Frats Not Fiction

, by DKE Alumni ,

The recent decision to require residential fraternities to admit women as full members, which is strenuously opposed by generations of supportive alumni, active volunteers, donors and committed trustees, is based on numerous false premises.  Here’s the truth:
FACT: This action will kill frats at Wesleyan. This is a backdoor way to eliminate fraternities altogether. The national charters of Deke and Beta forbid co-education.  If they lose their national affiliations and insurance coverage, they will have to close.

FACT: A fraternity is at least as safe as a dorm.  According to the University’s own data, 13 of 15 reported sexual assaults in 2013 occurred in University-owned residential facilities.

FACT: Forcing the closure of fraternities will not end the problem of sexual assault.  Amherst College, which banned fraternities nearly 30 years ago, is on the Education Department’s list of 55 colleges and universities under investigation for improper handling of sexual assault claims. Wesleyan is not.

FACT: The University will lose social space if the frats have to close. The fraternity houses and land are privately owned and will never become University property.

FACT: Fraternities lead the way on education. DKE voluntarily initiated two nationally acclaimed programs: The “One in Four” sexual assault training program by Dr. John Foubert and the Safe and Sober Campus Initiative program by Dr. Steven Taylor, Medical Director, NBA Player Assistance/Anti-Drug program. These programs were highly successful and very well received by the students who participated.

FACT: Fraternities support equal access for sororities. Wesleyan’s fraternities have offered assistance to and support for Rho Epsilon Pi and its establishment in its own residential space.

FACT: Fraternity members are active members of the community. Although they only represent a small minority of the student body, fraternity members are fully involved in university life as scholars, classmates and alumni.  They make important contributions to University life during and after their school years.

FACT: Eliminating fraternities would diminish diversity on campus, deepening the University’s reputation as an anti-male institution and a center of political correctness run amok.

For more Information contact:
Gary Breitbord ’79
Email – gbreitbo@aol.com
Jeff Gray ’77
Email – cardinal73@comcast.net

  • ESK

    Summary responses to “FACTS”:
    1. Consider Alpha Delta Phi. And all the non-residential greek orgs at Wes.
    2. A student perspective: http://wesleying.org/2014/04/27/wsa-survey-results-on-frats-and-sexual-assault-released/
    Also, we all know that stat (13/15) is essentially useless as an indicator when the actual number of sexual assaults on this campus in any given year is in the hundreds.
    3. Nobody claims that closing frats “ends” the problem of sexual assault. Most students (see 2) acknowledge that doing so will make the problem better though. Here’s the logic: http://wesleying.org/2014/04/16/call-to-action/
    Also, although this FACT actually has a fact (Amherst on the list, Wesleyan not), it is basically useless in giving us a grasp of what’s going on at those two schools because, again, we have very poor data about sexual assault because it is vastly under-reported (because the reporting system is unbelievably awful).
    4. Interesting conjecture about whether or not the university will acquire the houses. Regardless, safer students and less rape culture > two frat houses.
    5. Genuinely happy to hear it. Why do we need frat houses to have those programs?
    6. Also happy to hear this. Yet it neither addresses nor mitigates the harms already outlined.
    7. See 5 and 6.
    8. Lols. http://wesleying.org/2014/04/15/sexual-violence-spaces-privilege/
    Honestly, the idea that Wesleyan males are suffering under any sort of institutional (or cultural) anti-male bias at this school is laughable. Look, it’s simple: to the extent which one is white, male, heterosexual, affluent, etc., one is privileged, in the US and at Wes also. To dismantle the institutional support of such privilege (like frats, for males) is to move in the direction of justice and equality of opportunity. To maintain such structures is to perpetuate privilege at the expense of justice and equality of opportunity.

  • this has to be a joke, right?

    bahahahaha

  • Unimpressed

    This reads like the writer was so thrilled with his title pun, he decided against putting any effort into the article itself.

    #Prayforwhitemaleupperclassdiversity

  • alum

    would love to hear from Gary or Jeff about how eliminating fraternities would cause hurt diversity on campus???

    • Diversity U

      It will reduce diversity in the same way that closing the Womanist House, the Malcolm X House, the Women of Color House, the Open House, the Buddhist House, or any other program house would. It will curtail student opportunity to live
      collectively in a house or hall, fraternity or society, based on shared
      hobbies, experiences, cultural interests and identities. It will remove a distinct campus demographic: significantly blue-collar and frequently first generation college (at least in DKE’s case), often athletes, largely working part-time during the school year to help pay tuition. The fraternity voice may be small on campus and not of value to many, but its silencing will be significant: for want of a nail…..

      • dada

        But we don’t care about white people…

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