UI says email from chancellor warning students about fraternities was hoax
It seemed too brazen to be true: the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sending an email to students warning them about fraternities and sororities and their ”aggressive recruitment tactics,” “Greek culture of alcoholism” and “lack of respect for the community” that “degrades campus life.”
The email, which appeared to come from Chancellor Richard Herman and his email address (chancellor@illinois.edu), was sent over the long weekend to a still unknown number of people.
University officials set the record straight this week, saying that the email was in fact a hoax. University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said computer security specialists are still looking into the matter. She said the email appeared to have gone out in batches.
Kaler sent out an email to about 2,700 people who the school thought had received the message telling them that the original email was a hoax.
“This message was a hoax and was NOT sent by Chancellor Richard Herman and was NOT authorized by the campus administration,” she wrote. (By the way, the end of the message notes that her email was approved by the chancellor’s office.)
Kaler said the university’s system had not been hacked, but that it was just spam. “We get thousands and thousands of spam a day,” she said Tuesday. “What made this one unusual is they used the chancellor’s name and title.”
The hoax email, which comes in the midst of Greek recruitment, says the following about fraternities and sororities:
“These organizations present themselves as prestigious, yet are discriminatory, serve to perpetuate social inequality, especially with respect to the opposite gender, and promote a lack of diversity. Many students have expressed concerns with regards to safety on campus, particularly due to Greek culture and behavior. It is my hope that a student’s experience on campus strengthens one’s individuality, but the Greek system emphasizes the group above all, without cause or reason. This is detrimental to the purpose of universities.”
Kaler said that Herman does not condone the opinions expressed in the email.
“The chancellor leaves it to students to determine what registered student organizations they join,” she said, noting that there are more than 1,000 such groups to choose from. “His philosophy is whatever choices they make, they need to be thoughtful about them and they need to act responsibly.”
Kavita Kumar covers higher education for the Post-Dispatch. 
After a while of getting e-mails from the Chancellor, you get a feel for his writing style as you would from any other individual. Also, if one actually reads all the letters that he does send to students and faculty, you notice right away that the letter has been approved by the office of the Dean.
Another interesting thing to notice that this article neglected to mention, is that next to the Chancellor’s name when he signs off on the letter, are the letters, GDI which stands for “Goddamn Independant” on campus. It’s an unofficial term used for those who are not part of Fraternities or Sororties here in Champaign, obviously indicating that Chancellor Herman is not a participant in Greek Life. Someone who is writing such a letter would not use “Greek” terminology like that.
Most people who go to this school understand that the Chancellor has more class than this and considering that the Univerisity of Illinois has statistically, the largest Greek life in the country, a letter like this simply doesn’t make any sense.