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<p>It’s a SWAG based on the number of UVA students surveyed saying they had been raped while there, not just the reported ones or the ones officially investigated. I have no idea how to get a real accurate number when most are unreported.</p>
<p>That is a sensible suggestion, poetgirl. DS’s fraternity did a lot of charitable work for Make A Wish foundation. They also cleaned up streets around campus in an adopt a street program. They read to kids in an inner city school. I don’t know of any dorm groups that do similar things. It’s a shame that all fraternities are being smeared because of the actions of a free criminals. They wouldn’t want to lose their chapters over the actions of one or a few so a safe reporting system makes sense.</p>
<p>It’s actually my husband’s idea. He is alumni ad visor to his fraternity.</p>
<p>he tells his guys it is in their best interest to kick any rapist out of the house, that it is in the best interest of the entire fraternity system, which is going to be shut down at some point if this doesn’t stop, to report the rapes, cooperate with the police and any other investigation, to come forward.</p>
<p>But he thinks Universities need to make it easier for a fraternity member to report a rape and cooperate, without retaliating against those who are innocent.</p>
<p>@ Pizzagirl My understanding is that most Universities set up their own police force to handle student situations, and also to prevent having to report incidents to the police, when it can be avoided. </p>
<p>That way her friends will discourage her from reporting it, and campus police will discourage her from reporting it, and then a senior school official/Dean will also discourage her from reporting to so there will not be that many cases that actually get through all of that gauntlet and actually get to the police. </p>
<p>The few that get through will be interrogated as if they were the criminal and then dismissed as a “he said, she said” to discourage future women from reporting. </p>
<p>That is why, in the end, there are almost zero convictions.</p>
<p>“I honestly think most fraternity men would welcome a chance to get the rapists out of the house and in prison if they didn’t think they’d lose the whole house, themselves.”</p>
<p>Forgive me if I don’t cry for those who are aware of the rapists but are afraid they might shut down a frat house. That’s called accessory to a crime and does not deserve one iota of sympathy. Anyone of legal age whose moral compass can’t distinguish between a female being raped and losing a fraternity house doesn’t give me much hope for the future.</p>
<p>I’m not crying for anybody but those girls.</p>
<p>I’m saying that if we want more cooperation and to get these rapists off campus, fraternity cooperation is essential. It could lead to a great deal of actual prosecution and prison time for rapists. I don’t think this makes it a “good” option, but I think it would be the most effective. If you want to keep punishing the whole house if someone from the house comes forward, you sure are making it tough to get any information, in my opinion, and that keeps rapists on campus and out of prison, still raping girls at a University near you…</p>
<p>Of course I don’t think it really matters. The truth is that if things keep going the way they are going, the whole national fraternity system will be shut down eventually. Even most fraternity alums I know say this, now.</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl “But he thinks Universities need to make it easier for a fraternity member to report a rape and cooperate, without retaliating against those who are innocent.”</p>
<p>I agree with this, but am wondering what happens currently if a fraternity member wants to report a crime? How are they retaliated against?</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m poetgrl, not pizzagirl. </p>
<p>The Universities will still punish the fraternities. The brothers, of course, since they are punished will punish him, and the whole Greek system will turn on any house.</p>
<p>Mobsters. You need to use mobster tools to investigate. You have to offer protection for them.</p>
<p>“The Universities will still punish the fraternities. The brothers, of course, since they are punished will punish him, and the whole Greek system will turn on any house.”</p>
<p>So they pretend to cooperate publicly, but if a witness actually tries to cooperate, they are punished. I hope that we are getting to a point where that will no longer be the case because any retaliation would bring another round of bad press and possibly charges of impeding an investigating or witness tampering.</p>
<p>Look, they will lose their friends okay? They are boys in college. </p>
<p>But the university can not sanction the whole fraternity if the men themselves report the crime. Right now that’s not the case. I think that would help change things. </p>
<p>I’m just talking about what schools could do to make it easier for witnesses to come forward and to change the culture. </p>
<p>To me, the reason to punish fraternities is that they are often complicit in the actions that their members have taken and at a minimum assisted in covering it up. </p>
<p>If a fraternity made it clear that in these situations they expect their members to be honest and truthful with police and that the behavior is completely unacceptable, then perhaps there would not be any action against the fraternity.</p>
<p>If shutting down every fraternity(and sorority for that matter) in the country resulted in significantly less rapes would the world really be worse off? Isn’t the main purpose of college to get an education? Why are we unduly concerned about protecting the last legal bastion of segregation in this country. Total waste of effort IMO.</p>
<p>I just read the rolling stone article, and I must say UVa is in need of serious reform! I cannot believe that a fraternity would have gang rape as part of the pledge process. It saddens me that this is only gaining traction since the article. I hope she will gain the courage to press charges.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119”>http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119</a></p>
<p>yeah, @straightshooter, there is no evidence that getting rid of fraternities will get rid of rape.</p>
<p>Rapists are criminal serial sex offenders. They go where they can hide out.</p>
<p>Fraternities, right now, are those places. If you get rid of fraternities, they will show up somewhere else.</p>
<p>Where they need to be is in prison. And, right now, fraternities could help to put them there, in my opinion, and they should.</p>
<p>How many of these cases happen where the campus has a Greek village as part of their on-campus housing? How many of these cases happen where fraternities are not banned, but fraternity houses are banned?</p>
<p>What person in their right mind would rent a house to a bunch of 20 year old guys and let them have alcohol and drug filled parties in it? My spouse’s fraternity was forced to sell their house cheap to the university because it was technically on campus, though they owned it. They have a house blocks from campus now. Is the college still responsible? </p>
<p>“yeah, @straightshooter, there is no evidence that getting rid of fraternities will get rid of rape.”</p>
<p>Thanks for misquoting me. I did not say rid or eliminate rape I said REDUCE. And if you don’t think eliminating Fraternities will reduce rape cases then I’m not going to change your mind. </p>
<p>Campus women should boycott frat parties. Simple. Do not step one foot inside a frat house. There’s no need to wait for a slow university response. Just don’t go. If no women showed up at their parties, frat houses would get the message loud and clear. </p>
<p>@straightshooter. There are rape problems at all schools. In fact, look at Williams. They have no fraternities at Williams. They have rapes.</p>
<p>I’m the biggest advocate for rape survivors on CC. I know too much about rapists to believe eliminating fraternities eliminates or reduces rape. It’s just the place they hide out RIGHT NOW.</p>
<p>@TatinG. I agree. I told my daughters when they left for school to stay out of fraternities until they found out who the rapey houses were, which would take at least until after Thanksgiving. I also told them that later, if they liked a fraternity boy, they should only date him outside the house, and never go up to any fraternity members room. ev.er.</p>
<p>@TatinG, the same elements of immaturity that make frat members reluctant to rat out their brothers or convince them it isn’t as bad as it seems also operate on young women in college and would make any “boycott frat parties” movement a failure–they want to be part of the preferred social scene, they are subject to the pressure of their friends, they don’t want to be seen as wet blankets, the convince themselves it won’t happen to them, etc.</p>
<p>As for the claim that all the wonderful good works wouldn’t happen if traditional Greek life were banned, I say hogwash. I attended a college with no Greek life. There were multiple organizations that engaged in community service and fund raising for good causes. At her school, my D was a member of a co-ed service fraternity (believe me, not in the mold of typical frats–no house, no drunkfests) whose whole existence was predicated on giving to the community.</p>
<p>Will girls still get drunk and will guys still rape if Greek life is banned? Sure, but that’s not a reason to retain a school-sponsored focal point for this behavior. Colleges don’t sponsor dive bars and strip joints either.</p>