Wesleyan Fraternities Face Pressure to House Women
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/20/ny...0wesleyan.html

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December 20, 2004

Wesleyan Fraternities Face Pressure to House Women
By STACEY STOWE

IDDLETOWN, Conn., Dec. 19 - Fraternity brothers are scarce here at Wesleyan, a small liberal arts college whose nickname is "Diversity University" and where students can board at off-campus houses like the "Womanist" and "Malcolm X," which are approved by the university.

Now, the fraternity brothers say they will be forced into virtual inactivity next fall if they do not comply with the administration's newly enforced nondiscrimination policy and allow women to live at the fraternity houses.

"They talk about breaking barriers down," said Michael Barbera, a sophomore who is president of Delta Kappa Epsilon, one of four fraternities that offer housing at Wesleyan. "But what the university is saying is, 'We'll just be prejudiced against white middle-class men who play sports.' "

His fraternity recently voted to allow women to live there, but many members said they did so reluctantly.

Lashing out at the administration is practically a course requirement at Wesleyan, with 2,200 undergraduates and a strong history of political activism. Campus security was summoned on Dec. 7 when 120 students cornered the university's president, Douglas J. Bennet, to strongly protest everything from the new abbreviated hours for the campus bus service to the lack of housing for transgender students. Two years ago, an uproar ensued when "chalking," a popular form of communication that colored the school's walkways and parking lots, was banned.

The fraternity controversy has bubbled up recently because new dormitories, with a total of 200 beds, are expected to open in September to address a longstanding housing shortage.

The university requires all undergraduates to live either in a dormitory or in "program housing," a residence that meets basic standards of safety, cleanliness and conduct, and features a program contributing to the "social, cultural and academic needs" of the university or the Middletown community. Living in an apartment or a fraternity house that is not part of program housing requires explicit permission from the university.

When housing stock was scarce, such permission was easy to obtain. But with the 200 new beds on campus, the university will not be as quick to grant permission for students to live in nonprogram housing, said Justin Harmon, the director of university communications.

And students who want to live in a fraternity house that violates the university's nondiscrimination policy by refusing to admit female residents will have to essentially pay twice: about $5,000 to the university in housing fees, which would no longer be waived, and $3,500 to the fraternity, Mr. Harmon said. At present, no fraternity member is in this situation, but the prospect of paying twice would make fraternity living impractical.

Like most colleges and universities, Wesleyan struggles with the problems of underage and binge drinking. Sometimes, Mr. Harmon said, when a fraternity "asserts the right of free association," it is code for such drinking.

"They want to live how they want to live and get drunk when they want to get drunk," he said, adding that if the fraternities were going to receive rent that would otherwise go to the university, they must comply with university standards on everything, including discrimination and alcohol consumption. Wesleyan bans discrimination based on gender and forbids alcohol consumption by anyone younger than 21.

On Dec. 2, Mr. Bennet wrote to alumni of three of the four fraternities that offer housing - Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon and Beta Theta Pi - in an effort to counter claims that the administration wants to shut down the fraternities. (The fourth, Alpha Delta Phi, has had female residents for many years.)

"For all-male fraternities this means including women as equal partners in their residential programs," the letter said. Mr. Bennet also suggested that the fraternities could admit women to their programs and residences without having to grant them membership in the fraternity.

Sororities also exist at Wesleyan, where tuition, room and board is $40,124 a year, but none offers housing.

The issue has irritated fraternity alumni to the point of affecting their donations to Wesleyan. "Some are changing their giving patterns, some have stopped giving altogether and others have indicated they've changed their wills," said John Hoder, who graduated from Wesleyan in 1973 and is president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon board of trustees.

James Young, who graduated from Wesleyan in 1955 and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon when male students could be expelled for allowing women to stay overnight in their rooms, has watched as fraternities disappeared from a string of Northeastern colleges like Bowdoin, in Maine, and Amherst, in Massachusetts.

Five years ago, when Wesleyan began enforcing its nondiscrimination policies, his fraternity agreed to offer housing to women, but there were no takers, Mr. Young said.

"This fraternity has been here 130 years," said Mr. Young, who helped to raise $500,000 to restore the gray stone fraternity house. "We're just trying to keep a tradition alive."

Referring to the Wesleyan administration, Mr. Young said, "Many of us say, why are they doing this to us? But there's an acceptance. I don't agree with it, but you don't give up a frat over it."

A few doors down at Psi Upsilon, Drew Walker, a senior, sounded a defiant tone as he stood in the doorway of his room. "Every semester we take a vote about whether to open the frat to women, and every time we vote it down," he said, adding that the fraternity had the support of its alumni. "We'll take our chances in the fall."

Downstairs, the living room featured a beer keg, plastic cups, and wallpaper inscribed, "The altar fires our fathers lit shall still more brightly glow."

At the moment, Beta Theta Pi, where 13 men are living, is not part of program housing, so students must have permission to live in the large and somewhat forbidding dark house. Michael Vitulano, a junior, said he did not know what would happen if the university no longer gave such permission.

