Letter: Wall Street Journal story distorted views on dating in South
Published: November 18, 2009
Updated: November 18, 2009
Wall Street Journal story distorted views on dating in South
On Friday, there was an article about the “Southern Dating Game” in the Wall Street Journal. Although we at Auburn were honored to be mentioned in such a prestigious newspaper, I don’t believe the article portrayed the true reasons for our southern traditions.
The tradition of dressing up and taking dates to football games dates all the way back to the late 1800s when college football came to existence. The people believed the games to be social events where appearance and your acquaintances portrayed your social stature. The tradition has carried on through the years because Auburn is a university who greatly values its past time.
Auburn men do not take dates to “baby-sit” them when they are drunk. Dates exist because we see Saturdays in the fall as a celebration worth sharing with someone else. We take dates because the Auburn men and women before us did the same and we believe in carrying on our traditions. Very few people outside of the Auburn family can grasp our reasoning for traditions, but those within our close-knit family know exactly why we do what we do.
When the eagle flies on Saturday and the roaring sound of “War Eagle” rings around Jordan-Hare Stadium, every single Auburn fan gets chills because it is something that we share with all the Auburn family that came before us.
The truth is I was not surprised that the article didn’t truly engulf the meaning of our traditions because only we in the Auburn family understand it.
The Auburn men are southern gentlemen and the Auburn women are young ladies who deserve to be treated like queens. This is the motivation behind our traditions and it’s because all Auburn men and women believe in carrying on these traditions that I believe in Auburn and love it.
Peyton Alsobrook
Auburn University freshman
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Mr. Alsobrook, I don’t think giving you an advance copy of a piece is anywhere close to the norm but do think speaking with you, presumably over the phone, speaks well for this reporter.
If Auburn University can survive Bobby Lowder and some of his ilk then I suggest we’ll surely withstand this. Cut yourself some slack but please consider going to Ralph and at least browsing through the works of Andrea Dworkin or Susan Faludi or ...
And let’s worry more about our academic reputation than our athletics or even traditions.
War Eagle!
There was no copy of the article sent to me before publication, which was very questionable. She called me and notified me the story would be in the following day, but when I asked to see a copy she refused saying it was not finished yet. The issue has already been questioned and this letter to the editor will also be seen either tomorrow or Friday in the journal as a part of the agreement which was made.
Your point about pride is very truthful and was my main motivation for writing this response. I can deal with the hate mail I have received from several Auburn fans, however, I have such a pride for my university that I refused to let it be perceived in that way in the national eye. I believe in the this university and refuse to let anyone try to misportray our traditions. War Eagle and Happy Thanksgiving
Mr. Alsobrook, Thanks for your reply. I certainly didn’t expect this and it likely speaks well of you. I am pondering some further questions however given what you’ve now shared.
Often journalists will confirm their work before it goes to print. Did Ms. Karp? What might have changed if this did in fact occur?
I’ve yet to go through the following but http://journalism.nyu.edu/ethics/handbook/ might address Ms. Karp’s duties to you.
Have you or yours spoken with the AU Greek Life office given these allegations of journalistic malpractice?
I also noted you felt like you’d learned a lesson about no national media being interested in “making you look great”. I personally do hope they, or any media for that matter, are searching for a story. We are the only ones who can make ourselves look great and even then we need to recall pride goeth before the fall.
War Eagle!
I am Peyton Alsobrook, the young man mentioned in the first paragraph of the article. I was not the one mentioned later as the sigma nu sophomores. I was aware that Ms. Karp was interviewing me because the Greek Life office here at Auburn contacted me asking me to do the interview. I agreed with the thought that the article was going to be positive. I sat with Ms. Karp for an hour and a half discussing all of our traditions and why we keep them going. None of that information was put into the article. First of all, I said that the PLEDGES had meetings on Sunday where funny STORIES from the previous day were shared. I never mentioned brothers or comparing notes because they are both false. The comment about northern girls was also incredibly altered. I said my dates that were the most fun were the ones who knew a lot about Auburn football. I said girls from down south really know a lot about it because they are raised with it. This was turned into northern girls are not good dates. Finally, the most humorous alteration of all was that I have my dates narrowed down to four for the Bama game. Nothing comparing to this came out of my mouth because I do not even have a ticket in the student section for the game and will not be taking a date at all. This was a huge lesson to me that no national news is looking to make people look great, they are all searching for a story. She made this one up because honestly, she did not understand the traditions. I hope this clears up any questions or concerns you mentioned. I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving. War Eagle
I’m assuming Peyton Alsobrook was the young man prominently featured in the WSJ’s piece (see http://bit.ly/1ifZBm) which he references. If so, was he aware that he was speaking with a reporter at some point in time and, if so, was he surprised what he shared would subsequently appear for publication?
Mr. Karp, the reporter involved, placed certain statements of his inside quotation marks. Were these quotes inaccurate?
Was it falsely reported that he and his Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brothers use Sundays for comparing notes as the dates they’ve taken to the game?
Photographs from the WSJ’s Eric Lesser appear with the reporting so it seems like this was hardly secret squirrel journalism.
Finally, some young folks are ladies and gentlemen. Some aren’t, at least on all occasions. As fond as I am of Auburn University, promoting an exceptionalism narrative hardly seems useful to those she serves now or those who may have passed through in our past. War Eagle!
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