Welcome to the debut episode of “No Offense, But,” the Daily Bruin’s Opinion podcast.
Radio Director Chris Campbell is joined by Opinion columnists Aram Ghoogasian and Casey Kovarik to discuss how to best address sexual assault in Greek institutions. While Kovarik believes that this issue is best addressed by cultural changes within the institutions, Ghoogasian argues that external action by university administration would be most effective.
Removing the title IX exemption is the same as abolishing fraternities and sororities. You don’t just make a 100+ year organization with tradition and wealth become something it’s not. You effectively kill it. So what grows in it’s place?
Let’s say part of the reason sexual assault happens is misogyny, and men in groups breeds misogyny. Would killing fraternities prevent male-only organizations from forming? Cultural organizations technically allow people from all cultures, but they are for the most part self-segregated organizations. And that’s why you don’t just transform fraternities into co-ed ones. Co-ed fraternities do exist; they’re just less popular. People associate because they identify with a group of people more. Good luck stopping people from associating and good luck eliminating gender as a social construct any time soon.
And what would be the end result if you did eliminate fraternities? My guess are either of two possible scenarios:
1. You may indeed reduce sexual assault. What accounts for most of the correlation with fraternity members and sexual assault is that they simply party more. If no longer being in a fraternity means they consume less alcohol and meet less people, then you reduce incidences of sexual assault. This is the more unlikely of the two scenarios. Alcohol and substance use is tied to social life which is college life. That doesn’t disappear with the elimination of fraternities.
2. The social scene will be similar to high school. Most of your friends are involved in the same activities as you. Like high school some kid and his friends decide to have organize a massive party; things get out of hand the kid gets in trouble and it all happens again the next week with a different kid at a different place. The difference with this and fraternities is the University can’t regulate it. The alcohol and sexual assault workshop they give at orientation, fraternity members are obligated to attend one every year. Now you can’t target your education towards the population most at risk. There are many regulations to fraternity parties (reporting parties to police, no kegs…read their social policy if you’re interested). Fraternities are incentivized to follow these regulations or they can be put on social probation or shut down. They are incentivized to prevent sexual assault in their own house. A sexual assault allegation is a death sentence for a fraternity.
There are areas where Greek Life can improve though. Equality is one. There is this idea that if sororities were allowed to have parties, that it would reduce sexual assault as there is a power imbalance between men in fraternities and women. There’s articles online that discuss this more.
Co-ed fraternities might be the future, but they aren’t the answer to sexual assault in the present. Equality is. Changing rape culture is. Of course, they won’t be simple fixes.