![]() To its members, the Greek system offers a surrogate family and a lifelong support network. From 2005 to 2017, Robbins writes, at least 72 young men died in fraternity-related incidents. She’s referring to the fact that fraternities and sororities enable colleges to outsource a good portion of housing and social activities, and that Greeks, who tend to come from better-off families than the GDIs (“God-Damned Independents”), are more apt to pay full tuition, donate to their alma maters, and hold positions of power-all potential obstacles for administrators who aspire to abolish fraternities or rein them in. ![]() “There’s absolutely no reason why there should be fraternities, other than the financial incentive on the part of the universities.” “Fraternities are the worst,” Vanessa Grigoriadis, the author of Blurred Lines, a book about sex, power, and consent on campus, told me. As a Cal student in the mid-1980s, I pledged the Beta Xi chapter of Kappa Sigma. This all came amid the furor over Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose history of alleged sexual assault, heavy drinking, and membership in Yale’s notorious Delta Kappa Epsilon-which in 2010 led its pledges to the campus Women’s Center, where they chanted, “No means yes yes means anal!”-has fueled ongoing vitriol against Cal’s “Dekes” and its Greek system in general. “Fraternities are held to such a low level of accountability that misogyny grows and spreads, seemingly unfettered.” Soon the editorial board of the Daily Cal was weighing in: “Greek life is insular, archaic and toxic,” the student paper opined. “The privilege and sociopathic lack of empathy displayed in this image is profoundly upsetting.” “Men in our society have, especially recently, shown that they couldn’t give a shit about victims of sexual assault,” he wrote. Predictably, the Fijis gave the protesters some shit-several bros posed mockingly around the sign-bearers for a photo that eventually found its way to Walker Spence, a senior who had abandoned his fraternity because he was tired of making “excuses for my own complicity.” Spence posted the photo on Facebook. On the sidewalk out front stood a small group of protesters bearing signs, such as “Boycott Frats” and “Frat Brothers Are 300% More Likely To Commit Sexual Assault.” Cal’s football team was playing UCLA, and the front lawn and wide concrete staircases were crowded with students, parents, and alumni drinking and socializing. This house was bustling, though, on the previous Saturday. The heavy wooden doors are shut and there’s not a “Fiji” in sight. On a Wednesday in mid-October, the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity near the University of California’s Berkeley campus looks all but deserted. “While we constantly educate students, faculty and staff about sexual assault and sexual harassment, this incident confirms our collective efforts are still failing to register with some,” Broderick said.A membership ritual at an unnamed Cal fraternity, from Andrew Moisey’s The American Fraternity ![]() The university president said ODU has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment, and that the school is doing its own investigation. “However, additional information received by the fraternity today indicates that some chapter members may have had involvement with the banners.”īeacham condemned the content of the banners and temporarily suspended the ODU chapter. “Initial reports regarding the banners indicated that no fraternity member had involvement with the banners,” Sigma Nu Executive Director Brad Beacham said in a statement. The Interfraternity Council at ODU called the banners “highly offensive” and said they were placed by “several fraternity members.”īut the national Sigma Nu organization suggested it wasn’t so clear-cut. “Our students, campus community and alumni have been offended.” Broderick said in a letter sent to the community and posted on Facebook. “I am outraged about the offensive message directed toward women that was visible for a time on 43rd Street,” university President John R. The national organization, the university, and student leaders say they will hold those responsible accountable for the offensive banners. Members of the Sigma Nu fraternity live at the house, and now the national Sigma Nu organization has suspended the group while it investigates the incident. “Freshman daughter drop off,” and “Go ahead and drop off mom too,” were messages displayed on two other sheets, CNN affiliate WTKR reported. Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time,” read one of the signs, which was spray-painted on a sheet. Parents bringing their freshmen students to move-in at the Norfolk, Virginia, campus and community last week might have glimpsed these banners hanging from the balcony of a private home. Just before the new semester kicked off at Old Dominion University, some un-“welcome” signs have resulted in a fraternity’s suspension.
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