And from the ladies. I am very happy to see them step up to the plate and participate in finding solutions to this very serious problem on the UVA campus. I am eager to see what proposals they come up with.

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article...lar-of-support

Also:

Very much in line with the links 1964alum posted, here's the Statement from the president of UVA, posted by the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...3ef_story.html

Two small excerpts from ^^:
“Beginning immediately, I am suspending all fraternal organizations and associated social activities until January 9th . . . . “

“On Tuesday, the Board of Visitors will meet to discuss the University’s policies and procedures regarding sexual assault as well as the specific, recent allegations.”

This is not going to go away. Our governor and both US senators have expressed outrage over what has been going on there for years and years. One of our senators has three college aged daughters who are infuriated. Alumni of the university have gotten involved, and one has established a legal defense fund for any rape victim.

Our daughter is a professor at UVA and reports that the faculty are also joining the effort to put an end to this kind of criminal behavior on campus. While UVA is not my alma mater, I am a 13th generation Virginian with deep roots in the Old Dominion.

Hopefully UVA can create a model that is both effective and which can serve as a template for other colleges and universities where campus rape is rampant.

I sure hope your senator is able to see why this is a problem without having college-aged daughters.

Of course he would. He's actually a very decent man. But I'm happy that his daughters are bringing pressure to bear on him.

Bill he introduced: http://www.warner.senate.gov/public/...b-385a02e2bceb

The bill: http://www.scribd.com/doc/235449362/CASA-One-Pager

From reading the RS article, it sounds like the culture of sexually assaulting women is so deep seeded in the fraternities at UVA that it may be best to abolish the Greek system. I was physically ill after a reading it. This has been going on for decades and clearly there are no adults in charge who have any kind of leadership to address this matter. Good grief, how many more women have to be assaulted? I love my sorority but I love humanity more. This sounds like a lost cause.

As the Rolling Stone article pointed out, UVa is also the place that ignored incidents between Yeardley Love and her boyfriend until the guy murdered her. The coaches knew about his behavior towards her.

UVa is a place that allows privileged kids to do whatever the hell they want.

Has anyone read "I am Charlotte Simmons"? It's said to be about Duke, but I can't stop thinking about it as I'm reading the UVA stuff play out.

For all this stuff to be going on, I agree that there must not be too much leadership helping out. Don't these chapters on campus have advisors? I know very little about UVA and the campus culture but, I feel like having good advisors who have their fingers on the pulse of Greek Life there would be useful. This whole situation is just sad and I hate to see all of Greek Life get painted like this.

Ah, the role of advisors. That topic could definitely be its own thread!

Finding and keeping well trained advisors is certainly a challenge for many organizations. And, the Fraternity and Sorority Life staffs at many schools are entry level student affairs professionals who are often inexperienced and unprepared to deal with this issue. I recently called one FSA about a sexual assault case and was told that they didn't really know much because the 'higher ups' were handling it.

See, this is the reason that we as organizations need to really push alumni involvement. I always make sure to push that idea to members of my organization because strong alumni volunteers make strong advisors. How can we expect there to be alumni volunteers if we don't promote that Greek Life is more than just four years? I think my organization is doing a great job promoting it but, I'd like to see the NPC overall promote this idea of a lifetime commitment--if possible. The same goes for the other councils.

That's not really an option since UVA is a public school. They can refuse to recognize fraternities, but many fraternities are becoming less and less concerned with school recognition.

There's something pervasive in that campus culture though seeing that both Sigma Nu and Pi Kappa Alpha yanked their chapters' charters this year. That was our Beta chapter and Pike's Alpha chapter, so I doubt either HQ did so lightly.

YES! to the idea that robust alumni involvement in chapters is absolutely necessary. We didn't have a weekly meeting where an alum was not present. They knew each one of us as we did each of them. And they were very, very aware of what was going on on campus. I can't imagine what has been going on for years at UVA happening back in the day.

Many, many alums of UVA are outraged at what has been going on there. One established a legal defense fund for victims. I wonder how many of them are in GLOs.

UVA faculty are now getting involved.

