When I started my freshman year at Wesleyan University, I immediately noticed that despite the ample discussions on gender and social institutions, equality was not the reality. It is clear that men are in power here at Wesleyan; they own beautiful, historic mansions and are thus able to control a large portion of the social scene because of their allocation of physical spaces and resources from the affluent organizations to which they belong. However, women have no formally established social space created for and overseen by women on campus. I automatically recognized my diminished place as a woman in the social hierarchy at Wesleyan and my complete inability to control it, or feel like I have a right to be where I am: in an institution historically inhabited and still dominated by only men. The lack of female energy, community, and support at Wesleyan shocked me after going to a similarly progressive co-educational high school where women were highly respected and valued. Beginning my freshman year at Wesleyan, I felt like I did not have a place to speak as a woman, much less as an active and potentially influential female member of our community. I had few other women to look up to or ask advice about my classes, going abroad, residential life, and other critical areas that bolster a Wesleyan student’s success inside and outside the classroom. In my search to meet more female friends and have social opportunities with women, I chose to attend a rush event for the only sorority, and the only social organization by women and for women of all backgrounds at Wesleyan.
When I joined Rho Epsilon Pi, I immediately felt like I had a place to belong, a sisterhood, where I was appreciated and my intellectual contributions were valued. Moreover, I met a diverse range of women–across grades, sports, races, socio-economic classes, academic and personal interests–who have created a unique community of love, support, and encouragement for the betterment of myself and my community. Above all, I learned that I could have a voice as a woman at Wesleyan and that, through the opportunities Rho Epsilon Pi presented to me–the individuals in it, and also the institution–I could make my ideas a reality and effect change.
Because I joined Rho Epsilon Pi, I became involved in organizing philanthropic events like fundraising for Relay for Life, attending alcohol and sexual assault bystander intervention training, Take Back the Night, the Wesleyan Women’s Conference, and the vigil for the Board of Trustees in honor of the 100 freshmen sexually assaulted in their first two months at Wesleyan, to mention a few of the opportunities Rho Epsilon Pi has presented to me. Now, I am the Scholarship Chair with a seat on our General Board. The overwhelming majority of what I am proud to have accomplished over the last two years happened because of my involvement in Rho Epsilon Pi and how the organization and women in it influenced me and raised my awareness. Because of my sorority, I know how to reserve spaces, plan and organize events, and more importantly, to seek out resources, information, and support from this incredible community of care. The opportunities provided by this organization are indispensable and undervalued in a school where male-dominated organizations and spaces–from the new turf football field to fraternity houses–permeate the campus and only one, marginalized sorority exists.
From my first rush event, and many times since then, I regarded becoming a member of Rho Epsilon Pi as the best decision I made at Wesleyan University. I also maintain that joining at the beginning of my freshmen year was integral to my success as a student because I entered a social scene that aligned with my values of friendship, community service, and social justice. I cannot express how much I value and appreciate Rho Epsilon Pi and our founding mothers for fighting to create this organization so that I could reap the same unending benefits my male counterparts and peer athletes are entitled to; to name a few examples: an alumni network that I can actually reach, friends across class years, and help balancing my academics, personal life, and extracurricular engagements. I feel profoundly grateful for having the privilege of community that my female counterparts just five years ago were deprived of while men at Wesleyan benefitted from the empowering opportunities Greek organizations create. I revel in having a safe, friendly institution controlled by women that has made me a better person and introduced me to incredible women while providing me with an environment I can positively engage in and thrive.
While I was initially shocked by the negative views of Rho Epsilon Pi as a sorority, I soon realized these sentiments came from a lack of understanding and judgment based solely on insidiously sexist stereotypes. I find the backlash against Rho Epsilon Pi, both from the student body and administration during our organization’s founding and continuing to this day, problematic because of how “sorority girl” comments, even at Wesleyan, imply a dismissive and condescending perception of social groups of women. Rho Epsilon Pi has never been exclusive, never discriminated along racial or socioeconomic boundaries (we have relatively low fees compared to other Greek organizations along with financial aid options), has never been charged with sexual misconduct or for hosting dangerous, uncontrolled parties, and has never forced any member to drink or partake in humiliating or harmful behavior. In fact, despite being a new organization with no financial or networking support fro m a nationally affiliated sisterhood, we consistently raise the most money for the American Cancer Society every year at Relay for Life, work to plan and promote Take Back the Night, and co-organize alcohol and sexual assault bystander intervention training along with film screenings such as The Invisible War and After Tiller, to name just a few of our sponsored events. Through our actions and community, we aim to “redefine sorority.” Furthermore, “the mission of Rho Epsilon Pi is to cultivate the creativity, knowledge, and spiritual illumination of its members through a perpetual bond of friendship and sisterly affection to develop strong, passionate women with a commitment to leadership, moral integrity, and community service for the betterment of the individual and the world.” I simply do not understand how anyone could view this as having a negative impact on our campus.
Rho Epsilon Pi’s role as both a Greek organization and a women’s support network, which helps to advocate for and provide safe spaces for our members and other female survivors of sexual assault, is an incredibly unique situation that is often unrecognized and certainly underutilized by the administration and student body. Considering our involvement in both sides of the campus climate discussion, I find it exceedingly frustrating and belittling that the only all-encompassing female organization, and also the only all-female Greek institution, on campus has been disregarded in discussions that affect us as both Greek members and as people who have been personally affected by sexual violence.
As an individual empowered by my sorority to speak up for what I believe is right, and not as a voice representing Rho Ep collectively, I perceive forcing men to accept women into their homes as a mere continuation of the responsibility placed on women to change rape culture. We need more social spaces for and controlled by women–a sorority house, for instance–and a gender resource center to balance out the gendered-property power dynamic at Wesleyan. Let us create more safe spaces where all genders feel comfortable, unintimidated, and as if they have a right to be there and stand up for themselves. Changes like these would enable equal amounts of gendered spaces that empower women without encroaching on men’s equal right to a brotherhood, and would additionally balance a male-dominated social scene and hook-up culture that is evidently unsafe and oppressive for everyone.
I believe we need more realistic alcohol education, training about bystander intervention and consent–how to express it, recognize it, and eliminate nonconsensual behavior, and discussions on the dynamics of a hook-up culture so closely intertwined with drinking and anonymity. These should be done in-person during orientation with mandatory attendance verified by registering names or WesIds for all freshmen classes. Students who choose not to attend should not be able to enroll online in the university, preventing them from negatively impacting our community. My involvement with Rho Epsilon Pi has encouraged me to attend these seminars, and I strongly believe they should be made mandatory to all students, not just Greek members. In instances of sexual assault, Wesleyan should move to an investigator model where evidence is reviewed within two weeks without a hearing, limiting time to prevent perpetrators from committing another assault. This policy is one that our Title IX student representatives are working towards implicating that I fully support. Rather than encouraging women into historically male spaces where the burden of change lies with an already marginalized group to amend fraternity attitudes and behavior, the changes outlined above directly address a culture that exists throughout and beyond our campus (not just in fraternities), where victim-blaming and rape culture are the norm, not the exception, and therefore rarely challenged in many of the social spaces on campus.
Rho Ep has made me conscientious, involved, and above all passionate, while supporting me with the tools I need to get involved and succeed at Wesleyan. To take this incredible opportunity away from incoming freshmen fills me with despair. I know I would have had a much less positive experience socially, intellectually, and extra-curricularly during my first year if I had not met the amazing members of Rho Epsilon Pi, learned and lived our mission, and participated in such a uniquely empowering and accepting community of love that all genders should be able to have access to on a campus that values equality and progress to the degree Wesleyan claims.