Phi Kappa Psi at U of Virginia Voluntarily Suspends Activities

[ASTalumna06]

A Frat Boy's Confession: An Open Letter to the Fraternity Men of America

https://thejesuitpost.org/2014/12/a-...en-of-america/

If these were isolated incidents, then we could handle each incident swiftly. We could punish the guilty accordingly and place the victim on his or her path to becoming whole again. But these aren’t isolated incidents. There’s a pattern that allows us men (let’s be honest – boys) to use violent means like hazing and rape to exercise dominion over others. The targets of such violence? Those deemed subordinate, especially those “girls” (never do we call them sisters or women, mind you) as well as younger members of our Greek letter societies. They are supposedly weaker; easier prey for a wolfpack of boys to feast upon.

But boys will be boys, right? That’s just how us guys act, right? This is college, bro! Right? This attitude – the enabling, the dismissing, the “all in good fun” attitude – keeps us Greeks from maturing into the leaders that both materials from our national organizations and our ritual claim us to be and hope us to experience. The longer we bros maintain this attitude, the more horror stories of drugging, gang rape, and hazing we will read about in newspapers. I should know. Unwittingly and with the best of intentions, I was an enabler of such violence. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions…

ETA: I just noticed the second picture in the article (of the banner). It's pretty deplorable.

[1964Alum]

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! These will be the fraternity men who are respected and admired on campus.

Excerpted:
How can we move forward? How can we candidly talk about the reality of sex and violence on campus? Brothers, we need your help. Women need our help. School communities need our help. Name the parasitic evil that sucks the life and love and joy from campus and from people’s lives. Name it for what it is – a rancid mix of immaturity and misogyny that lets boys be boys, teaches younger members to accept this as normal, and burdens women with pain, fear, and unreasonable expectations to correct the injustice themselves.
Naming the problem isn’t enough – we need to stop it. Naming something gives us power over it. So let us name the evil so we can keep it out in the open for all to see. Let us name the evil so we Greeks are transformed into leaders for supportive, healthy living for all college students. Let’s learn from our mistakes and, buoyed by faith in our letters, create a culture of care. Then, by loving all we meet, we can hope for a better university life.

[honorgal]

Department of Justice: Rape and Sexual Assault Victimization Among
College-Age Females 1995-2013

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsavcaf9513.pdf

[33girl]

Bob Jones University?? Lol SERIOUSLY??? Why would you think anything out of there has any basis in reality??

[DrPhil]

Honorgal, I hope you are not posting that to dispel the notion of a "college rape crisis". That is not at all what this research (that isn't the only study) does. We already know that college sexual assault and rape is not more prevalent than non-college sexual assault and rape. The "college bubble" is about social isolation and does not mean the rates would be higher than in the general population.

[honorgal]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Honorgal, I hope you are not posting that to dispel the notion of a "college rape crisis". That is not at all what this research (that isn't the only study) does. We already know that college sexual assault and rape is not more prevalent than non-college sexual assault and rape. The "college bubble" is about social isolation and does not mean the rates would be higher than in the general population.

Some people might want to see the data for themselves, rather than have you (or the media) interpret it for them. If not, it's simply a tiny bit of wasted bandwidth here.

Anyhoo, as the numbers show, the 1 in 5 or 20% rate is actually 0.6% Just a tad bit of an exaggeration.

Not at all sure what you mean by "the college bubble" is about social isolation? Social isolation refers to a lack of interaction or contact with others. I think we would find more prevalence of that in non-student populations.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by honorgal

Not at all sure what you mean by "the college bubble" is about social isolation? Social isolation refers to a lack of interaction or contact with others. I think we would find more prevalence of that in non-student populations.

No, "social isolation" is not only about a lack of contact and interaction with others. Feelings of loneliness, abandonment, depression, and isolation are common on college campuses similar as they can increase with urbanization and migration in the general population. College campuses are an environment in which strangers are taken from different cities, states, and often countries and put in a bubble even smaller and more isolated than an "urban bubble". Add to that the pressure some students feel to transition into adulthood and figure out their own preferences, plans, and goals without disappointing or betraying their parents. College campus counselors (often assisted by faculty and staff) spend a great deal of time assisting students (not all of them introverts) who feel alone in a crowded room, who are away from family and childhood friends, and who feel they have no one to talk to at college. People dropout of college for reasons including feeling lonely and depressed, poor grades, family obligations, and physical, mental, and emotional issues. This includes people who want to speak out about their victimization. Many victims are embarrassed over the circumstances and embarrassed because their family trusted them to be away from home and they feel they "messed it up". These are dynamics that are prevalent on college campuses as a microcosm of the general population.

Again, you are trying to fight a battle that isn't being fought. There are many social issues that are causing alarm on some college campuses but these issues are more prevalent in the general population (for reasons including size of population and independence versus the smaller population and dependency of the college bubble). This isn't a competition. There can be disturbing trends and problems on college campuses as well as in the general population.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Honorgal, I hope you are not posting that to dispel the notion of a "college rape crisis". That is not at all what this research (that isn't the only study) does. We already know that college sexual assault and rape is not more prevalent than non-college sexual assault and rape. The "college bubble" is about social isolation and does not mean the rates would be higher than in the general population.

One of the interesting things here is that women in college are less likely to report. That in itself speaks to a problem with rape culture on campus and the type of backlash that would be feared by someone in the social isolation of a university.

[1964Alum]

It boggles the mind that the world of GLOs are acknowledging the problem and dealing constructively with it and *one* of the posters here continues on this sad and sorry campaign of denial. A dead end if there ever was one.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by 1964Alum

It boggles the mind that the world of GLOs are acknowledging the problem and dealing constructively with it and *one* of the posters here continues on this sad and sorry campaign of denial. A dead end if there ever was one.

This sounds like "you stupid patriarchally oppressed girl, don't you realize you were raped? How dare you get on with your life with no issues?"

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This sounds like "you stupid patriarchally oppressed girl, don't you realize you were raped? How dare you get on with your life with no issues?"

What is your post about?

[DrPhil]

You're a wash, honorgal. A waste of time. Rather than schooling you for you to only dismiss the information, like you just attempted in response to my explanation of social isolation, take the time to school yourself. Learn how some campus-based initiatives learned and sought support from off-campus initiatives. Prove that you are willing and able to form sound arguments without picking and choosing only that which instantly supports your argument.

[honorgal]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

You're a wash, honorgal. A waste of time. Rather than schooling you for you to only dismiss the information, like you just attempted in response to my explanation of social isolation, take the time to school yourself. Learn how some campus-based initiatives learned and sought support from off-campus initiatives. Prove that you are willing and able to form sound arguments without picking and choosing only that which instantly supports your argument.

Too funny. My argument does not rely on using bogus statistics like 1 in 5, or outrageous stories like the one in Rolling Stone.

[exlurker]

The new or revised UVA requirements for fraternities and sororities are covered in an article on an NBC affiliate's site:

http://www.nbc29.com/story/27775401/...tion-agreement

The article ^^ includes links to specific agreements between the university and the various councils (the UVA councils for NIC, NPC, NPHC, etc.)

Another news source has a story, too:

http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlin...287697381.html

[DrPhil]

Neither does mine. The issue of rape is not dependent upon a couple incidents or whether people believe particular numbers.

But it is dependent upon an awareness of the individuals and organizations working to bring awareness to, and decrease incidents of, sexual assault and rape in our cities, states, college campuses, and/or around the world. I recommend anyone who engages in these discussions inform themselves of what is being done at the local, state, national, and international levels BEFORE claiming nothing is being done.