Oregon: Task Force recommends stopping expansion
 

http://www.kval.com/news/local/UO-Se...280130352.html


U of Oregon currently has Sigma Kappa colonizing in Fall 2015 and Delta Zeta in Fall 2017.

I don't think stopping sorority expansion is going to change or solve the issue. And maybe I am biased, but how do they think that stopping sorority expansion is going to change sexual violence?

Sororities do many things that contribute to rape culture, such as shaming women about their own sexuality. How many times have we seen things here about not sleeping around if you intend to participate in deferred recruitment?

Sororities also do things like teach members to not get sloppy drunk and look out for each other's safety. I'm also biased but if the SK recolonization gets stopped I'm not going to be happy at all.

I'm sorry, I don't quite see how you came up with this.

How did you equate being raped with sexuality and being shamed about one's sexuality?

I am sincere; I can't follow your thinking or your logic. Maybe you have a different example?

If schools, especially public ones won't let us expand, guess what we're going to do? We're going to build or buy a house campus adjacent, renovate it, put our letters up and recruit members from their university. We can either work with these schools as partners or play entirely by our own rules. They cannot stop us from expanding.

Here's are some links that explain the connection:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sabrin...b_3279668.html

http://windsorindependent.com/slut-s...-todays-world/

To be clear, though, rapists are responsible for rape. Not women, not sororities, not fraternities, not college campuses, but rapists. I'm just saying that, if we are going to look at the Greek system as a place where too many rapes happen, and we want to examine some of the societal factors that play into it, I don't think we can say "fraternities are the problem, sororities are totally cool." It's fair to spend some time looking at the dynamics of both.

The NPC doesn't really work that way. University approval is a required part of the expansion process.

With college campuses becoming more liberal and trying to force inclusion on groups which want to be exclusive, at some point, that might change with both NIC and NPC. Of course with NIC, YMMV.

I actually think there is some validity to encouraging expansion of sororities to minimize this problem. Why? I'm thinking that with a smaller chapter comes more accountability among members. If Suzie disappears at a fraternity party among 50 sorority sisters she might be missed. If she is among 150 that likelihood decreases.

The reason my non-Greek (and non-college educated) mother wanted my sisters and me to join sororities was so that we would have someone to notice if we went missing. That is always the example she used. I know the huge chapters do a really good job of developing bonds within the chapter but I still think there is a real risk of "losing" sisters every now and again.

The problem should be moot, but the reality is we have to be there for each other to prevent this crap. Denying young women these bonds could potentially eliminate a safety net.

I really don't understand how stopping expansion will help the problem. I think that maybe instead members should be educated about these issues, fraternities and sororities alike. Expansion itself doesn't really have anything to do with the issue of sexual violence.... unless you're going to the place that more sororities = more girls and more opportunity for males who "just can't control themselves" in which case, I can't even.

That's what I was thinking, too. Giant chapters cannot be safer than small ones. Maybe the school thinks that if the chapters get too big, interest in Greek life will decrease -- the logic of "that place is so crowded, no one goes there anymore"?

No, they're just not thinking. If you take girls out of the picture, guess what happens? The gender of the rape victim changes. The solution is education and vigilance. And getting rid of whatever is in the water that makes guys think it is ok to assault women, or more correctly, people seen as weaker.

Within large chapters are smaller groups of members who hang out together. They look out for each other.

By implying that through having fewer sororities, fewer women would be raped, they are simply perpetuating rape culture. It is the fault of the women - something they are doing- not the fault of the rapists.

Are there statistics that sorority women are raped more frequently? On this campus? On any campus?

I didn't read it as stopping all expansion forever; I read it as pausing for a bit while more solutions are put in place. If there truly are more rapes taking place within the Greek system, I don't think it's unreasonable to focus efforts there.

I'm not sure how stopping expansion would stop rapes from occurring. The two don't seem to be related at all. And if it's a question of university resources, I don't think we're talking about a zero-sum game.

^ that was my thought. I just really don't see how expansion (at any time) and the rape culture are correlated.

I completely agree, and am glad to see that my thoughts are not alone.

