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The 20 Best News Stories Of 2015

Best News Story

1. AXO At ASU Got Roasted On National TV For Taking Selfies

AXO Selfie

As part of a sisterhood event, Alpha Chi Omega at Arizona State University took a trip to a Diamondbacks game, and whilst there, they took a bunch of selfies to commemorate how much fun they were having watching baseball. Naturally, they caught the eyes of the commentators, who could not stop laughing at how glued the girls were to their phones, and the video went viral. As a way to thank the girls being good sports, the Diamondbacks offered the girls free tickets to a second game. The sorority declined them, asking instead for the tickets to be donated to New Leaf, a local non-profit that supports victims of domestic violence.

To watch the video, click here.


2. Protests At The University of Missouri Sparked A Media Frenzy

University of Missouri Protests

Innumerable schools made headlines in the latter part of this year for campus-wide protests, mainly on the basis of race, but the most notable of them was The University of Missouri. What started as a hunger strike to get the university’s president removed from office led to violent threats over Yik Yak and mob harrassment of people who supported free speech. The entire calamity resulted in students being urged to report any speech or behavior they found offensive. People who argued against the protests were labeled racist, and the “silenced” did most of the silencing.

To read more, click here.


3. Alabama Alpha Phi Comes Under Fire For Featuring Hot Blonde Girls In Its Recruitment Video

Alpha Phi Recruitment Video

Bama Alpha Phi’s 2015 recruitment video went viral when a writer named A.L. Bailey likened the girls to Donald Trump in what they “do” for women. The video, and most others like it, featured a bunch of blonde girls bouncing around and laughing, which many took to be misogynistic and racist. Many sorority women saw the recruitment video for what it was — a typical recruitment video — and stood with Alpha Phi, while others found the outrage laughable, but there were still many people who maintain the video is offensive. Alpha Phi has since removed the video from its YouTube channel.

To read more and to watch the video, click here.


4. A Study Said Cheese Was Pretty Much A Drug, And We Ran With It

Cheese Drug

So there’s a protein in cheese called casein, and it’s basically morphine. Your body breaks it down into “casomorphines” and a bunch of other science stuff that says your inability to quit queso isn’t really your fault. Thank the cheese gods.

To read more and understand the science, click here.


5. Sororities Actively Denounced The Safe Campus Act As Fraternities Supported It.

Campus Safe Act

The Safe Campus Act is a piece of legislation that “would block colleges from investigating sexual assault cases unless the alleged victim also reports to law enforcement, and in those cases, the school couldn’t fully adjudicate until a criminal investigation concludes. No other form of misconduct would face this sort of requirement.” While fraternities have spend hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying for it, sororities one by one began withdrawing their support of it. Alpha Phi was the first to withdraw its support, followed quickly by Delta Phi Epsilon, Phi Mu, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Chi Omega, Gamma Phi Beta, Sigma Delta Tau, and Delta Gamma before the National Panhellenic Council withdrew its support.

To read more about the Safe Campus Act, click here.
To read more about NPC’s decision to withdraw its support of the legislation, click here.


6. Our Favorite Places Are Now Selling Alcohol

Starbucks booze

This summer Taco Bell opened its first restaurant to serve alcohol in Chicago that would change the drunk eating game forever. Sorority girls everywhere rejoiced at the idea of drinking somewhere alcohol was previously banned. But Taco Bell wasn’t the only place to wise up. Select Target and Starbucks locations also added booze to their menus, and frankly, we never have to be sober again.

To read more about Taco Bell, click here.
To read more about Target, click here.
To read more about Starbucks, click here.


7. SAE At OU Leaked Disgusting Racist Chant On YouTube

OU Racist Chant
Simply put, the OU chapter of SAE chanted a horribly offensive and racist chant claiming “there will never be a n****r SAE” which was caught on video, and subsequently went viral. The national organization was rightfully horrified, calling the video “ugly,” “demoralizing” and “absolutely counter to the values of SAE,” before suspending every member of the chapter and moving to have all 15,000 members of SAE nationally to undergo a new diversity training program. The whole world turned against Greeks in that moment, though most all Greeks denounced the video as vehemently as everyone else did. Obama even spoke on the issue, stating “there’s no doubt that the overwhelming number of students at the University of Oklahoma, and around the country, think that kind of behavior is deplorable and don’t accept it,” which he said to be indicative of progress.

To watch the initial video, click here.
To read more about SAE Nationals’ response, click here.
To watch Obama’s response, click here.


8. Lilly Pulitzer Created A Line For Target

Lilly For Target

The sorority world went crazy when Lilly Pulitzer announced a collaboration with Target. Some people were thrilled about finding their favorite brand for less, while others were annoyed and felt like it cheapened the brand. In either case, everyone was let down, because the line sold out in minutes, with no plans of being restocked. You can now buy Lilly for Target items at a 500% markup — making it more expensive than Lilly Pulitzer.

To read more, click here.


9. Sigma Kappa and Kappa Kappa Gamma National Headquarters Banned Members From Throwing What They Know

Kappa Throw It

It’s hardly shocking information that over-sensitivity was big in 2015, but some of the headlines were just outright nonsensical. Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Kappa nationals urged members to stop throwing their hand symbols because of their likeness to gang signs to avoid possible confusion. I don’t feel like anyone would necessarily be confused by looking at the girls throwing it, and the places they threw, but rules are rules, and both organizations made it clear they would no longer post photos with the hand symbols on their websites or social media channels. Sorority girls everywhere said “LOL, no.”