Mr. Barbera, the Delta Kappa Epsilon president, who is from Greenwich and plays on Wesleyan's ice hockey team, vowed that women living at his fraternity house would be treated with "complete respect."

But will women want to move in to what is, after all, a bastion of machismo?

He nodded affirmatively.

"There's shock value to it," he said. "This is Wesleyan."

Ilana Rossein, a senior wearing a vintage pink coat with the word "student" written on a piece of cloth pinned to its hem, said she for one would not be moving to a fraternity soon because she does not believe in organizations that limit membership based on gender or race.

"I believe fraternities are part of a larger, systemic problem," she said. "They have a history of oppression."

The ironic thing about this move is that its happening as nearby Trinity College is reversing its mandate for GLO's to be co-ed.

Alpha Delt is co-ed, but I thought Psi U was also at many schools...no?

-Rudey

Alpha Delta Phi Society is co-ed, while Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity is not. The Society is the group that semi-separated from the Fraternity so that they could be co-ed. They are still affiliated with each other in some way.

I think you're right about Psi U.

The only way for this to work out is if a fraternity and a sorority share the same building.

I think this is equality going too far. Some people feel more comfortable living in a single gender environment. When Leonard Hall at my undergrad school decided to go co-ed, there were many guys (!!) from traditional religious groups who were upset at that fact. Out of the four girls-only residence halls, only 1 went co-ed, and that was only because the building wasn't historically women only. Leonard Hall ended up going semi-coed with a few floors that were reserved only for men.

Phi Psi at Beloit College (WI Gamma) Housed women for a year because they couldn't fill. All three of our fraternities have housed 'friends of the house' when they haven't been able to get the numbers. I doesn't kill a group.

Yes. Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Lambda Pi Chi, Lambda Psi Chi, and Zeta Phi Beta are listed here: http://www.wesleyan.edu/wsa/groups/contactlist.htmThat one went right over my head.

Let me clarify...

At Trinity it is a school rule for all Fraternites and Sororities. This became a rule in the 80's. Each house did it differently. Some went underground and remain single sex. In the case of AD and Psi U they joined with Tri Delt and Kappa. They maintain separate memberships, houses, rush process, etc. They are joined on paper only. Tri Delt acutually lost their charter because of this and are now called the Ivy Society. Other groups like Cleo and St. Anthony Hall became flat out co-ed.

Probably varies by chapter. At Penn Psi U is single sex.

http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~psiu/index.htm

It sounds to me that there is a major misunderstanding about the role that Greek life can play on a campus on both the sides of the administration and the fraternity men. ("Free association" is code for "drinking"? Who knew?) However, this seems to be the case at many, many liberals arts schools, especially those in the northeast that tend to be pretty old.

I feel like the administration is being overly control freakish here. But then again, if you didn't want to go to a school where that was the case, you should have done your research beforehand . . .

That said, I know of plenty of fraternities here, and at other campuses, who have women living in the house. It's not as big of a problem as this article makes it out to be.

sugar and spice,

could you fill this in a little more. It is interesting and would like more Info so could check into it a little more.

My problem with this is (as I stated in a similar thread about .. I think it was Colgate?)... these houses are privately owned and these universities are trying to control where students choose to live. It's broader than just fraternity houses. They are saying that everybody MUST live on campus or in housing that THEY approve! If I were a student at a school that suddenly changed the rules and said I had to live in university housing (which is usually wayyyyy more expensive than off campus housing), I'd transfer. I hope they lose students over their micromanagement of their lives.

Dee

You all do realize that Wesleyan was the inspiration for PCU, right?

I don't necessarily think making students live on campus all 4 years is beyond the pale. It's when they do it to you after you've accepted and built a life there NOT under that rule. What I am saying is, if they did something like "beginning with the class of 2009 all students must live on campus for their entire college career." It's not fair to tell people they can move out and then change the rules and say "sorry, you have to move back on campus or you'll be expelled." Older students should have a grandfather clause. That goes for Greeks or anyone.

Oh and re Little E's comment that coed housing doesn't kill a house - I think you're right, as long as there are true "friends of the house" living there. It seems from this that the women who would be the most against fraternities will be the ones moving into the houses and trying to cause trouble. The fraternities should at least be allowed to pick the girls that live there if they have to do this.

Here's my question, what role will these women play during fraternity functions? What is to keep them from walking in on a ritual or "finding" ritual books/things? What if the women refuse to help clean the space for things such as rush and alumni day? I mean, if the girls are indeed "friends of the house", then that's great. But there's so much stuff that you have to guard carefully. I know we have non-members live in our house during summer and we have to package up all of our ritual things to keep non-members out...

Does anyone know how this works?

I know fraternities (and some sororities.. or even chapters of my own sorority) may do the whole housing thing differently.

In my chapter each woman is agreeing to live in the house for at least one year. If the house is always full, she will not "have" to move in. If there are vacancies, we go through the list of the women who have not fulfilled their obligation and come up with a system to make sure the house stays full.

