To Greek or Not to Greek: How to Handle the Rape Culture within Greek Life

In the past month, six sexual assaults have been reported in association to the UC Berkeley Greek system. Rape culture in the Greek system is not a new concept—in fact a College of William and Mary study has found that members of a fraternity are 300% more likely to commit sexual assault than non-members, and members of a sorority are 74% more likely to be sexually assaulted than non-members.

It’s a problem that isn’t easy to solve. The UC Berkeley administration has taken some steps to alleviate the problems, such as creating the “Bear Pact” program and similar PR campaigns promoting intervention as well as instituting of the “Yes means Yes!” standard of consent.

However, the steps that the university has been taking have yet to be effective, which is unsurprising when the proposed mode of change is telling everyone “not to rape.” Although this is a step up from hiding everything under the rug, as we have in the past—recall the 31 women that accused UC Berkeley of doing an utterly shabby job of investing their sexual assault cases– talking will not completely alleviate the problem. The Greek system here, and at any other colleges (*cough cough* all of them) experiencing similar issues, need serious reforms in order to ensure the safety of our student body.

 

Before beginning my first year at Cal, I had some understanding that the Greek system, and the campus as a whole, would present certain dangers—especially to me, a 5’2 girl with an overly welcoming disposition. However, I was not prepared for the prevalence of these dangers. After hearing about these recent events, I have noticed that some of my patterns have shifted. I no longer go to parties at certain houses, I certainly don’t take drinks whose origins I don’t know, and I feel a sense of panic if I’m lost from my friends for even the slightest moment.

Others thoughts reflect my own.

“Even though cases get thrown out and ‘rumors’ aren’t always true, I’m still hesitant because there are truths behind rumors. I’m even hesitant to go to things off campus, because you never know what’s going to happen,” said freshman, Audrey Light.

A few weeks ago, one of my international friends asked why it is that American girls are so attached to their girlfriends at parties. I paused for a second, confused by the question. It had never occurred to me that I could or maybe even should feel safe without a herd of friends around me. Rape culture has been so engraved in our mindsets that we no longer even think of the lack of safety as a problem or strange. Obviously, the fact that I, and other girls, take precautions is a very positive things, but maybe we should do more to change the causes of the problems rather than take preventative measures.

Some schools, such as Middlebury College, Williams College and other prestigious Northeastern universities, have dismantled all Greek life, forcing chapters to disband completely or go “underground.” However, sexual assault still affects many students, suggesting that total elimination is not the solution either. Other schools, such as Wesleyan, have mandated all fraternities to become co-ed. As this policy has just recently been put in place, it’s cannot yet be determined how successful the practice has been.

However, striking down the system or creating solely gender-inclusive groups causes much backlash due to the high level of tradition—i.e. notions of brother and sisterhood, long-held rituals, the concept of family legacy—associated with Greek life. So where does that leave us?

Firstly, our university can make sure to not only disaffiliate the houses involved in the alleged assaults, if suspects are found guilty, but also completely disband them. Some argue that this punishing everyone for a small group of people’s mistakes; however, if the “small group of people” loses their stomping ground, the innocent “everyone else”—and the term “innocent” can also be taken into question—can go hang out somewhere else.

Additionally, our university can make sure to dismiss any students found guilty of sexual assault. And finally, and probably the most likely to actually make change, sorority houses should stop exchanging and associating with houses that have had such problems. Think, no boys are going to want to join the “rape frat that no one likes.”

Currently, I hear at least as much sympathy for the fraternities associated with the crimes as for the girls affected by them. This needs to stop. We need to change our culture as a campus. It is our responsibility. So, Berkeley students, here is our chance to make our school a safe place for everyone—stop defending places where people got hurt and, hopefully, people will stop getting hurt.

Cover Image Source: Occupy.com