By The Editorial Board
The following piece, written by the editorial editors, reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.
Creative Commons Photo
You may have noticed the Miami name popping up all over the interwebs this past week in the same sentence as "bagels" and "break in" and "bros."
A video posted on Sunday, which has since appeared on Reddit, Gawker and Total Frat Move among other sites, seems to show members of the fraternity Phi Tau attempting to break into the house of Kappa Alpha -- and much to their surprise, getting caught on tape by an onlooker.
The four-minute video, which has garnered more than 650,000 views on Youtube, shows the back-and-forth between the cameraman and the crew's chosen lookout, who after a few minutes realizes that yes, the whole thing is being filmed. One by one, members of the group start to confront the cameraman, one of which was armed with a bag of plain bagels.
At first glance (and maybe after a few replays so you can quote the "Miami gossip girl" part), this video seems like just another example of drunken campus drama. But as you let the chuckles subside, what else does this incident reveal about Miami?
You might be scratching your heads right about now; however, The Editorial Board believes this incident calls for a moment of analysis. Clearly, if this video can inspire Bagel & Deli to spontaneously add a brand new bagel to their menu (which is called "The Lookout" by the way), it's probably something worth talking about.
This video not only catches a group of students doing something wrong, but it also conveys how surprised they are about being caught. And it speaks to the general consensus at Miami that as a campus and as a student body, we feel entitled to get away with things and scrape by.
Isn't that something we should pay attention to? The Editorial Board certainly thinks so. From where we're sitting, this video is as much convicting as it is comical.
As the group of six students kicked down the door of the Kappa Alpha house, they didn't even consider the possibility that anyone would watching, or that someone would actually call them out on it.
Don't we often have this mentality about life at Miami? We easily fall into the idea of thinking that we're above the law. We often think they can get away with just about anything and no one will care. We are all open to watch our peers do stupid things and we will surely document it with photos, but we won't actually do anything about it.
We are quick to do stupid things ourselves all in the search of a fun evening, and we never consider that something bad could happen to us.
The same mentality applies outside of the Uptown scene. It's like the dangers and realities of the normal world don't quite reach us here inside the barrier of Oxford.
We are shocked when we get parking tickets, even though we don't have a red pass. We feel wronged when we get a zero on an assignment even though we haven't turned it in yet. We feel invincible, like certain rules and regulations and societal guidelines should not apply to us. As Miamians, we cling to our bubble-like surroundings and don't think twice.
This is not just a college thing or a Greek thing, it's a Miami thing. Fraternities and sororities may carry much of the brunt for Miami's partying and bad behavior image -- but it's an issue that reaches to every single person who calls Oxford their temporary home.
Think about it. How often do you lock your door? Are you ever annoyed that it's locked and you actually have to pull your keys out?
You may think these habits are fleeting and will fade as soon as the real world beckons, but they may be harder to break than we think. Beyond the obvious safety concerns of this lifestyle, it's also setting us up for moments of failure. When we're accustomed to living in dream-like state where we're surprised to see any ramifications for our irresponsibility, how will we fare after we leave Miami?
Will we keep acting however we want and hope that nobody is watching? If so, just like the example from our fine classmates, we'll probably end up getting caught.