Attracting thousands of followers, a new Ohio University related Twitter account — @OUGreek — has proclaimed itself the “voice of greek life at OU.”
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a weekly series about social media accounts affiliated and not affiliated with Ohio University.
Attracting thousands of followers, a new Ohio University related Twitter account — @OUGreek — has proclaimed itself the “voice of greek life at OU.”
Yet the account, which frequently tweets about alcohol and partying, has nothing to do with OU greek life.
The account’s first tweet was sent on Sept. 10. It’s run by a female OU student who claims to be in a sorority, but would only speak to The Post on a condition of anonymity.
“I have family and friends at other schools who had active and anonymous greek accounts, so I saw that there was a gap that needed filled,” @OUGreek’s creator said. “Usually when sorority girls are shown in the media, we’re either portrayed as party girls or mean girls. I’d like to use my voice to strike a balance and show that we’re real people and not just caricatures.”
However, out of the account’s 92 tweets, 26 of them make reference to alcohol and partying — two popularized stereotypes perceived as negative by the majority of the OU greek community, according to Cody Mack, fraternity president of Phi Kappa Theta.
“Greeks are among the most active members in helping the community,” he said, refuting the image of “being disrespectful to local areas, drinking and partying.”
“I am in a happily monogamous relationship with vodka,” @OUGreek tweeted Sept. 26.
“Bestie said she could smell the alcohol on my breath through the phone. I’m not THAT drunk!” the account tweeted Oct. 2, followed by a downtrodden emoji.
Operating under its Twitter handle, “@OUGreek” appears to be representative of the whole OU greek community with no visible disclaimers of non-affiliation.
“Douchebag of the Year award goes to the guy who didn’t reply to my booty call. What’s wrong with you?!” was also posted Oct. 2.
Also, the word “hangover” appears on five separate occasions on an account representing a community that includes both underage freshmen and sophomores.
The creator defends these tweets, claiming, “Alcohol is a part of the college experience, for some more than others. I think it would be dishonest to hide that just because it might reflect poorly on the chapter.”
@OUGreek’s creator also said that the content of the account’s tweets comes “from other people and stuff or things I’ve heard my sisters complain about.” She also occasionally, “(retweets) from official greek accounts to keep people off my trail and keep it engaged with the community.”
Kristen Kardas, assistant director for greek life at OU, marked the account as spam.
The account also found an opponent in Andrew Kroeze, president of the Interfraternity Council.
“It is definitely not the voice of greek life at OU, as stated in its bio,” Kroeze said. “Accounts like these perpetuate the negative greek stereotype that IFC and (other) Panhellenic organizations are trying to distance themselves from. There’s nothing we can do about this account but IFC is educating its members on social media etiquette so new accounts like this don’t pop up in the future.”
Despite the bio, the creator holds that, “I don’t think its possible to represent the whole community, but like I said, I want it to show that there’s more to greek life than what other people think of us.”
“I don’t know who runs it,” said senior Kate Schroeder, vice president of public relations for the Women’s Panhellenic Association and manager of @OhioUSororities. “Follow @OhioU_GreekLife instead to stay up to date with what is happening within the Ohio University greek community.”
“I treat it like every other fake OU account, in that I know its some random person voicing their opinion,” Kardas said. “If everyone (marked it as spam), it would be gone.”
Yet, @OUGreek’s creator asserts the account is “vital to the OU Twittersphere” and that it “acts as a mouthpiece for opinions and views that would be otherwise silenced if posted from personal or official accounts.”
@LukeFurmanOU
lf491413@ohio.edu
