Recent emails to this website as well as interactive postings at Adelphikos.com indicate that the new Adels are not being very well received.  No doubt that much of the credit for this goes to the repressive GCC administration who are making students sign religious oaths and keeping beathalyzers in the dorms.  No matter how you slice it, the new Adels really have no choice in conforming to the ridiculous bans on student freedom that have been evolving since the 1980s.

 

While it is nice to see the colors on campus and to see floats for homecoming again, these images have little or no link to the past, other than the nine Greek letters that they bear.  Initiations are down to doing such things as community and campus service. (There is nothing wrong with these services, but they do not lend themselves to social bonding like laps, swats, and "wipe it off, Curlin!".  I suppose instead of reciting certain Adel history, these pledges (so-called) must recite Biblical passages. ("Thank you, sir.  May I please have ten more commandments?")

 

Several Alumns have tried to make contact with these guys, but have, for the most part, been rebuffed.  I am sure they are terrified of the consequences of being caught "fraternizing" with Adel almuni who might "tempt" them to indulge in certain "weaknesses" of the flesh.  If word got out, it would be the end of their academic careers.

 

So, we cannot put too much blame on these fellows who, in applying to Grove City College, signed some sort of oath that they would spread the Gospel (wherever it needed spreading).  They are not like us really, but are symbols of an institution that is unlike ours was.  It is purely a case of devolution back to the 19th Century on the part of the college.

 

O.K., so what do you do when such a thing happens?  Well, what is it that GCC always wants. (No, not sex, drugs, rock and roll, or alcohol.) Money! Dinero. Moolah. Scoots.  Bread...you know that stuff that they are always bugging us for so that they can continue to operate, rennovate and expand. While it is unlikely that most of us would make a big difference in the amount in their coffers (I like many of you never send them a cent), spread the word to any alumni that you know.  Remember, guys, this is not the college we once knew.

 

Who knows, maybe they'll have to stop printing that insipid "Vision and Values" rag that I get several times a year. (What a pity if I didn't receive any more of those!)

 

If you would like to vent a little, send us an email at adelphikos@lycos.com. And, if you want to read some of these comments from time to time, visit the collection of essays at GCC Went Nuts.  Of course, you should also be logging into adelphikos.com and participate in the electronic forums. There is a lot of interesting history, photo albums, and links at this site.