FRATERNITIES
Fraternities across the country live with a certain stereotype: parties with jungle juice flowing and music thumping in a dingy satellite house basement. It’s a a debaucherous oasis. And according to some college administrators, it’s also the source of campus sexual assault problems.
Fraternity and sorority members are more likely to drink greater amounts of alcohol than their non-Greek life colleagues, according to the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention. The 2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study cited that fraternity members are more likely than nonmembers to engage in heavy drinking — which can lead to injury, assault and even death.
Unfortunately, current events perpetuate the stereotypes of fraternity life. After being cited as the “deadliest fraternity” by Bloomberg, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the oldest and largest fraternities in the country, decided in March to eliminate its pledging process nationwide. This university’s chapter of the fraternity returned in 2010 after losing its charter in 2004 because of hazing and alcohol violations, and the fraternity as a whole hopes to eliminate hazing and the damaging consequences associated with it, members said.
College and university officials throughout the U.S. have long noticed the trend of dangers linked to fraternity involvement.
Several institutions — mostly private ones — have begun encouraging reform of fraternities on their campuses. For example, Amherst College officials have decided to prohibit students from belonging to any sorority or fraternity, even off-campus ones. Wesleyan University and Trinity College are encouraging fraternities to accept female members.
The goal of these reforms is to eliminate events associated with the heavy drinking perceived to go almost hand-in-hand with fraternity life, such as alcohol poisoning, drug overdose and sexual and physical assault.
While the concern behind the officials of these institutions is admirable, it is not fair to strictly point a finger at Greek life and blame it solely for drinking-related injuries and sexual assaults.
For now, officials at this university have not enacted any reforms similar to those at other colleges. But despite bad publicity, officials should not denounce fraternities and their traditions outright; other groups on college campuses are just as susceptible to being breeding grounds of irresponsible drinking that can lead to assault.
Alcohol abuse doesn’t just affect the bodies and minds of fraternity members; it affects those involved with sports teams, academic clubs and a capella groups just the same. However, what makes Greek life an easy target is its constant publicity. Whether it’s a member wearing his fraternity’s letters on his sweatshirt or another fraternity-related tragedy in the news, those affiliated with Greek life are always under fire, while other offenders of misconduct are not scrutinized as much.
Universities should focus their efforts to curb assaults and abusive alcohol consumption campuswide as opposed to targeting specific groups on the campus. Instead of eliminating Greek life, university officials should educate all students about assault on the campus and the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. Alcohol doesn’t care if you’re a “brother” or not; the results of excessive drinking will be the same.