I don't understand how halting both Sigma Kappa and Delta Zeta from expanding will help. I am pretty positive that both organizations have great educational program that put a large emphasis on educating their members on how be responsible with alcohol, and teaching and encouraging their members to watch out for their sisters. How will stopping the expansion result in fewer sex crimes?

This article gives a little bit of context.

http://dailyemerald.com/2014/10/20/greek-cover/

A psychology professor at the UO conducted a study recently that purports to demonstrate a connection between sexual assault and sorority membership. The methodology is ridiculous, but unfortunately it came at an opportune moment to make a splash, something I imagine said professor realized. After the rape case involving three basketball players last spring the issue of sexual assault on campus began to receive well deserved attention. To compound the issue a string of women reported having date rape drugs mixed into their drinks while attending fraternity parties during spring term. One of these led to a campus crime report sent to students that named a specific fraternity where a woman received a drugged drink. Throw that together with the number of women hospitalized after bid day last year and it isn't surprising that the Greek name at Oregon is mud to many people right now. Yet we're growing, and that apparently scares\ angers the hell out of some people. Is sexual assault an issue in the UO FSL community? Hands down. Is it more prevalent than among non-affiliated students? I'm not convinced.

http://registerguard.com/rg/news/loc...tact.html.csp#
The Dean of Students notes in this one that he doesn't want the study to overshadow positive aspects of Greek Life and hopes to keep expanding.

It is merely a convenient scapegoat and tool for anti-greek administrations.

^THAT I can see

I think this makes sense. It is an institutional (rather than GLO-organizational) version of a moratorium.

It is no different than when businesses, schools, and so forth say "no new hires until we figure out how to handle our current employees (pay, benefits, comradere, etc...there are employees who get pissed when there are new hires before issues that impact current employees have been addressed and resolved)".

Okay but expansion and sexual violence have no correlation, I think that's the point that's being made. Stopping expansion won't have any impact on the sexual violence rate because expansion has nothing to do with it. Education is what needs to happen to correct the problem.

There is a fixed amount of university resources devoted to Greek Life. Prioritizing education or whatever else may go into rape prevention means fewer resources for other things, including expansion.

Further, it sounds like there is a perception right now that the Greek system at OU has a rape problem. I don't know that I would want to be the group standing on the quad trying to attract new members under those circumstances anyway.

Yep and that's the correlation. There is no need to devote resources to expand when there are perceived issues with the existing campus entities.

Sorority women aren't the only ones who go to fraternity parties. If they really want to stop rape they should stop admitting women to the university!! Or maybe it would be better to not admit men...or maybe it's those dogs wearing bandannas...oh, never mind.

Honestly, when I saw this the other night, I was angry and just wanted to post it to see others responses. Thanks everyone. I'm right there with you. The administration is generally fairly positive towards greek life, but there are those who harbor negative feelings.

Greek life at UO does continue to rise with another record breaking year of PNMs and bids. Even if they decide to not let us expand, chapters will continue to grow. I wondered a lot about the results of the study as well. Since sexual assault is more often under reported, I wonder how many of the sorority women feel more supported to come out and talk about it? Or at least admit it? Even admitting one's assault on a piece of paper/computer is too difficult for some victims...

You bring up a great point WCsweet. If you punish women's groups for rapes on campus then they will be less likely to report rapes in the future. Interesting way to handle the problem? Shut the victims up instead of dealing with the rapists.

I missed where this only applies to women's groups. I was under the impression there is no expansion at all; and this only currently applies to women's groups because the women's groups happen to be the only ones currently attempting to expand.

The thing is, plans have already been made and resources have already been used for these upcoming colonies. If the school actually does stop expansion, they need to compensate SK and DZ for what will be wasted efforts.

I knew the sororities off the top of my head. Fraternities are expanding as well. Sorry should have researched and included them.

Theta Chi - Fall 2014
Alpha Tau Omega - Winter 2015

Do you know if there is a precedent for this? Does compensation usually occur if the institution stops the colonisation process? I think that they absolutely should. I have a limited understanding of what goes into presenting and starting a colony, I could only fathom the funds that have already been spent.