Fraternities and sororities were once an image of youth and indulgence. Passed-out bodies loll inelegantly as red solo cups pepper an unkempt lawn like some twisted Baroque painting. Now, that image is filled with rape and manslaughter. Greek life has run its course, and it is time to bid it adieu.
Greek life has been a point of contention on college campuses and beyond for some time now. Stories of overzealous frat boys partaking in the accidental killing of their newest pledge hit the news like clockwork. In fact, these stories are about as frequent as the annual debate over the quality of the Super Bowl Half-Time Show– and that’s no exaggeration. Hank Nuewer, a journalism professor at Franklin College, has been tracking hazing deaths on college campuses. He found that at least one death from hazing has been reported every year in the United States since 1958 (with the exception of 2020, yet another unintended benefit of the pandemic).
Fraternities have a long history of breeding sexual violence by enveloping members in a culture the condones sexual assault. A study from this February revealed that college fraternity men are more likely to perpetrate sexual assault than college men who are not fraternity members, even though the rates of pre-college sexually coercive behavior were similar for both groups of men. Fraternities and sororities are encouraged to intermingle meaning that sorority members have been consistently put at higher risk of sexual assault. The same study found that women in Greek life were almost 2 times more likely to have experienced any form of nonconsensual sexual contact than non-Greek-affiliated women. Overall, 64% of sexual assault victims on college campuses are associated with Greek life.
Students at universities deeply entrenched in Greek life once called for increased transparency from school administrators, more awareness and education for students, and rigid policies designed to keep behavior in check. And yet, the issue remains.
Now, students are calling for an end to Greek life altogether. It’s only a matter of time for the abolition of Greek life as some students in fraternities and sororities are taking it upon themselves to disband. At Northwestern University, 75% of the Sigma Nu membership disaffiliated. One student at Vanderbilt University who was the former Diversity and Inclusion Chair at his fraternity wrote an oped encouraging his former brothers to leave. He cited the long racist history of fraternities and the hefty fraternity dues that kept Greek life’s demographics largely white and wealthy.
Even so, many are willing to defend Greek life. They insist that there is good that comes from it. Take this experience someone shared in the comments section of that Vanderbilt oped: “On the surface, many tasks seem sadistic and unjustified. Why should new members stand in the cold in the winter? Why should they wake up before dawn every day to clean the house? Underlying almost any pledging task is the idea that subordination breeds equality and camaraderie. A denigrating or painful task puts all members of the pledge class on the same plane.”
Is this sense of “camaraderie” among young men and women worth sacrificing the safety of the rest of the student body? Are the 200+ deaths due to hazing a sufficient price for “camaraderie”? The worst parts of Greek life far outweigh the good. Sexual assaults, mental and physical abuse and deaths seem like an awfully high–and frequent–price to pay to go through trauma bonding with a bunch of strangers.
Of course, universities have a financial incentive to preserve Greek life. Prominent fraternities and sororities can be a big draw for prospective students. This creates an ethical dilemma. As university-approved and supported social groups, sexual violence in Greek organizations is even more alarming. Studies show that students who experience sexual violence can be further harmed by perceptions their institution condoned or facilitated their assault in some way. Many may be surprised to discover some universities require fraternity chapters to have insurance policies that cover sexual misconduct and sexual assault litigation against both the chapter and the university. As researcher Dr. Melissa Barnes puts it, “This suggests that university administrators are aware of the sexual violence risk related to this environment, and yet, are willing to support the organizations as long as there is liability protection.”
Students are ready to say goodbye to Greek life. Are universities?