Editorial | Expanding horizons

The Greek culture at Penn is one rich in history but replete with stereotypes. And one of those, unfortunately, is an image of intolerance.

Whether substantiated or not, the belief that the Greek community is unwelcoming, specifically to gays, is a problem in and of itself. That's why it's gratifying to hear that the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and the InterFraternity Council have joined together to create a new-member program which addresses the issue of how to handle a fraternity brother's coming out. Coordinated with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center, the program, which will focus specifically on issues of sexual orientation as they relate to fraternities, will broaden the dialogue between groups on campus.

However, the program's offering does come with a few loopholes that could be closed. The workshop is one of four that brothers can choose to attend. The other three programs - one addressing racial and cultural issues, one on sexual violence and one on drug and alcohol awareness - are beneficial and worthwhile as well, but whole-fraternity participation is only mandatory for the seminars on drugs and alcohols.

Thereafter, brothers and fraternities select which one of the remaining three they would like to attend. While it would be time-consuming to do all four, full participation in every workshop is the ideal solution.

Developers of the program hope that it becomes a model of sexual-sensitivity training for other universities. Let's not stop there. Take it a step further, and let's have mandatory participation in all four workshops be the example.

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