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article...on-beta-bridge

Protestors arrested for trespassing at the UVA Phi Kappa Psi house:

http://wina.com/news/064460-protest-...ssing-arrests/

I just want to mention this quote from former UVA President John Casteen following the murder Yeardley Love.


I'm not really sure what can be done to "fix this" or if some sort of total overhaul is needed. But I find it deeply troubling that the murder of a student didn't generate change, and if that wasn't enough, what will be enough?

Also, what kind of change is needed, it's not just Greek life, something needs to be changed on the campus and in its administration.

Today's editorial in our local paper addresses the larger cultural context. Excerpted:

Our young have absorbed these values in a society that continues to glorify violence and objectify the vulnerable.
College administrators and lawmakers are waking up and strengthening policies, but real change will come only when more of us consciously live and speak with the kind of integrity that makes raping, not being raped, the disgrace.
Joking about rape and ostracizing those with the courage to report it must become part of our ugly past. This shift must start at home. With each of us.


http://www.newsleader.com/story/opin...blem/19415149/

Would it be appropriate to educate college-bound seniors, while they are still attending high school, regarding expected behaviors while they are enrolled at the college of their choice? Not simply the Human Dignity For All At All Times approach, but truly tying that topic to their upcoming four years at an institution of higher learning.

IMO it would be helpful for current GLO members to participate in panel discussions, assemblies and the like while kids are still in high school. They can't identify with us old biddies!

When did they suspend the sororities also?

According to the headline on www.comcast.net they are suspended also.

On the late afternoon NBC National Nightly News tonight, they said UVA fraternities are suspended through the end of the school year. NBC's anchor and reporters said nothing about sororities.

Richmond, Va media are reporting that fraternity and sorority social activities are suspended - they can still meet and do not have to vacate their houses. They quoted a university spokesperson.

I think this is a bit hollow, as they are heading into exams and classes begin Jan 12th - three days after suspension is over.

Exactly. It's a non-suspension suspension. It's total bullshit.

I don't get the sense that either the students or the UVA alums are going to be satisfied with that kind of window dressing.

ETA: Here is a recently released video of a complete interview with Dean Eramo done by a student several weeks before the RS article was published. The alumni are putting it all over the Internet.

At about 10:15 the interview gets very interesting.

http://vimeo.com/user20932862/review...177/b57f3948c3

We also have to remember that UVA is one of but 11 universities in the country that have been selected for intense scrutiny for Chapter IX violations.

As a current student at UVA and a member of Greek Life, I would like to share some information with you all.

First off, all fraternal organization agreements between the university and chapters have been suspended until January 9th. Both sorority and fraternities have FOAs meaning that both were suspended at the same time via an email the president shared with students. I have a mixed opinion about this. The University was “damned if they do, damned if they didn’t.” The administration had to do something and they had to do it immediately. Do I think this was the right thing? Absolutely not. Do I have a better idea? Unfortunately not. Both fraternities and sororities function as more than just social organizations. Greek life provides comfort and a safe place for victims of sexual misconduct. For this reason, I am at least thankful that they continued to allow meetings of Greek organizations within the houses. I further do not agree with this move because they are punishing a whole group of individuals for the wrong doing of others. The events described in the RS article happened two years ago and thus there was no immediate threat that the ENTIRE Greek community imposed to anyone.

Second, this is not just a problem at UVA. To say UVA has a problem, that has become very obvious and needs immediate attention. But to say this is only a problem at UVA is very wrong and very far from the truth. This is a problem across all colleges, all genders, and both involved with Greek life and not.

