~Wtt&1 - - Hoover Library

A Challengefor Brotherhoodby Michael ldoine, '66There is hardly any subject more in theminds of thinking men today than that ofbrotherhood. We are coming to realize thatas much as for advancements in technology,respect for andmen need to learn to haveto communicate with each other. We livein a world where social prejudice is nolonger an efficient or a progressive meansfor an evolving civilization.In confronting the fraternity system atWMC with a position paper calling for itsabolition, the writers of the paper foundthat there is a great deal of confusion aboutthe meaning of brotherhood. It was largelyon the issue of brotherhood that the positionpaper challenged the value of the fratemitynystem.Among the fondest desire~ of some in theeducation community is the hope that thecollege experfence will provide the smdentwith an opportunity to develop the capa,bility to make decisions on his own. Thestudent shouhl increasingly be aware of aphilosophy of life. These decisions can bemade as an integral function of this philosophyof life. This ability to function onhis own will be a POssession to be guardedjealously. The student begins to realize thathis uniqueness is so precious that he willstrive to seek out and to protect that uniquenessand indiViduality in others.Yet this is the true desire of few in theeducation community much less of a majority.Just as it is the true desire of fewin our SOciety. Instead, we have a complexand sophisticated establishment to be maintainedfor the sake of false security. It'shardly a revelation that we daily and almostto a giant political andhourly pay homageeccncnac machine that regulates our lives.This in itself is not bad. That is, it wouldnot be bad if this structure served whattruly is our human nature, rather than con.torting that nature only to maintain an unhumanstructunc The price we pay is aloss of individuality through the necessityto fit into SOciety, and subsequent loss ofPOwer to shape the kind of society that ourhuman namre needs.pageMICHAEL lDOINE gf/iduuted inJune. While on cam.plIshe wascditorof "Happening" and a respectedCTeative writer and musician. Mr.Maine is an the faculty af The Dug rway, an experimental school in Mussac/JUsettseightThe education system in this society hasbecome part of, even subservient to, thislarger structure. In doing so, it has takenon many of the self-serving attributes ofthis establishment to which it belongs.There are some schools in this country thatare exceptions to this rule-Western MarylandCollege is not one of them. Fundamentallythis is the problem we face indisclaiming the fraternity system, since thefraternity system is part of the structureof this college.Beyand the obvious (although questionable)social function the fraternity systemperforms, it claims to foster a brotherhoodamong its members. The way this brotherhoodis achieved belies the true intentionof the fraternity organization. Do the fraternitiesselect their membership on the basiskindness andof an individual's need forunderstanding?Isn't the real criterion for membershipbased on whether or not a man will fit "theimage"? A man must fit into one bag or anotherto prove that he is in need of fellowshipand the kind of support we all canuse in that late adolescent struggle towardmamrity. Consequently it not uncommonisthat the man who needs this sort of relationshipmost is left out, rejected-not tomention the further distress he may feelfrom being instituttonnlly denied this fellow_ship.To accept a "social misfit" into any organizationis an understandable liability. Inthe current way of thinking each memberof an organization must accept the responsibilityfor maintaining the avowed imageof that group. But what is this fraternityimage, and does the fraternity really functionwithin the bounds of this image, ordoes it serve to meet needs that could bebetter met without a fraternity system?At best, the fraternity image is a deceitits own members, as well as to the collegetocommunity at large. Most college sen-iors will confess that fraternity brotherhood,past by theirsuch as it is, is a thing of thesenior year if it ever actually existed. Itturns out that the fraternity has become asituation where YOIl are guaranteed a date,a special song of allegiance to sing, a setgroup with whom you can drink, and agroup of guys with whom you can identifybecause they all wear the same color jackets.I can say that this is not bad inAgain,itself.But the