In response to Ms. Goldblatt’s Wespeak, “Sexism still not addressed,” we would like to say that yes there are underlying stereotypes present in some party setting but to answer Ms. Goldblatt’s question: “What if I were to host a ‘Birth of a Nation’ themed party, where I asked guests to either dress in blackface or in white sheets. Would this cease to be offensive if I included beer and claimed that it was ‘fun’?”
We respond, please do not compare “CEOs and Secretary Hoes” to the KKK and the senseless murder of thousands of innocent people based on their racial association. There is a clear distinction between say, dressing up as a KKK member, and dressing up as a CEO. In our wonderful Wesleyan bubble, they may both represent something we dislike, but let us assure all, they are completely different.
As to the idea that we, “refrain from considering the incidents of sexual harassment and the sexual attacks that have occurred at these houses in past years,” sexual assault is a serious thing but let’s not make it a fraternity issue. When a girl was raped at 200 Church, no one claimed that they were afraid to go there, no one blamed the set-up of the house or the mission statement they presented, rather it was considered an isolated incident that, though unfortunate, was unforeseeable. No group can be held responsible for the acts of an individual. Furthermore, this constant implication that fraternities on campus are not safe for women is absurd. If you choose not to go to a fraternity, that is your prerogative. It is important to get to know the individuals that make up these fraternities before stereotyping their organizations. They are not horrible chauvinists that rape women for fun, but rather guys probably spend more time playing video games than hosting parties. Let’s tie in the T-Sq issues here, another case of overwhelming grouping of individuals, just because there have been incidents in T-Sq of perpetrators of violence that have fled to T-Sq does not mean that all residents of T-Sq are violent or that it is not a safe space for people to live. We are Wesleyan, seriously, stop stereotyping fraternities in an effort to claim that fraternities stereotype. This is ridiculous.
The idea of such parties is in effect like many other occurrences on campus, a time to step out of the box that is the “political correctness” of this university and have fun without worrying about making sure every person who ever lived would not be offended by our actions.
Note to the Wesleyan community, it’s okay to be offensive sometimes. You don’t have to please everyone. Wesleyan is so caught up in being inclusive that it excludes anyone it feels is in the majority. It should be okay for someone to wear a Wesleyan Hockey jacket and not be stereotyped as chauvinist. It should be alright for a fraternity member to speak his mind without fear of being called a sexist. The backlash of such stereotyping has caused many members of these groups to isolate themselves from the Wesleyan community for fear of negative response to their identities. How’s that for Wesleyan inclusion?
The Administration is attempting to strong-arm fraternities off this campus and use fraternities as an example of a negative force on campus in order to perpetuate a “diversity university” advertising campaign. For all its supposed faults, realistically the Wesleyan Greek environment is one of acceptance and understanding and regardless of the merits of any of the residential fraternities their right to exist should not be called into question. Wesleyan is a composite of the individuals enrolled in this university and therefore without recognizing the importance and value of each person we would not be the university that North College claims we are.
The root of this issue that has now been clouded by endless Wespeaks and lots of misunderstandings is that fraternities should have the right to exist on campus and that right should not be contingent on them abiding by the gross political correctness of North College.
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