the formation of the Owl Society by splinter members who were not allowed to regain Psi Upsilon membership. The second one I'll get to in a moment. But statistically, two assaults in twelve years is not shocking, given a constant environment of alcohol and young men. After all, a regulated fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, faced serious rape and vandalism charges only a few years ago. This doesn't make assault, rape and vandalism right, but it does mean that this sort of behavior is not limited to people who live at 4000 Pine Street.

As far as the Owls who were allegedly involved in that unsavory Princeton incident, smart money says that they're out of this school when the dust settles. Whether or not some were more involved than others -- which is certainly the case -- this event is too high profile to contain. Any action taken is easier said than done, though, since among them, those kids have more money than God. But in the end, it would be morally criminal for the University to retain any guilty parties just for the sake of a new building, and I don't believe they will.

In the whirlwind of moralistic fervor that erupted in the wake of this event, I personally have sympathy for the alleged devils; in other words, any members of that crew who were just along for the ride, since I'm pretty sure when most people go out at night, they aren't thinking about what they could be an accomplice to by the time the sun rises the next day.

But the University is a marketable product, and as such, guilt and innocence matter less than perception. Greed is good, and the University rightly hungers for the best in every new class. Anything that gets in the way of attracting the best will be stamped out accordingly. I'm sorry, guys. Those are the breaks.

To those who look for a silver lining in everything, take heed. CNN.com originally reported this event as occurring at Penn State, marking the first time the Penn/Penn State confusion has been beneficial to this University. Go Nittany Lions!

Eliot Sherman is a sophomore from Philadelphia, Pa.

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