The young men of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity could be seen as a controlled group study for a policy that could soon affect almost every Greek organization on campus.
Since last month, the officers, pledges and brothers of SAE who live in the SAE house have been drug tested.
No members have tested positive thus far, and the penalties for having drugs in their system are severe, ranging from housing expulsion to being removed from the fraternity.
We applaud the actions being taken to try and help clean up an aspect of college life that is largely swept under the rug: drug abuse.
By testing its members, SAE is taking the lead and being proactive in trying to end that problem.
The fraternity has the added benefit of trying to clean up its alleged less-than-stellar reputation on such matters, so it's a win-win situation.
The idea for the testing came from SAE's adviser and are mandated by the independent company that owns the fraternity's residence, not the University.
We hope other Greek organizations will take note of what SAE is doing and soon follow suit.
By holding members accountable for their actions, Auburn's Greek life is bound to improve, as fewer members will be out in the community at large serving as public embarrassments.
After all, because of the close-knit nature of the Greek community, when one student is seen as a public embarrassment, all other Greeks tend to get painted with the same brush.
In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry about such things, but in the world we live in, public perception and opinion changes on a daily basis, and members seen in the community as drug users and abusers could certainly hurt recruitment numbers and organizations' pocketbooks.
Since the Greek organizations seem to exist as a class of students set apart from the general population and since, as a group, those organizations receive special perks and privileges like block seating at football games, we think it is perfectly fair to demand members of those groups should be held to a higher standard.
If the Greek organizations see themselves as leaders on Auburn's campus (and considering many of our campus leaders are Greeks), they should challenge themselves to be held to high standards.
By raising the bar, you'll be assuring the men and women who represent your organizations are on the up and up.
And that's a good thing.
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