The house is generally full of exec and other sisters who choose to live there, but it is always full, and if there are vacancies (someone graduates for example) we make sure we have women to fill the spots.

In the case of these fraternities do they have people apply to live there (similar to signing applications and doing that whole process for an apartment) or do they have the option to keep women out if their fraternity's members are in the house and there are no vacancies? That would be a bummer to get kicked out of the house of your own brothers b/c the university wants random girls to live there :(

My friend's father was a Sigma Nu waaaaay back in the day at Wesleyan- apparenlty they got in trouble for initating women on their own. te he he.

OK this settles it. We are going to go talk to the people at Wesleyan.

Let's set this up:

1) We need a bus. I don't travel on yellow school buses so this better be a nice coach bus worthy of Justin Timberlake.

2) Let me do the talking. I will let these shroom eating, acid dropping, tie dye shirt wearing, curly haired freaks know we're not willing to accept their rules even though we don't go to their school and pay their high fees!

-Rudey

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Awesome Rudey, Awesome.
Sign me up! When do we leave?

That's a plan - I'm from CT, so we can all stay at my parents' house. They'll be a little shocked at the amount of people, but there should be enough room for everyone.

Collin
- those of you I don't like can sleep in the attic

I'm there. Are you going to wear a tie-dyed dress shirt with your suit? You know, just to fit in.

If we do all go to Wesleyan, to get into the fraternities to talk to the brothers, we'll need to know the answers to these questions:

1) Who was the greatest American president?
2) A shoe appropriate for boating
3) Who killed Jesus Christ?

1) Homer Simpson
2) Birkenstocks
3) Jessica Simpson

Perhaps the fraternities can rally the support of their alumni to accomplish what Taualumna suggested, and that is to house a fraternity & sorority in the same "building." The idea is it would be akin to co-ed dormitories segregated by floors, but perhaps separated by walls. :) Since it seems a number of alumni have stopped giving or altered their giving, perhaps those missed dollars can be funneled into the housing corporation(s) of the fraternity (and sorority).

Even better would be to take two houses next to each other, and somehow building a cool tunnel or enclosed walkway between them to join them as "one living complex" haha

Seriously though, you can try forcing fraternities to house women (if they don't already or are opposed to it), but it's gonna work as well as trying to force a democracy on a certain middle eastern country. :rolleyes:

Psi U is by chapter, and still women who are brothers are kinda thought as sketchy by the members of all male chapters. There are a couple of stories about women not being allowed into chapter rooms, since some chapters are really sketchy about even letting other people from differnt chapters in them.

I think this is the time for the Wesleyan Greek Community to have some special meetings and decide how to meet/beat the system.

Maybe develop plans for their own Greek Row and see if the university would assist in the development.
Coed living, but the basement levels have sound-proofed & locked chapter rooms for each fraternity and sorority.

Perhaps instead of a House Mother, the fraternities will have a House Sister, who belongs to one of the sororities.
After all, from this article it sounds like they can get around this by allowing just one female student to live there.

The fraternity houses are large, and owned by the university. No greek row can be developed because it would need either university land (redundant, and not going to happen,) or the rezoning of an affluent residential neighborhood (not going to happen.)

What!

Not allowing guests from other chapters... tsk tsk. Disrespectful enough.

But how could you not allow another member of your fraternity chapter into the chapter rooms?

We are even sketchy about letting nationals in chapater rooms. It has to do with chapters previous orginizations. Back in the day to become a chapter you had to be a strong local fraternity/orginization. For instance the chapter room is not only the Michigan State's chapter room, its also the Hesperian's chapter room. When we become alumni we become members of the Hesperian society. Alot of the older chapters do this.

Wesleyan
 

DU left Wesleyan a long time ago, DU became a local in 1953 and then a chapter of KA Society in 1967 and struggled on until 1980. Wesleyan was 90% greek in the 1950's and had 12-13 fraternities , Now Wesleyan has 4-5 fraternities and is 10% Greek, I think the administration is using water torture on the greeks instead of killing us like Alfred and Williams did.

The problem is that are The Schools so short sighted or just reacting to the stupidity of Greeks on Campi across the system?

The sad part is, the 10 % who screw up, make it impossible for the 90 %, who dont, True or False?

Now, there seems to be Schools who have come to the realization that just books do not a Graduate make.
Building Greek Villiages, Expansion, Changing by School Request to Nationals is a big step for Greeks as a whole. (Please Do Not flame me for being anti Local, I am not)!

Alfart and Willie did an injustice to their Students. As We know, there is a lot more to being Greek than buying friendships, drinking beer and booze, or having sex.

I have been doing this Greek Thing for 40 years in 2005, and I learned more by being in a Greek Organization and what I did to Found a Local than the college credits that I worked and earned.

What is so sad is that people who do not have the chance to experience The Greek experience have no clue wha they really missed!:(