Serious: Greek Orginizations and False accusation of rape
 

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If you're researching issues of rape amongst fraternity brothers, there's an anthropological study you might be interested in reading. It's called Fraternity Gang Rape, and it's by Peggy Sanday. Sanday is a professor at UPenn and the book deals with an actual case which happened in her campus in the late 80's/early 90's (It's been a year or two since I read the book myself, but I know it was written in 92, lol!).

She discusses the type of culture that an all-male atmosphere can create, especially in regards to how the treatment of women (and of each other!). It's a really interesting read.

Also, there is a follow-up article Sanday wrote quite a few years later that I can try to get from a professor for you that deals more with statistics and such, as well as her personal opinions.

My professor went to the AAA meetings a few years back and saw Sanday speak. She was asked by someone in the audience if she thought the Greek system should be done away with entirely and banned at colleges and universities. Based on some of her book, you'd think she say yes, but she said absolutely not. She's actually a strong SUPPORTER of Greek life, saying it does far more good then one or two bad apples could ever do within the system. She discusses how this can occur in ANY group/team set. It's also disturbingly common among athletes. At a campus near me, according to their official statistics, they haven't had a single accusation of a sexual crime in the Greek system; they get 1 or 2 a year with the athletic teams.

It's a negative stigma which is hard to overcome, but it is doable. It takes a lot of education both for the brothers, and for the general public - people truly don't realize the damage they can do with a false accusation.

This is also an opportunity to look at the reputation of your chapter as a whole. If you're thought of as the skeezy, sleazy guys who are always out to sleep with women (regardless of the truth of that reputation), this rumor could easily stem from that. Some good PR may be needed all around, and maybe it is something your chapter needs to focus on. If your chapter had a reputation as good guys that a girl would love to take home to mom, such a rumor wouldn't likely stick.

It seems that sororities spend more time cultivating their images, public relations and reputation than the guys do. But these things can be important to fraternties as well.

Overall, overcoming reputations and rumors takes time, but it can be certainly be done, especially when the chapter as a whole makes an effort to overcome it.

there is a certain website that ranks and compares greek orgs. on specific campuses. type in any of the colleges that are listed and read about the fraternities-it doesn't really matter which college or fraternity. they are either using drugs, raping women and slipping roofies into their drinks, or they are losers and are gay. it's that cut and dry. vile things are said, and unfortunately there will be some readers who believe all this. most reasonably minded people will realize that all these accusations can simply not be true and will not believe them.

have you thought about speaking to the girl directly, in a nonconfrontational way? let her know that you are concerned about the allegations and that you want to her help to get to the bottom of it. ask her the names of the alleged individuals, when and where it happened, and if anything was ever proven. i'll bet she won't be able to answer your questions and hopefully that will squelch her spreading any more rumors.

This is pretty much the moral equivalent to saying that a rape victim deserved what she got because she dressed provocatively.

(although, I will admit, cultivating a good reputation is generally a good thing).

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This happened on my campus several times. Most recently, several girls accused one particular fraternity of dropping date rape drugs in their drinks. One was taken to the hospital and it was later found out that she in fact had alcohol poisoning and when her parents showed up at the hospital she pointed her finger at the boys whose party she had attended and other girls (all new members of various organizations on campus) jumped on the bandwagon, some to avoid consequences with their own organizations for being falling-down drunk. Her test results revealed that there were no drugs in her system except alcohol. (And the lie was later admitted, I've been told, to older sisters.) These guys had to come talk to every sorority chapter on campus, apologize for something they didn't do, and suspend parties for a good while. They felt as you do, that if a member ever did commit such a crime they would take him to the police station themselves, and went to great lengths to investigate the accusations themselves before the girl's hospital test results were released. The girl who was taken to the hospital was not a member of my old chapter so I don't know if she was ever told how very wrong her actions were, but some of the girls pointing fingers WERE from my chapter and they were talked to.

