Pi Kappa Phi chapter at NC State suspended after "embarrassing, scary" book found

[carnation]

Some bad stuff has happened, Sen. Several white GLOs have gotten in trouble. And so have many black ones, primarily for major hazing.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge

I am growing increasingly concerned that the culture of mainly white fraternities and sororities is one that reinforces white supremacy, even in the presence of black members; that reinforces sexism and sexual violence; and fosters a sense of generational entitlement.

That's really our culture? You know this? Such blanket statements are as offensive as the crap coming out of these very few racist asshole chapters. In the SAE case, the national organization caught wind of what happened and shut that chapter down and expelled or is in the process of expelling everyone responsible. In the case of Pi Kapa Phi, as soon as their national organization was notified, the chapter was placed on suspension and is under investigation. What the hell makes you think our culture reinforces white supremacy when the actions of our national organizations when faced with isolated cases of chapters behaving badly could not possibly rationally give that appearance?

What we have is a PR problem to be sure. It is not a cultural problem. This situation is very similar to how the public perceives school violence. While it is an all time low, because of media coverage, the public perceives our schools as danger zones. In reality, we are living our values better than ever, are more diverse than ever and are successful in terms of attracting quality members. Is everything perfect? Nope. But the sky isn't falling.

[AZTheta]

I am not agreeing or disagreeing: I am sharing a link that calls for abolition of the fraternity system, including repealing Title IX exemption for fraternities and sororities.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Jesus Christ... the national organization has suspended the chapter's charter pending investigation? What more do you want? The CIA to be sent in with waterboards?

Now who's trying to be obtuse Kevin? I was very clearly replying to a specific comment of yours:

Originally Posted by Kevin

I hope y'alls' national organizations responded to these incidents the same way mine did--with memos reminding chapters to implement programming which we already have in place.

Yes, we all have policies and programs in place—some of them really good ones. Sending memos about them is a band-aid.

What I'm saying is that we have a PR problem. The headlines and news stories are what people are seeing. Some who are paying attention see us reacting—sometimes strongly, sometimes tepidly. But the fact remains, we have a PR problem. To fix that we have to be proactive and creative in ways we haven't always had to be before. We need to take responsibility for trying to get things to the place that when people hear "fraternity," they don't automatically think "privileged, racist, mysogenist frat boys."

To be clear, it can't just be PR. Almost every statement issued by a fraternity when these things happen says something along the lines of "these actions are not consistent with the values of ABC fraternity." We need to let the wider community see us exemplifying our values so that when we say that, it doesn't just sound like damage control. Sure we do that in some ways now, but we that doesn't mean we can't do more, or that there may not be new ways that would be effective.

We say when these things happen that they're aberrations and don't represent the majority of fraternity members or chapters. We need to back that up in a way that when we say it, people have reason the believe it.

I really don't see why this is a controversial concept. Seems pretty basic to me.

And Sen, agreed—men, not boys.

[ASTalumna06]

Ok, I'm not looking for a big debate about what recruitment needs to be at larger schools or whether deferred recruitment would work, or any of those other arguments we usually have (I'm looking at you, NPCers ), but I wanted to post this article that made me think a bit... what if we tried to stop the problems before they even begin?

Is Fraternity/Sorority an Outdated Idea?
http://blog.phiredup.com/?p=3267

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Ok, I'm not looking for a big debate about what recruitment needs to be at larger schools or whether deferred recruitment would work, or any of those other arguments we usually have (I'm looking at you, NPCers ), but I wanted to post this article that made me think a bit... what if we tried to stop the problems before they even begin?

Is Fraternity/Sorority an Outdated Idea?
http://blog.phiredup.com/?p=3267

Some things she is on point with - like Greek life ISN'T for everyone, at every school - but some things she completely misses the mark, like we should treat rush like a job interview. That's the same mindset that says "rush is the same as marketing a product. " No. It's not.

I also hate how people seem to believe that (especially at big schools) rush is being run this way because the groups prefer it. I bet if you asked any Ole Miss sorority member, she'd say she'd rather have time to sit and talk with women and get to know them, rather than having bump groups, skits and the same conversation 100 times. The fact is that the sheer amount of rushees doesn't allow for this unless the sorority members don't go to class for 2 months. What's the remedy there? Limiting the amount of women who can rush? If you think we get yelled at for discrimination now, that would amp it up to stratospheric levels.

[33girl]

To add to amiblue's post: we need to develop programming in house, with people who actually have Greek experience, instead of going to outside corporations who take the same presentation and do a cut & paste and replace "company" with "fraternity. "

When did we stop networking within our own ranks for programming, graphics, site design etc and decide someone who knows nothing about our bonds or real mission would be a better candidate?

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Some things she is on point with - like Greek life ISN'T for everyone, at every school - but some things she completely misses the mark, like we should treat rush like a job interview. That's the same mindset that says "rush is the same as marketing a product. " No. It's not.

I also hate how people seem to believe that (especially at big schools) rush is being run this way because the groups prefer it. I bet if you asked any Ole Miss sorority member, she'd say she'd rather have time to sit and talk with women and get to know them, rather than having bump groups, skits and the same conversation 100 times. The fact is that the sheer amount of rushees doesn't allow for this unless the sorority members don't go to class for 2 months. What's the remedy there? Limiting the amount of women who can rush? If you think we get yelled at for discrimination now, that would amp it up to stratospheric levels.

I don't think she believes recruitment should be like an interview; only that you can only learn so much about a person from brief conversations in a stressful environment with tens and hundreds of other people around. What's the solution? Who knows?!

Originally Posted by 33girl

To add to amiblue's post: we need to develop programming in house, with people who actually have Greek experience, instead of going to outside corporations who take the same presentation and do a cut & paste and replace "company" with "fraternity. "

When did we stop networking within our own ranks for programming, graphics, site design etc and decide someone who knows nothing about our bonds or real mission would be a better candidate?

This x 100! I don't understand why our orgs are more and more looking to the outside instead of within. But perhaps part of the reason is lack of widespread alumnae support and involvement, which is also why they should spend more time emphasizing the lifelong membership aspect of joining a Greek org. I'm not saying all GLOs are lacking in this area, but many are.

[*winter*]

Men...not boys. YES. If you're over 18 and can go to jail and go to war, you are a man or a woman. Boys and girls are under 18. They may lack some of the tact and life experiences of those older, but they are expected not to do crap like this.

I don't want to turn this into a race war, but what if this book was found in an urban neighborhood, written by poor and/or minority kids? Would they be boys being boys then? College kids get a pass for a lot of things.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by *winter*

I don't want to turn this into a race war, but what if this book was found in an urban neighborhood, written by poor and/or minority kids? Would they be boys being boys then? College kids get a pass for a lot of things.

If this book was found in an urban neighborhood, you would have never heard about it. It would likely be thrown away instead of the media being alerted.