Ole Miss Sigma Chi behaving badly during Derby Days
 

Abby is a hero. Good for her, and her sisters for standing behind her.

Paying money to participate in a philanthropy? The hell?

It sounds like the sororities' participation was extremely voluntary. Perhaps they all need to reevaluate their participation if this behavior is so unwelcome? If Sigma Chi wants to punish the chapter for something offensive, fine. A public school can try to do that, but they may find themselves on the losing end of a lawsuit. Actions should have consequences, but there's only so much a pubic institution can do. Considering the students' constitutional right to say something offensive, I'm not sure what there is for the university to investigate. If the school shut down Derby Days, they've already infringed on Sigma Chi's constitutional rights. It's unclear though as to how exactly that took place.

As for the comment in the article regarding this being hazing.. my we have taken the definition of that word into an uncharted level of expansiveness.

And not for nothin', the event, while featuring maybe one offensive display, they did raise $25,000 and 1,000 units of blood for a children's hospital. But of course that's not the real story here.

For the record, I have never enjoyed the kind of humor that the two emcees displayed. It's just not my thing.

I do have a problem with the whole Derby Days being suspended because of this incident. I think the university could have had a conversation with the fraternity president, Derby Days chairs, and the two emcees about what is appropriate and inappropriate and let the event continue.

Well if IFC or Sigma Chi HQ want to suspend the activity, IFC is an organization Sigma Chi voluntarily organizes with, so they might have that power. Sigma Chi HQ certainly has that power. The school does not. Period.

Public universities don't get to ban activities because of offensive behaviors. Doing so will open them up to liability. We all have a First Amendment right to be offensive, sexist, racist, etc. While our private organizations can do anything they want to combat that behavior, public schools cannot.

There may be an argument about events which might lead to an imminent breach of the public peace (e.g., if Alpha Beta wants to hold a slave auction where pledges are dressed as slaves wearing blackface, that would almost certainly result in some sort of riot, allowing the school to shut it down). This, however, resulted in a lot of people being offended and some people walking out of the event.

And to be clear, I'm not endorsing this behavior at all, I find it childish and offensive and if this happened within my chapter, I'd probably be coordinating with HQ because our charter would likely be suspended at this point pending an investigation by HQ and I'd be advising the undergrads on expulsion procedures for everyone involved. I would, however, tell the school administration to butt as we were handling this internally and that they had no business regulating our speech and that I wouldn't rule out legal action if they wanted to proceed with any sort of sanctions.

I think that's the point being made. Sororities feel that pulling out of Derby Days will have social consequences, so they put up with shit like this. And they make their members participate. I don't think the school should punish Sigma Chi, but I think that I give a TON of credit to the woman who finally stood up and said, "why the fuck are we putting up with this?" That's really going out on a limb in a Greek system like this one.

I completely agree. That said, if the sororities are requiring members to participate, it's the sororities who are violating any potential hazing rules, not Sigma Chi. My understanding is that sororities stopped participating back in 2013, but seem to have resumed participation. The school swooping in to save these ladies from themselves should be every bit as offensive as anything Sigma Chi has done.

GLOs are private organizations. If we want to remain private organizations, we need to educate school administrators as to the fact that there are clear boundaries of jurisdiction--we will handle our own matters internally, schools will have the choice of trusting that we will or disassociating our organizations.

Once the sorority women finally realize that it is they who hold ALL the power in the Greek social life on campus, all this crap would cease. The guys only have the power because the women let them. I swear it would take 1 solid week of every sorority cutting off every fraternity (date, social, planning meeting, all of it) and they would learn their place. After 2 weeks the guys would be begging at the women's feet.

Well, it's a mutual arrangement. A lot of sorority members wouldn't see nearly as much value in sorority membership if it wasn't for associating with fraternities. We should work towards having a symbiotic relationship. Sororities take advantage of fraternities enough as it is in maintaining aggressively dry housing.

Like DeltaBetaBaby said...that's exactly the point. Like she said, sororities are afraid like pulling out of Derby Days would have social and therefore overall consequences (ex. recruitment consequences). The sororities need to band to support each other and stand up to misogyny.

The whole Panhellenic should not participate if the event isn't changed to reflect what is appropriate and inappropriate. If Derby Days was canceled one year because no sorority wanted to participate, then you bet the next year the event would be changed to something that is appropriate.

Sounds like both groups benefit.. even if a few feelings got hurt. Maybe we can wait a minute or two for Sigma Chi to handle this internally before breaking out the pitchforks and torches?

It's a greater problem that just a few feelings getting hurt. It is not okay to behave this way. It is disrespectful and dehumanizing. This type of behavior contributes to rape culture and poisons the Greek system as a whole.

I'm sure the parents, children who are patients at the hospital, and the patients' parents were all wondering why the women would allow themselves to be subjected to this...and even pay for that privilege.

No, I'm not going to get my hopes up for Sigma Chi to handle this internally, especially when the apology I watched from their president didn't scratch below the surface and he explicitly stated that he thinks that saying this type of behavior contributes to rape culture is extreme.

Just my $0.02.

No, feelings got hurt. That was the exact extent of the problem. It was disrespectful and deserves a condemnation and possibly could lead to sororities reexamining their participation.

You don't know how or whether this will be handled internally. You can only speculate. I can tell you that if a brother makes national headlines for saying something stupid, expulsion is probably on the table. That's Sigma Chi's business though.

I think the Sigma Chi President is correct in that this doesn't necessarily contribute to rape culture. Sometimes someone being a childish asshole is just someone being a childish asshole.

The best solution to offensive speech is more speech though, so by all means, let's get some safe spaces up and running.

Agree to disagree. You're entitled to your opinions and I am to mine.