Obviously these situations hurt several people. First, they hurt the organization that has been accused of criminal action. Second, they hurt the Greek system on that campus in general, and third they hurt women who DO have legitimate claims regarding rape and drugs because people are less likely to believe them directly following false accusations. They might not even come forward for this reason. I suggest two things in the short term. One is to hold a meeting with your own chapter to discuss the issue and ask any brother who thinks there is fire to this smoke to come forward to your exec privately to discuss the issue. Remind them this is NOT snitching if there is reason to believe a brother has ever committed this sort of crime and that real men would never, ever rape a woman. (Also take this opportunity to remind them of the dangers of having sex with a woman who is extremely intoxicated. If nothing else, it's unethical because they are blatantly taking advantage of someone who very well might never do this sober, at the worst it could send them to jail for rape because she could be considered unable to consent. Though having been stupid and a freshman and prone to drinking too much I have to say I think it's important for sororities to remind their members that though it's never, ever ok for someone to take advantage of them they shouldn't put themselves in danger...just like you know it's dangerous to drink and drive.) Likely there is no issue, but I know of a member of an athletic team member on my campus that did rape a woman who was tested positive for a date rape drug when she was taken to the hospital (who did not file charges for the very reason I listed above) who is only known to be a rapist by her close friends. It is POSSIBLE that this is a similar situation and this girl knows something the general public does not.

Next, since you know exactly who this girl is and which organization she is a member of, it wouldn't be out of line to send a member of your exec to a member of her organization's exec to clearly and calmly outline the problem. Ask if their exec could talk to the girl individually or the chapter if needed to see if there is any real basis for the accusation or if she is repeating a rumor. Likely if she's just talking out of her ass her own exec will help control her but if there is an issue let these girls know you want to know about it so you can begin the process of investigating the matter. Definitely let them know you take these accusations very seriously and that you under no circumstances agree with the use of date rape drugs and certainly want to know immediately if a member has ever committed this crime so you can take action. They are more likely to respond positively if you let them know that is your first concern, and your second is to contain these rumors if they aren't true. People don't realize how serious these accusations are.

Third, if it's a truly widespread problem, ask you Panhellenic and NIC councils (and any other greek councils on campus) to sponsor a speaker to talk about date rape. We had one speaker who told a story of a promising young man who had sex with a woman so intoxicated that she threw up ten minutes before they had sex and who reported this as a rape to the police. He went to jail and is a registered sex offender. It was a reminder of the dangers of drinking too much and the dangers of having sex for either party under the circumstances and it also opened the lines of communication about date rape. This might help people understand how extremely serious it is to accuse someone of such a heinous crime.

Also if your chapter serves drinks at parties, stop. This is a great way to fuel these accusations. Also, if anyone at the party is so drunk they can't stand, have a plan for removing them from the party AND making sure they arrive home safely. This could be part of the fuel for the fire, if women are extremely intoxicated at parties and are receiving drinks from brothers. It makes it easier to pass the blame (and this goes for men and members too, I'm saying women because that's what specifically relates to your situation). Let sororities know you will begin doing this, as well as other fraternities if you allow them to attend your parties. If a brother gives a ride home to a girl, have another girl ride along. These are all CYA methods.

I assume by "drinks" you mean mixed drinks with hard alcohol?

Yes, specifically, but it's a good idea to provide none if this problem is getting out of control.

I agree that the problem will disappear if you don't serve drinks. Of course so will the party goers.

They won't. The fraternity on my campus I wrote about did eliminate drinks for a while and the parties didn't shrink. It won't make the problem disappear but it's a good way to cover ass...probably every fraternity has had this rumor thrown around about them at some point, but when it gets out of control in my opinion it's better to make some drastic changes then let it continue.

While I am not condoning underage drinking, at 95% (if not more) of the colleges in America this would be a bigger reputation killer than being seen as sleazy. Not saying this is right, but it's how it would work out.

I guess I disagree because I've seen it done, and though in every case I've seen it it was temporary, it both helped send a message that the fraternity was serious about reacting to the rumors and helped kill them. They didn't see a decrease in their party numbers and eventually everything went back to normal. It didn't kill rumors but it helped quiet them. And in some cases girls were truly avoiding the house because they really believed they'd be drugged.