Waking up Sunday morning, the remnants of U.Va. Bid Night surrounded me.
Empty cans littered the stairwell and discarded Solo cups lined our parking lot like small traffic cones. A cardboard box from Gumby's lay forlornly on the sidewalk, with greasy stains testifying to the Pokey Sticks that once had been there.
True to form, the Rugby Road area looked like a ghost town this Sunday morning, with the exception of a few brave joggers.
As I surveyed the scene and smelled the faint scent of musty beer, I thought to myself, "The anti-Rush people are going to have a field-day with this."
From the outside looking in, I suppose, the aftermath of Bid Night just seems like par for the course. Although I'm a member of the Greek community, I still have my reservations when it comes to Bid Night.
It seems that as soon as bids come out and the hollering in the first-year dorms dies down, pledges start to think they're immortal.
And if for some reason they don't think they're immortal, there are plenty of other people around to strongly encourage them to think otherwise.
Mix this mentality with a little alcohol, shake it up, and serve cold.
Now that can be a recipe for disaster.
So I suppose it's easy to look at the drunken revelry on Rugby Road and shake your head about those "crazy Greeks."
And to add to the circus, pledges are running around in white T-shirts, asking you to sign their shirt with a magic marker.
Some of the notes and messages I read on pledge T-shirts last night were crazy enough to keep me laughing for days.
Unfortunately, the pledge probably will never read these messages in their entirety. Apparently, someone thought that it was best to give them washable markers that tend to bleed as soon as the wearer starts to sweat. While sweat might seem like something we haven't done in a long time here in Charlottesville, when you pack several hundred kids in a fraternity house, things have a way of heating up.
And heat up they do.
Partygoers always seem to get very friendly with one another by the end of the night. It's nice to see new members embracing the Greek community.
And each other.
But for all the jokes and the stereotypes that go along with Bid Night, it's the perfect example of students living out the University motto: work hard, play hard.
Over the past few weeks, Grounds has been buzzing with anti-Rush debates.Slowly but surely, as it always does, these debates have turned from anti-Rush to anti-Greek in general.
I can understand the views from both sides, and I certainly understand the pros and cons of Greek life.
But it's always the bad press that gets the most press, while the positive aspects of these organizations go unnoticed or ignored.
While events like Bid Night might make it seem as if the trend in Greek life is toward recklessness, I'd have to argue differently.
As sororities and fraternities come increasingly under fire both at Virginia and on a national level for bad decision-making, things have started to change.
Over the last year, I've watched the focus turn to sisterhood and brotherhood, rather than just partying. In order to operate with as much independence as they have in the past, Greek houses know its time for some housecleaning, shall we say.
And while some houses may never get those old skeletons out of the closet, change is coming nonetheless.
Despite what you might catch a glimpse of once a year on Bid Night, most sororities and fraternities are teaching their members to encourage each other to be responsible. Houses are recognizing that popularity doesn't come from just a great party or simply having better frat beer-- if such a thing even exists.
Ideally, houses want to be known for the strength of their sisterhood and brotherhood.They want to emphasize their involvement and their scholarship.
You don't have to "go Greek" just to find a good party in Charlottesville, so the houses know they'd better have some additional selling points.
I don't necessarily mean to enter the fray between Greeks and anti-Greeks.After all, a little debate is always healthy for encouraging people to defend what they do and to set their objectives a little higher. And even as a member of a Greek house, I can recognize that some of the Bid Night activities get a little out of hand.
But for me, Greek life has been a way to find a smaller niche in what sometimes feels like a very big school.
So, when people start talking about Greek involvement as "purchasing friends" or an excuse to haze someone until they're sick, I just can't jump on that bandwagon.
That kind of talk is all Greek to me.
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