Dear Zachary Lazarus, and all those who do not consider frats diverse,
I am getting so very sick of this debate. I truly believe in diversity, and the argument being made against the frats is so totally self-contradictory as to be without merit. Let us examine the definitions of diversity that have been posited against the frats, and then we can explore why they lack any sort of rigor, consistency, or validity BY THEIROWN STANDARDS.
1. “I always thought that ‘diversity’ meant diversity in race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.” Your words, Lazarus. The frat brothers represent a very, very wide spectrum of these qualities. The fact that you fail to recognize this is a fault of your own, Lazarus, and not of the community. The frats have MANY minority brothers, and brothers from all levels of social and economic strata. How does that fail to be diverse? Please inform yourself before making baseless and generalized criticisms; it really undermines your argument when the facts very obviously refute your claims. It seems to me that much of the concern about the ‘lack of diversity’ in the frats is that frat brothers are perceived as more conservative, or representative of ‘old school whitey,’ or however you want to frame it. That will bring us to point 2.
2. Diversity of viewpoint. That is a quality lacking in your definition of diversity that is absolutely critical. The political culture at Wesleyan is extremely homogenous; it is my suspicion that the argument against the frats is not one of ‘diversity,’ but rather a ‘politically correct’ attempt to rid the school of a certain set of old world ideals. This truly upsets me. Just because you disagree, and even if you are truly right about the ideals they hold being false, counterproductive, which you very well may be, YOU CANNOT DENY THEM THEIR RIGHT TO HOLD THESE OPINIONS. Just as importantly, it is the very fact that they DIFFER in opinion that makes their opinion valuable. Their presence is truly diverse, and, I argue, more diverse than the generally held set of liberal opinions on campus.
Which takes us to point 3.
3. WESLEYAN IS A SAFE SPACE. Wesleyan is an isolated bubble of a dreamland. Wesleyan is one of the most open and accepting communities on the planet, UNLESS YOU ARE A CONSERVATIVE. On a campus that claims to be so tolerant, and that is indeed tolerant of diversity of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and religion, tolerance of political views is sorely lacking. I posit that, on this campus, it is the conservative viewpoint that is in the minority, and the conservative viewpoint that is persecuted. This is a complete inversion of the outside world. We are so concerned with overturning social injustice in the world outside we fail to realize that we persecute our own classmates as proxy of larger cultural institutions. I further posit that this constitutes the exact type of persecution that the frats are being accused of, however there is very little evidence for the oppression caused by the particular frats at this school. Yes, the frats may be representative of oppression in the outside world, and yes, much of the student body at Wesleyan comes from a marginalized and co-opted background, but that does not give them the right to persecute the frats on this campus.
I hope I have made my point clear. If you believe in diversity, if you believe in non-oppression, if you truly believe in tolerance, THEN TOLERATE THE FRATS. The movement against the frats, in my eyes, is a backlash of VERY JUSTIFIABLE frustration of disenfranchised minorities toward an institution seen as representative of the oppressive classes.
Simply because the frustration is justified does not mean the persecution is, however. The frats as larger institutional structures may be all we accuse them of, but the frats at this school in particular are nearly guiltless; these are students. OUR CLASSMATES. Eighteen to twenty-two-year-olds who came to Wesleyan for many of the same reasons as you. And I’d thank you to stop giving them such a goddamned hard time.
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