Here are some points that you need to take into consideration before jumping to conclusions:
- Title IX and Due process have hindered the University (all colleges, actually) on responding to these reports of sexual misconduct
- At UVa, there are several routes that students may take in pursuing justice against their attacker: first they can go through the University and the sexual misconduct board AND/OR do so criminally through the police
- When going through the sexual misconduct board: there are HUGE problems with this that are hard to address because of Title IX and due process; basically, if the defendant is found “not guilty” through this process, he/she can then go and sue the survivor for defamation since this is not a court of law. When deciding the best route for survivors, this is tough because they could then face damages even though they are the victim. The benefits of this are that evidence need not be beyond a reasonable doubt, but that it is likely that it happened (basically there is at least a 51% chance the sexual misconduct occurred).
- Survivors can also go through a criminal process – this is often hard and takes a long time; it also requires a lot of evidence; often times survivors don’t seek immediate medical attention and evidence is lost; there need be evidence beyond a reasonable doubt for justice to be served to the defendant
- What I believe is the best route: survivors can file a civil case. Usually civil cases are settled before they ever go to court (>90%). You might think “But what is money going to solve?” In these settlements, survivors can put theoretically any clause in the agreement that he/she finds necessary and since you are settling outside of court, the defendant must agree to it, or it would proceed to court. For example, the survivor could include a clause that the defendant no longer attend said school. The defendant must attend therapy once a week. The defendant owes $X to victim. And more often than not, these civil cases have privacy clauses so you never hear about them, ever. Defendants are often way more willing to settle outside of court if they know they have done wrong because going through the court process is very, very expensive (way more than the cost of settling).
- The next topic of discussion that has been wide at UVA of late is why are students expelled for honor offenses (such as cheating) but no students have ever been expelled for sexual misconduct? In short, honor and sexual misconduct are two separate things since Honor at UVA is an entirely run student organization that punishes people on the basis of beyond a reasonable doubt and the Sexual Misconduct Board is not a student run organization that punishes that it likely happened. Last year UVA's honor system was amended and students now can admit to making an honor offense before going to trial with a 1 year suspension.

I obviously only know such much but it is crucial to see this past the University of Virginia. This is a huge problem everywhere and the changes need to take place within the laws. I’m still learning more and reading more and finding out more from my peers, but above is what I believe to be true.

Here are a few links that you may find interesting:

Interview with Dean Eramo: http://wuvaonline.com/exclusive-inte...exual-assault/

Student Council website in response to the article (IMO, very well constructed): http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/rollingstone/

Thank you aoiwen for your perspective as a student at the University of Virginia as well as a member of the Greek community there. As you can see from my moniker, I am an ooooold alumna, but with an entire head full of silver hair now and have been around the block more than a few times!

I doubt that anyone is insensitive to the inherent injustice of having a penalty fall upon an entire group because of the actions of a few. But I have a challenge for yours as well as all Greek Letter Organizations on your campus. Why not use this time for one of reflection to come up with ways all the very fine and talented members of your community can work together to enhance personal safety, especially that of women, on your campus? How can you make your social occasions lawful and safe? How can you sorority women reach out to vulnerable and inexperienced first year women who don't as yet have the comfort of a sisterhood? Yes, I know about the "No Contact" rule prior to recruitment, but surely your panhellenic can come up with some creative programs. How can your fraternity men
clearly communicate to the campus at large that there is nothing manly about sexually assaulting a woman?

I have every confidence that those of you who are Greeks at UVA can exert leadership on your campus and do your part to not only address the problems of the past, and very importantly, set a new agenda.

Respectfully, your focus on the law is entirely the wrong focus. I have advised KD chapters at two schools. I attended 2 schools as an undergraduate and 3 as a graduate student. Rape is a problem in our society and it's a problem on every campus. Other campuses handle their problem, though. UVa doesn't. That allows a culture in which extremely egregious acts happen, because everyone knows that nothing will happen to the rapists.

The type of things that are going at University of Virginia where rapists are protected by the university administration is not something that happens at most schools. You have a problem with your administration that is similar to what happened at Penn State or within the Catholic Church.

Other universities don't repeatedly destroy or alter medical records to protect rapists.

http://www.nbc29.com/story/25753826/...isconduct-case

http://www.wendymurphylaw.com/elite-...tle-of-rape-u/

Other universities don't actively discourage the filing of complaints.
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-...laints-2014-11

THIS. It IS a UVA problem. Do other campuses have this issue to deal with? Yes, of course. But it seems there is a lot of credible evidence that this university has systematically looked the other way and, in fact, as this poster points out has not helped the victims get justice.

I was at the chapter house yesterday that I advise and couldn't stop thinking about that article as I saw the girls. I hope so much that if any of our girls face this that they come to us as advisors. You bet your sweet ass I will personally go after those arrogant frat boys if they dare do this to one of our girls.

