Head to Head: Abolishing Fraternities
Ideally, college fraternities should serve to instill virtuous values into the lives of the boys who join.
They should reinforce positive traits of masculinity, qualities that promote success and morals men will carry for the rest of their lives.
In my personal experience, many accomplish this. Many successfully create a positive environment where men can flourish personally and contribute to their communities.
However fraternities often fail to meet this goal. Instead, they foster situations that propel men up on a pedestal. This pedestal can make men feel invincible.
At their worst, fraternities become breeding grounds for sexual assault and toxic masculinity, hurting both its members and those around them.
At their core, fraternities should not only leave their members better than when they joined it but should better society itself.
Reforming fraternities to serve society better should not be approached through abolition, but by changing fraternity culture.
While it remains true that fraternities may play active roles in cruel behavior, they hold the power to make true and lasting change.
Symptom, Not Cause
The crimes that happen in a fraternity are reflective of culture as a whole, not just fraternities.
Men are raised to look down on women, to withhold their emotions and to act out violently.
Fraternities are just another cog in this system. Abolishing fraternities does nothing to combat this other than offer a convenient way to ignore the real issue.
It is undeniable that fraternities play an increased role in perpetuating sexual assault.
This comes from an increase in opportunities for assault to occur and an imbalance in the power structure.
Fraternities are to blame for this, but society itself programs men to behave this way.
Men make up about 99% of sexual assault perpetrators. This number isn’t unique to Greek life. They extend to men as a whole.
What Really Goes On
Despite what backward hat-wearing, beer-stained frat boys would have you believe, fraternities are multi-structured organizations.
When done correctly, systems are effectively put in place to ensure that fraternities and the events they host are safe environments for members and attendees.
The U requires fraternities to have a risk management policy in place. Generally, fraternities appoint risk management chairs.
The risk chair serves to educate members on signs of dangerous alcohol consumption, what to do in potentially hazardous situations and more.
In addition, in my experience, social events often employ members to remain sober for the duration of the event, ensuring it remains safe.
When these systems fail, there are repercussions.
Kappa Sigma at the University of Utah experienced this firsthand. After reports of hazing and sexual assault, the fraternity was promptly shut down.
Although now reinstated, the chapter was overhauled to better align with the values set by the University of Utah.
This is textbook accountability.
Unlike house parties or bars, fraternities are subject to more accountability. A sexual assault allegation, as it should be, can lead to the disbandment of an entire fraternity.
Capacity for Change
Rather than searching for ways to get rid of fraternities, opposers of the American tradition should look for ways fraternities can be utilized to create cultural change.
On one hand, men are given environments where they feel untouchable. On the other, they are subscribing themselves to a club that will inevitably play a large role in defining who they become.
This unique trait is an asset, not a liability. Utilizing this to create a more positive culture for men is the answer.
Fraternities at the U are often required to have a certain number of members attend sexual assault training lectures.
This past year, Bonny Shade took the stage in the Student Union. Shade, being a victim of sexual assault at the hands of a fraternity member, is a proponent of the organization’s ability to build better men.
Compared to their non-Greek counterparts, fraternity members receive more sexual assault training. Universities such as Yale require it.
The U’s Beta Theta Pi requires members to attend training through the Rape Recovery Center.
As opposed to those not in Greek life, fraternities suffer from their members committing sexual assault. Members have a direct stake in the future of their chapter, when they mess up the whole chapter takes the fall.
In Defense of Fraternity
Fraternities provide many benefits to college campuses and their communities.
Total abolishment would create a void in many aspects of the college experience.
They provide a place for men to form lifelong relationships with like-minded individuals. This is a huge asset in combatting the male mental health crisis.
For many individuals attending college in an unfamiliar city, fraternities offer a convenient way to fulfill the need for comradery.
In my experience, becoming a member of Beta Theta Pi not only has given me a community but actively pushed me to accomplish more.
This isn’t unique to me, studies show that members of Greek life tend to perform better on average than their non-Greek counterparts.
Fraternities are also large players in philanthropy. This past year, the University of Utah’s Sigma Chi raised over $300,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Beta Theta Pi raises money for the Rape Recovery Center. Sigma Nu raises money for Project Embrace.
Building a Better Future
With a track record of criminal behavior ranging back over a century, it is understandable why many call for the abolishment of the institutions.
