Most journalists have some sort of an epiphany that sparks their desire to start writing columns, for me, it was the Convocation Center-and, no, it wasn’t for its success.

It isn’t that I couldn’t see the potential, or that it seemed a colossal waste of donated funds (although at the time, that may also have clouded my mind). Rather, the Convocation Center merely stood for everything that UM shouldn’t: a scarcely competitive basketball team, events better-suited for viewers of The Ashlee Simpson Show, and more than anything, inactivity.

So I came out and wrote my first column (and fifth…and sixth) about how the Convocation Center wasn’t accommodating the interests of the student body. Sure, a pre-Guillermo Diaz men’s squad was not the Convocation Center’s fault; Good Charlotte, on the other hand, was.

Then, the most interesting thing happened. Miami switched to the high-octane basketball conference that is the ACC and top-notch programs like Maryland, and Duke all made successful visits to Coral Gables. And, with lines wrapping around the arena during the Blue Devils’ visit, talks rekindled regarding seat expansion. Oh, and as for music? How’s the opener to Green Day’s tour sound? It’s certainly music to my ears.

All this gave me time to reflect on the not-so-good-ole days, when it cost an arm and a leg to watch Coldplay at the Convocation Center. After writing my first scathing article about the Convocation Center, a glorified intern named Jessica Hall who worked for Global Spectrum (the group that essentially finds entertainers for the arena) wrote a letter to the editor questioning my journalistic integrity.

As a member of UM’s Honor Council, I took great offense to Hall’s slanderous remarks that I made information up and did not do research prior to writing my column. The 600-word response I wrote (subsequently never published) remained taped to my front door as a reminder that negative criticism comes with the territory. So, when I first approached this article, I wondered: Should I apologize to Jessica Hall? After all, hindsight is twenty-twenty.

Then I had my journalistic epiphany. So what if I couldn’t predict the current successes of our arena? So what if some under-informed bottom feeder falsely accused me of having no integrity?

In the end, integrity is knowing what process you went through to come to the correct decision; it’s also knowing when you were wrong. I know now that the future has many great things in store for this arena. I still know that the Convocation Center didn’t live up to its initial hype.

And, while Ms. Hall may never come to a similar conclusion-that Global Spectrum floundered in its preliminary attempts-and for that matter may never admit her wrongs, at least I know this:

I can write my opinion about her whenever I want.

Ben Minkus can be contacted b.minkus@umiami.edu.

Just call me Hector. Yeah, I know it says my name is Jovanni, but at the moment I feel like Hector of Troy from the Iliad. Let me explain: You see, the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami is a battlefield, we have the Greeks (Greek fraternities and sororities) versus the Trojans (students organizations).

The Greeks have been attempting to band together in a harmonic, cohesive Greek community. Akin to the banding of the Greeks through Agamemnon’s reign, although they all didn’t get along, they still did fight as one. Meanwhile the student organizations operate from the bastion of their International Lounge and University Center, living in relative safety.

I first witnessed this battle at O-Cheer last semester, where most of the Greeks applauded for only Greek performances no matter how crappy they were, while student organizations applauded for both Greek and non-Greek performances; lines were drawn and the battlefield was set. Many of those who hold close allegiances with Greek and non-Greek organizations found themselves between a rock and a hard place, namely because if they cheered for the Greeks, they got stares from the non-Greeks, and if they cheered for the non-Greeks, their fellow Greek brothers or sisters would heckle them and talk smack.

A second example of this, and I know many of you (non-Greeks) have experienced it, is when walking into a class that has a large population of Greek students; notice that they simply talk amongst themselves and rarely care to talk to you. Then when you try to befriend them, they give you dirty looks. Perhaps this may be a sweeping generalization, but many-a-time it is true.

The Greeks seems to be exhibiting a case of elitism, although some Greeks have said that the Greek community tries constantly to make ties with the non-Greek organizations. I haven’t seen it, all I see are the Delta Gammas, the Sigma Alpha Epsilons, Kappa Sigmas, the Kappa Kappa Gammas and the Boom Shaka Lackas hanging out solely within their respective fraternity/sorority and within the Greek community.

We as Hurricanes are suppose to bleed orange and green, not gold and maroon, black and purple, blue and gold. How can we be a united University when we are divided by a war between the Greeks and Trojans? You Greeks, before you brag and elevate yourselves higher than you already are, consider what your elitist attitudes do to the unity of “La U.” You Non-Greeks don’t think you don’t have a part in this, stop pointing fingers at the Greeks and begin being proactive, erase your stereotypes and bias attitudes.

If both armies do their part, we can be a united campus under the one banner of our great University. All Hail the University of Miami.

Jovanni Bello can be contacted at j.bello@umiami.edu.

Re: “Hurricanes Hurting”, 3/4

Allow me to be the first to disagree with the notion that it has been a disappointing season for the women’s basketball team.