Its personal. I have a dear friend who was sexually assaulted on a college campus (by athletes who thought they, too, were above the law).

Let me throw more fuel on this disgusting fire. I wonder how UVA would have handled this matter had it been members of Alpha Phi Alpha or Omega Psi Phi involved with this? My guess is there would be members handcuffed and sitting in jail right now.

Over. This. No More Excuses.

What aoiwen needs to realize is that GC posters are supporters and cheerleaders of Greek Life. We are not the anti-Greek members of the public. If you find the need to defend the manner in which UVA mishandles allegations of rape, then you need to consider how egregious the circumstances are. I've said it before, but it is not up to any university to adjudicate any felony. There should be no such thing as a sexual misconduct board because these issues need to be handled by the legal system.

It's a UVA problem and your argument is similar to the whole "well everyone was speeding so why am I getting a ticket?"

It's a lot like the you can't change anyone else you can only change yourself. UVA needs to stop focusing on making comparisons to other schools and work on their own problem.

And yet, we all know the legal system doesn't handle them either.

ETA: This article is in the context of the Canadian justice system, but it's pretty much the same thing as in the U.S.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/sandy-g...b_6059124.html

I truly, honestly wish this statement were 100% true for all sororities. However, in my experience, on two occasions I saw sorority sisters comfort each other after sexual assault. However when the mention of going forward to any authority was mentioned, the discussion immediately became about potential fallout -- particularly in one instance where it involved a "popular" fraternity. What is described in that article sounds like a culture that was similar to my campus.

Ten years later, I have deep regret and shame that I didn't speak up and encourage one of my friends to pursue charges. I didn't discourage her, but rather, I was just extremely passive.

I've been thinking a lot about this article this week, and it made me take a long, hard look at how I may have contributed to this kind of problem, just by simply being unresponsive. That in itself can send a message to a victim that they should remain silent.

It would be really idealistic and almost naive to think all sorority sisters boldly stand up for their sisters when rape happens, especially when it involves fraternities. I'm not pointing fingers, I just think this is a serious call to action for everyone, everywhere.

NPC spearheading a fundraising effort for a rape crisis center or to bring more counselors to the existing structure - yes, wonderful.

NPC sisters serving as peer counselors for something as delicate as this - potentially super dicey.

And no contact rules shouldn't be in place for a whole semester. That completely defeats the purpose of deferred rush. Freshman women should be getting to know sorority members as friends.

This is a great post.

Agree. It is like school systems are not permitted to adjudicate sexually misconduct against a child by a teacher. They have to call the police, report and let the legal system address it.

Great post. I, too, have been going over in my mind if any of my sisters experienced this and I didn't realize it because at that age I didn't have the skills to notice or to ask questions.

I think some of this goes back to the "cool girl who makes no fuss".

When I was in college I knew women in a few sororities who made sure they were never a naysayer because doing so would ruin their image with the men (especially fraternities) as a "laid back, fun, homie."

If there was ever an altercation between members of a sorority and members of a fraternity, some of these women tried to play the middle.

Very often where there are cases of he said vs. she said and there's no physical evidence (as is often the case), guilty beyond a reasonable doubt isn't something a lot of prosecutors are confident they can achieve. These are mostly kids who have the sorts of families who can hire good criminal defense attorneys who would typically be able to beat a lot of these kinds of cases where we just have the alleged victim's word.

That's why these Title IX panels were created in the first place. Sometimes the criminal justice system doesn't work.

Now I've read about cases (one might be this one) where the perp actually admitted to the tribunal that he raped or sexually assaulted someone and he was rewarded for his candor. That is particularly absurd. If the perp admits guilt, that needs to go straight to the police.

I am still squeamish about these Title IX panels and have my doubts as to the constitutionality of how they are conducted and especially as to the qualifications of the adjudicators of those tribunals, but I understand the good intentions behind them.

I don't like how in interview clips I've seen UVA administrators seeming to place all the blame on Greek life. Yes Greek life is a big part of the problem, but it's just as important to focus on the administration and the University system as a whole. I get a feeling of UVA passing the buck.

Sexual assaults happen at schools without Greek life. Sexual assault happens at house parties, the bar, friends apartments etc...