However, with proper guidance and attention, fraternities have the structural integrity to define the next generation of men to be better.
Rape culture is not eliminated by removing the environments where it occurs. It simply moves to the next target.
Combatting rape culture is an active, ongoing endeavor. An endeavor that requires men to show up and contribute. Forcibly removing them from the equation does nothing other than change the label that proceeds to another sexual assault statistic.
Greek life is one of the oldest social institutions, with the first fraternity dating back to the early 1700s. For as long as fraternities have existed, they have been dangerous places for women.
Supporters of Greek life say fraternities have benefits that outweigh their dangerous patterns. However, increased rape and assault are not worth the promise of male camaraderie. A place where violence runs rampant is no place for men to learn values or virtues.
Any institution that regularly plays a role in widespread cruel behavior towards vulnerable groups of people needs to be abolished as a matter of basic safety.
Elitism
Men’s clubs have been a staple of elitism and patriarchy as long as they have existed. Fraternities are no exception. These institutions are shrouded in elitism and only accessible to rich, predominantly white students.
Fraternity membership is not free. Dues can cost members up to thousands of dollars on top of college tuition. Additionally, fraternities are known to be extremely susceptible to nepotism, with preferences for generational members. This classist farce is outdated and should be reduced in higher education, not encouraged and funded.
The effects of this elitism are displayed in the stark lack of diversity within Greek life. According to a 2014 study, 73% of fraternity members are white. Fraternities are communities defined by exclusion rather than inclusion.
Although fraternities often use this money to make large philanthropic contributions, these donations give them the legal classification of a 501(c)(7) organization.
This is defined as a nonprofit that serves its members but not necessarily society in general. This status makes many fraternities tax-exempt, making their true motives behind charitable donations questionable. It is common for wealthy people in America to use charitable donations to avoid taxes.
Irredeemable Statistics
The environment created by fraternities establishes a culture where men protect each other. This protection is regularly weaponized against women.
Studies show that men in fraternities are three times more likely to sexually assault a woman than their non-affiliated counterparts. The vast majority of gang rapes reported on campuses are directly tied to fraternities. Additionally, women who are involved in Greek life are 74% more likely to be raped than any other demographic of college women.
More than 90% of sexual assault that occurs on college campuses goes unreported. These already extremely high figures only represent the small amount of assault that goes reported.
Any organization that increases the prevalence of rape at all, let alone by this large of a margin, needs to be eliminated.
The answer as to why these brotherhoods remain regardless of these disgusting statistics lies in the money; Greek life alumni are four times more likely to donate to universities post-graduation compared to non-Greek graduates. The power held by fraternities cannot be overstated. The majority of American CEOs and senators are fraternity members.
This power wielded by elitist men fosters an environment where accountability is benign. This issue is too dangerous and urgent to remedy in a way that still allows these toxic environments to exist. This violence is vital to the very structure of the institution.
At the U
Our campus is no exception to these statistics. In 2022, the U suspended all Greek life activity for two weeks due to reports of sexual assault. Two fraternities on our campus have been involved in sexual assault investigations. Kappa Sigma faced suspension and probation during these police investigations.
The U has 11 more fraternities which have not yet been investigated for sexual assault. However, members of those houses are still complicit in the rape culture present in Greek life.
To be involved in Greek life in any capacity is to co-sign on this consistent behavior of violence towards women. Kappa Sigma president Baylor Biedermann recently stated in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune that every fraternity at the U unanimously voted for the reinstatement of Kappa Sigma. This comes after their one-year termination partially due to assault investigations.
To be part of any fraternity denotes at least a certain amount of acceptance toward violent behavior. You are not an observer or simply someone surrounded by a culture that is out of your control. Your complacency is participation.
Women on campus have been warned by mothers, sisters and friends to never go to a frat party alone and never leave a cup unwatched. They are forced to receive an education in an environment stained by fear and caution.
From the moment I was old enough to leave my house fear was instilled in me for my safety. When I moved out to live in the dorms during my freshman year of college the warnings that I had heard my entire life were renewed and multiplied. Every woman who I looked up to has a story involving being victimized by the predatory behavior of fraternities.
This culture of fear should not be allowed to continue. Women cannot be safe on college campuses until fraternities are abolished.