For me, the most disappointing aspect of the season was the lack of student fans. There were around five students who were not on the University payroll who came to every game. That, more than any 13-16 season, is a disappointment.

Don’t get me wrong. Losing is disappointing, and the team spent more time losing than winning. But to have this entire season classified as disappointing by someone who apparently doesn’t even know that JoJuana Jones isn’t on the team (and hasn’t been for quite some time) amounts to nothing less than hatin’. The author should know that Amy Audibert didn’t play enough to become a scoring threat (though she was quite the beast on defense!). And to write a review of the season without even mentioning rising stars Tatjana Marincic and Katie Hayek is irresponsible and forces me to question if the author has even been to a game.

After losing roughly 40 points per game worth of players to graduation and injury, the ‘Canes stared down a stacked ACC schedule with Tamara James, Yalonda McCormick and a handful of ladies who haven’t yet seen much playing time. Head Coach Ferne Labati was faced with the seemingly unattainable task of turning a whole lot of not much into the high caliber women’s basketball team that we are used to.

The ‘Canes were inconsistent for the first half of the season, winning four, then losing five out of six, then winning five. This inconsistency was due largely to how young and inexperienced this team was. Inexperience would prove to be an Achilles’ heel as the team suffered five straight losses for the first five ACC games. Disappointing? Yes.

But then something happened. The ‘Canes decided to win in spite of the unrealistic odds and they turned the season around against then No. 19 Florida State. After an easy win at Clemson, the team slipped against Duke. This, however, is not an instance of disappointment. The same Miami Hurricanes that lost to Texas Tech by 60 points early in the season fought the entire Duke game and held them to single digits. Not exactly disappointing. The ‘Canes roared back with wins over Va. Tech and Virginia only to suffer back to back, last-second heartbreakers against N.C. State and Maryland. After the, yes, disappointing Duke/Va. Tech weekend, the ‘Canes went into the ACC Tournament determined. The tough game against Georgia Tech ended with James’s game-winning granny shot in the last 0:00.01 second, and Miami came within 2:00 of being the Cinderella story of the ACC after owning No. 1 seed UNC for 38:00.

There is nothing disappointing about the Miami Hurricanes that played at that tournament. Tamara was fantastic as usual, but we finally had some depth. Marincic brought in a double-double, Hayek was nailing threes like no one’s business, and Fallon Phanord’s last game as a Miami Hurricane just so happened to be the game of her life.

To the team and the coaching staff: On behalf of the band, the cheerleaders, the sunsations and the five or so hard-core student fans, y’all made us proud.

Chris Fisher

Dancin’ Band Dude

Congratulations are in order to Lambda Chi Alpha and Delta Phi Epsilon for continuing their Greek Week Dynasty. They, along with the other competing fraternities and sororities, helped raise over $19,516 for United Cerebral Palsy. They also raised 730 pints of blood, as well as 107 platelet donations. While these impressive philanthropic achievements should be recognized and applauded, mainly due to the significant increase in money raised-only $10,000 was raised last year-there comes a point where one must question whether too much emphasis is placed on winning, and not enough is placed on the good that is being done, which is what should be the true purpose of the competition.

The Blood Drive, which benefited the Community Blood Bank, collected donations for four days, seeing just about every Greek Week participant do his or her part by donating. The problem, though, is that the fraternities and sororities require-yes, require-that every member give blood. If for some reason they couldn’t, they had to find someone else to donate for them. Thus, many people who shouldn’t have been donating blood, did. There was the fraternity brother who lied about when he got his nipples pierced. And there was the sorority sister who was so freaked out by needles-yet still forced to donate-that she passed out not after donating, but after getting her finger pricked. The issue here is not that people shouldn’t be donating blood; it’s that they shouldn’t be forced or required to donate blood. Bonus points were given to groups going on their “efficiency day” as well as to those donating platelets. Something just seems wrong about placing point values on body parts. Imagine how many points you could get for donating a kidney! It got so extreme that people seem to have forgotten that donating blood was a way to save peoples lives, not just a way to get more points for your fraternity or sorority.

One of the, if not the, highlights of Greek week is the infamous Organized Cheer (O-Cheer). This year was no exception, nor was it a disappointment. The fraternities showed off their dancing “skills,” the sororities, their ability to create catchy cheers, and everybody’s ability to entertain. The night wasn’t solely dedicated to entertaining and a removing one’s clothes on stage-there was also a canned food drive. Participants were encouraged to bring food, not to help those who are less fortunate, but instead to get 110 points if your organization brought 50 items. Yet again, the thought as to why you should do these good deeds is over shadowed by the number of points available to get.

Granted, Greek Week is all about getting your fraternity or sorority together for some friendly competition to benefit a good cause, and of course get bragging rights. Yet it’s equally important to look at the root of the event.

So, for the Greeks that participated, take some time to think about the true purposes of Greek Week. It is a time to show dedication to, and have pride in you fraternity or sorority, but more importantly to raise money for a wonderful philanthropy.