To read more about Sigma Kappa, click here.
To read more about Kappa Kappa Gamma, click here.


10. There Was An Actual School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry

Hogwarts

A school in Poland offered a four-day program for a bunch of Harry Potter obsessed kids (and probably adults) to take classes at a faux Hogwarts. “Students” were able to stay in the castle, take classes as “witches,” meet magical creatures, be endlessly teased by their friends when they came home, and then turn said friends into newts.

To read more, click here.


11. People Lost Their Shit Over Freshman Move-In Signs

Offensive Signs

Since the dawn of time, or at least tertiary education, people have hung signs outside their houses to intimidate freshmen and their parents. They’re usually a little crass in nature to excite students about the wild journey to come, and terrify parents about, well, the wild journey to come. But students at Old Dominion came under fire for their sign because some dude was “outraged” and they were asked to take the sign down. As outrage breeds outrage, other schools joined in on pretending to be offended and the world kept spinning.

To read more, click here.


12. Michigan State SAE Created A Fraternity Tumblr That Put All Sorority Tumblrs To Shame

Fraternity Tumblr

Everyone got bored of sorority tumblrs, like, two years ago — at least we did — but sororities continue to make them, because it’s just a thing they have to do at this point. What we never knew we needed to happen was for fraternities to start making tumblrs in a similar fashion to sorority tumblrs like SAE at Michigan State did. Hilarity ensues.

To view the gallery, click here.


13. Alpha Sigma Tau At UCA Leaked A “Hazing” Video And The University Responded Using Reasonable Judgment

Hazing pushups

AST at UCA had an event with new members during which the older girls mock hazed them with a member of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity. The new members and active members, alike, were laughing as they were instructed to do pushups. Still, many members of the UCA community were up in arms about the “hazing” incident. In the only recorded instance in history (maybe), the university ruled it, unanimously, as a practical joke, stating that “the issue is not hazing,” but “a rush to judgment.”

To read more, click here.


14. Old Navy Ripped Off Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly Old Navy

Lilly for Target. SaS. Lilly for Old Navy, STFU. Old Navy ripped off two of LP’s patterns and created knockoff clothing that they sold in stores for nearly a tenth of the price of the original garments. People were pissed, but none more so than Lilly Pulitzer itself, which sued the way less relevant brand for copyright infringement.

To read more, click here.


15. A Deleted Scene From Mean Girls Was Released

Deleted Scene Mean Girls

Don’t freak out, but there was a deleted scene from Mean Girls that low-key changed the whole movie. Before the spring fling queen is announced, Regina and Cady have a confrontation in the bathroom where they basically make up and put the past behind them. It’s funny and heart-warming, and I can’t decide if I like the movie better with it or without it.

To watch the deleted Mean Girls scene, click here.


16. A Girl Drove Around Texas State In A Barbie Jeep

Barbie Jeep Girl

Tara Monroe, a Texas State junior lost her license after refusing a breathalyzer test on her way home from a Waka Flocka concert. Her dad took away her car, and she took her transportation into her own hands. She bought a Barbie Jeep off a little girl named Charlene and rode it around, making her quite the campus celebrity. She says it was “the best way [she] could have gotten [her] 15 minutes of fame.”

To read more, click here.


17. A Phi Sig At Montclair State University Brought Jimmy Fallon To Formal

Jimmy Fallon
Well, a cardboard cut-out of Jimmy Fallon, that is. The hilarious Phi Sig at Montclair found herself without a date to her sorority’s Gatsby themed formal, so she improvised and created a date instead. Using the hashtag #FallonGoesToFormal, she recreated all her “datey” moments with him, from cute candids to passing out at the after party. So many LOLs were had.

To view the gallery, click here.


18. Science Broke Down What It Means To Be A Boob Guy Or A Butt Guys

Science Boobs Butts

According to the great scientists out there who aren’t busy curing cancer, there’s some science behind why a guy likes butts or boobs. It doesn’t just affect who they end up with, but says a lot about them as well. Guys who liked big boobs tend to be guys’ guys and a preference for small boobs means he’s probably religious…because tits are sinful? IDK. Big butt lovers need order in their lives while small butt lovers have control of their emotions to name a few characteristics.

To read more, click here.


19. Nipples Had A Moment

Nipple bikini

2015 was the year of the nipple. The nipple needed to be freed. Out of nowhere, people started feeling restricted for keeping their nips covered, and celebrities like Chrissy Tiegen tested the no-nipple boundaries on Instagram. While some think the movement is unnecessary, others are fighting for their right to bare nipple. Lauren Forsythe, a Phi Mu at Belmont State University posted the above photo of herself in a nipple bikini to Instagram. Her sorority asked her to take it down or be subject to a disciplinary hearing. Instead, she just decided to quit her sorority.

To read more, click here.


20. An LSU Gave A Speech Instructing People On How To Seduce Women For His Speech Class

LSU Seduction Speech

Complete with a blowup doll prop, a hilarious student made his speech class funny with his tips on how to seduce a woman. The speech was littered with gems like “start shopping at whole foods” and “tuck your napkin inside your shirt — it makes you look like a baby who needs a bib, and women loves babies” and the entire class was in hysterics. Of course, people got upset by the “misogynistic” video, but we saw it for what it was — fucking funny.

To watch the video, click here.


Can’t wait to see what the new year brings.

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