This Week in Non-Sports News: No One Over 150 after 1:50

According to the Miami Student, the oldest university newspaper in the United States since 1826 and the newspaper of record of my alma mater, Miami University (the real Miami, not that fake place down in Florida), a slogan incorporated on the Delta Chi fraternity’s rush T-shirts has kicked up quite a storm within the Greek community in Oxford, OH.

While D Chi chapter president Anthony DePine insists that the meaning of the slogan “is to be left up to the person reading the shirt,” that explanation fell on the deaf ears of several Miami sororities, as well as the Panhellenic Association (the governing body of sororities).

The slogan in question—“No one over 150 after 1:50”—which was printed on the backside of the D Chi rush shirts, has been interpreted by some to mean “No girl over 150 pounds after 1:50 a.m.”

Imagine that.

Now the Interfraternity Council (IFC) has gotten involved and has met with D Chi to discuss repercussions. In response, D Chi leadership has largely folded, issuing a formal apology and agreeing to sign a contract “ensuring IFC that they would not be wearing the shirt anymore in public or in view of anyone,” according to Michael Simon, vice president of public relations for the IFC. Delta Chi also agreed to work with student ambassadors from the Women's Center on “issues of programming.”

According to Claire Dickerson, vice president of public relations for the Panhellenic:

“We feel that wearing this shirt undermines the message of self-acceptance we hope to cultivate in all our chapter members and forces women to unfairly question their body image… The Panhellenic community is working hard to instill confidence in women and celebrate the beauty of being a woman, independent from the number she sees on the scale. We are disturbed that a Greek chapter would work against our goal of self-acceptance and inner beauty.”

Rebecca Bailey; president of the Kappa Delta chapter at Miami, a leading voice against the slogan, said that at least 90 percent of the members of KD signed a petition against D Chi’s slogan. According to Bailey:

“We decided not to invite Delta Chi to help us with (our) philanthropy…before their shirts came out, but once I learned about the shirts it definitely reinforced the decision not to help us.”

Another voice of opposition, Katherine Ruhl of Gamma Phi Beta has signed on to the petition, saying:

“We previously thought really highly of Delta Chi…we were just really shocked they would have a shirt that had such an offensive slogan on it.”

This incident begs several questions:

1. Rather than admitting guilt, why didn’t Delta Chi come up with a plausible excuse for the slogan? Like, “Oh that. Yeah, we’re sorry about the misunderstanding, but it was due to a misprint. There was supposed to be a period before the first ‘150’, meaning, “No one over .150 (blood alcohol level) before 1:50 (a.m.)” We encourage our pledges to sober up before getting some shuteye. We stand by our slogan.”
2. Or even better, why not simply alter the existing slogan into a truism that Delta Chi should have used in the first place? It only takes a Sharpie and a carrot: “No one over 150 [INSERT: until] after 1:50.” It makes more sense that way anyhow, because at that hour, who really cares what she looks like and with an appropriate thickness of beer goggles, you can’t really tell anyway. Plus, rather than saying (as their existing slogan suggests), "You can party with us, but ya gotta leave before 2", this new message sends a positive message to women of all shapes and sizes: "Give us time, ladies, you'll do the trick. Oh, and bring more beer."
   
3. And finally, why isn’t anyone stating the obvious? The two leading opposition voices are from KD and Gamma Phi Beta—two sororities notoriously known at Miami as “hit or miss, at best.”

Don’t take my word for it. Take theirs:

Here's some of Miami's own KDs at their annual "Luck be a KD" party:

Here again, some KDs gather at a toga party (like I said, hit or miss):

Here are some pledges of Gamma Phi Beta:

And finally, here’s Gamma Phi Beta’s “1^st place dance competition video” (granted, this is from USI, but it was too good to pass up):

I recently spoke with an ’05 alum of Miami—who also happens to be a Delta Chi alum—to see how he felt about the slogan. His only complaint? Why not go with a slogan touting Delta Chi’s long tradition of mediocre athleticism during Greek Week? In his words:

“What about, ‘Win or lose, we’ll probably lose.’ Or better yet, ‘If you can’t beat us on the field, you can always beat us off.’”

I’m sure one of those suggestions would be taken with less severity than the “150” slogan.

Fortunately, all those D Chi rush t-shirts won’t go completely to waste. Apparently girls from the Theta sorority—well known for their hotness—have taken up wearing the “150” shirts. How’s that for justice, ladies?

(If anyone has any photos of hot Thetas wearing the "150" shirts, please send them to this site and we will update this post. Thanks.)