College On the Record (OTR) is the "Gossip Girl" of Ann Arbor, just without the "XOXO." The difference, if any, is that the anonymous Gossip Girl is probably more factual.
College OTR proclaims itself "the country's premiere college blog, capturing the best of everything that happens at college." Ironically, the only thing OTR captures is bored students who spend their library breaks insulting people through anonymous posts.
OTR's claim to fame rests in its yearly rankings of fraternities and sororities, which is based on which house "has the hottest, most fun collection of members who throw (or attend) the best parties." Paul Tassi, formerly known under the pseudonym of "Johnny Quest," graduated this past year and admits that he is not a member of the Greek community.
He declares that "Greek life is superficial" - quite a hypocritical statement considering what he bases his rankings on. Apparently, he still has "spies" that inform him what house is the coolest. Yet, it is debatable how we could have a strong grasp of an organization to which he's never belonged.
The worst result of "The List" is that it actually does influence freshman during recruitment. The inherent flaw is that every house is different. Someone looking for a sorority like Tri Delta may not be looking for one like Kappa Alpha Theta, and vice versa. Likewise for fraternities, someone rushing Alpha Epsilon Pi may not be interested in Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Choosing a house is all about where you feel comfortable, not who Paul Tassi likes the most (or the girls he wishes he got and the guys he wishes he was friends with).
After Bid Day, another writer known as "AHor," who is allegedly in Alpha Epsilon Pi, created a list ranking all of the 2008 sorority pledge classes. Of course, the ranking was based upon votes, leaving little to say about accuracy or fairness. While the original intent of the website was to create a forum to discuss campus and Ann Arbor news, it has become synonymous with misinformed representations of fraternity and sorority life at Michigan, thus placing a dark mark on the entire Greek system. OTR has contributed little reality to the representation of Greek life.
OTR has also generated some controversy and scrutiny for its comments section after every entry. After "The List" was released, hundreds of students commented on Tassi's take on the Greek community. Between demeaning certain fraternities because they are not "chill" enough to criticizing a sorority because their pledge class is "subpar," the readers of OTR deem it necessary to unleash harsh condemnation against anyone that does not reach their standards. The sad thing is that by generating so much buzz and controversy about one writer's opinion only leads to his opinion being legitimized. The fact of the matter is that every student has an opinion (most likely passionate) about the Greek system at U-M. The only thing that makes Tassi's and Ahor's opinion different is that they have a large medium (through OTR) to express their views to the thousands of students on campus.
As a member of a sorority, I can proudly and honestly say that the relationships I have formed could not be farther from superficial. In fact, my friends could not be more genuine, supportive, and rewarding. It is time to know more of the truth about Greek life from someone who knows - not someone who party-hopped at fraternities because he probably wished he were in one. We can only hope that OTR will fade into irrelevance until next fall when rankings begin again and Tassi once again shows all of us how envious he is of Greeks.
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