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Fraternity key gives ‘legacy’ a bad name

By Daily Bruin Staff

Jan. 25, 1995 9:00 p.m.

Fraternity key gives ‘legacy’ a bad name

By Liane Pritkin

Who the hell does Noah Balch think he is? I was disgusted after
reading the article regarding his arrest for breaking into
Professor Fred Luk’s office ("Fraternity student’s life altered by
arrest," Jan. 24). I didn’t know who to get mad at first: Noah, the
greek system, the University of California or the newspaper staff
who published the sympathetic article.

Let’s take Noah. Mr. 3.82 GPA. We can reasonably infer that his
grade point average is high because (1.) He’s a tremendous student,
or (2.) He cheats.

If he’s so smart, why would he break into an office containing
final exams? Either he needed to cheat, he was "encouraged" by his
fraternity or he just wanted the "adrenaline rush."

He admitted he was given the key to steal a test. But then he
says that he was doing it for the adrenaline rush. So which is it,
buddy?

Case one is almost excusable. Every student feels pressure, and
sometimes cheating looks like a good way out. And if we assume that
Noah’s GPA was high because he studied, then maybe he felt pressure
to do well in Professor Luk’s class.

But he admitted that he was getting an A-! So why do it?

Fraternity.

The key was given to him by a fraternity brother. No, let me
rephrase that. It was a "legacy key." This means that Noah was just
one in a long line of Sigma Nus who had access to the office.

And why should Sigma Nu be the only one with a legacy key? How
do we know that all fraternities don’t have legacy keys?

You older Bruins may remember from a few years back, when Theta
Xi was discovered to have a songbook that depicted women in a not
so positive manner. But upon further investigation, we learned that
Theta Xi wasn’t alone in having nasty songs: Most fraternities and
sororities participated in the sing-a-long. Can we, similarly, say
that Noah’s break-in is just the first glimpse of the way
fraternity guys succeed in school?

I can’t say for sure. But I do know one thing. Even if Noah had
no intention of cheating, someone in his fraternity did. And that
really pisses me off.

As a hard-working UCLA student, I don’t want to think that Joe
Schmo in Frat X doesn’t have to do one iota of work. Maybe that’s
idealism, but I’d like to think there’s some amount of fairness in
the world.

Now, I’m not trying to say fraternities are complete shit, but
we must look at what is going on here: a bunch of guys united for
the purpose of making contacts, networking and passing on a legacy
key.

I’m sorry, but this sounds like a bad episode of 90210. Remember
when Steve was given a legacy key, broke into an office to change
his grade and blew his chances of getting into USC? Well,
everything worked out for Steve, even though he’s only at
California University, where apparently anyone (like the entire
cast of 90210) can get in.

But TV and reality are two completely different things. Steve
was "demoted" to California University. Our friend Noah gets busted
and is now trying to get into … UC Berkeley?

Does this make any sense whatsoever? I mean, I’m not trying to
say that this guy’s life should be ruined, but at least get him out
of the UC system! And Berkeley, yet! Oh, poor baby has to go to
Berkeley.

Let him go to some private school. Let him take his Sigma Nu
dues, which I know aren’t cheap, and go pay for USC! Or let him
live at home and go to University of San Diego, where mommy and
daddy can keep an eye on him.

But I can’t be bitter just because of Noah, the fraternity or
the UC system. I have to give some credit to the journalist who
wrote the article.

Could you be a little more biased? I’ve taken writing classes, I
know bias when I see it. The whole damn article was based on what
he said. It was so caught up with Noah as the victim, the
professor’s last name wasn’t even spelled correctly!

Obviously, the point of the article was to paint Noah Balch as
the victim, not to report news. Do I care how traumatic his life
was after breaking and entering? NO!

Poor baby, lost his friends and job. Poor baby, doesn’t think he
should have gone to jail with all the hardened criminals. Who does
this guy think he is, O.J.?

I don’t know, maybe I’m just a naive little girl who doesn’t
know how this system works. Maybe I should disguise myself as a boy
and go join a fraternity. Then I’d never have to study because all
I’d have to do is steal a test, and Whammo! Instant GPA.

And hey, even if I got caught ­ who cares? I’d just tell
them I’m really a girl, hire Robert Shapiro as my lawyer and then
transfer to Harvard. That would show ’em.

Pritikin is a senior psychology student.

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