In the past year, the media has been plagued with news headlines reflecting the poor behavior of fraternities as related to women. In a world where gender inequality is still a prevalent force, fraternities seem to contribute to the general promotion of misogyny and foster hostile environments for women on college campuses. As these men continue to exhibit behavior atypical to the college experience, the question must be asked: why aren’t colleges across America expelling fraternities, or at least calling for extreme methods of reform?
It’s an indubitable fact that not every fraternity member is a rapist, nor is every fraternity misogynistic, but a study conducted by sexual assault scholars John Foubert and Jerry Tatum depicting that fraternity members are three times more likely to rape than any other person on campus certainly supports the idea of Greek Life misogyny. Due to a mandate at the national level, most sororities are prohibited from serving alcohol, restricting them from hosting parties and giving social control to fraternities.
Binghamton itself is a university that is no stranger to instances of misconduct in Greek Life. In 2012, widespread allegations of hazing pervaded our school, resulting in an investigation that caused the temporary halt of recruitment in all Greek Life chapters on campus. This thorough investigation begs the question: if the University was willing to go that far to rid the school of hazing, then why isn’t action being taken to minimize misogyny and sexual assault on campus?
There is a plethora of options that could help contribute to the mitigation of misogyny and sexual assault fostered in the environment of a fraternity. Many schools have been considering proposals to closer regulate underage drinking and even implement a total ban on alcohol, while other universities have explored making all fraternities co-ed or simply expelling them altogether. While an all-out expulsion seems to be an extreme gesture, implementing restrictions on fraternities and regulating their activity more closely can only breed positive results. In specific reference to the issue of sexual assault, it is possible that exposing fraternity brothers to the effects of rape can help to lessen its frequency of occurrence. Simple acts, like mandating sexual assault training for fraternity members, could go a long way in drastically reducing sexual assault — so why are universities, including Binghamton, hesitating to implement this minor act of reform?
If our society existed in a state of gender equality, fraternities could, in theory, be successful. But since we instead live in a world in which one in five women are raped or sexually assaulted on college campuses and where universities such as Binghamton are under sexual assault investigations in possible violation of Title IX law, the continual presence of fraternities normalizes a male-dominated culture that already has such a pervading presence in our society. It is rather horrifying to think about a cult of men who are denying women entry, monopolizing alcohol and mandating rules in such an exclusionary group. With the existence of fraternities, it really should be no surprise that sexism is so prevalent in our world — but it should be shocking that our society is still enabling this level of misogyny in the modern day and age.