A former chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity lost national recognition in 2001 at American University for “serious policy violation which involved hazing and alcohol abuse.” In losing their recognition, the brothers of Alpha Tau Omega formed an unofficial group, which still exists on American’s campus, known as Epsilon Iota. In 2006, a piece was done by American University’s student-run newspaper, the Eagle, responding to the activities on campus and American’s response to such activities, claiming, “University officials believe that Epsilon Iota poses significant threats to the campus community because it does not follow any sort of bylaws and engages in questionable behaviors such as hazing and excessive drinking.”
Epsilon Iota is notorious on campus for rumors of sexual violence, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse. Recently, emails were leaked within the American community containing photos of over 70 pages worth of messages and texts sent between the members of EI. These emails demonstrate the illicit group activities which, given the tone of the emails, seem completely normal for the members involved. These emails contain racist, homophobic and sexist comments, including references to violent behaviors. Yet, this unrecognized fraternity has recruited members since 2001 at American, while allegedly continuing to engage in illicit activities.
As a female-run student organization, we strongly urge American University to take action to bring even greater sexual assault awareness resources to campus, including hiring a full-time Survivors Advocate, and demanding consequences. So far Student Government and the Vice President of Campus Life, Gail Hanson, have spoken about the leaked emails. Additionally, there are several resources on campus available for survivors of sexual assault, including the Wellness Center, contacting the Sexual Assault Health Educator Daniel Rappaport, and familiarizing oneself with American’s Sexual Assault policies. There are numerous resources outside of American, including RAINN and the DC Rape Crisis Center. It is crucial that as a community we recognize this incident is not isolated to our campus. Identifying these issues will bring greater and much needed attention to drug and alcohol use in college, hazing and arguably most importantly, the rape culture on college campuses – with specific regard to American.
We must come together in an effort to support survivors, and push our administration to continue to implement sexual assault prevention techniques, including bystander invention and educational resources. Although the leaking of these documents has been a catalyst for recent sexual assault prevention conversations, the documents are symptomatic of a larger societal problem. We must ensure the American University community is a space that is safe for all of its members, including survivors.
As this is an ongoing piece, please stay updated on the matter by checking in with the Eagle or other American University media.
Photo credit – Alejandro Alvarez 1