<p>And, also today:</p>
<p><a href=“Tech fraternity suspended for party banner promoting rape, sprinkler shaped like female genitalia”>Tech fraternity suspended for party banner promoting rape, sprinkler shaped like female genitalia;
<p>It is almost like there is a pattern. Hmmmm</p>
<p>“Clemson University’s John Gouch says the university has prosecuted 23 cases of hazing in the past 5 years… the Interfraternity Council… is composed of 24 fraternities”</p>
<p>All exceptional isolated instances, I’m sure. Perhaps if Clemson would disband all these fraternities when they haze, they would have one frat left. That’s assuming it was all different fraternities. And if it wasn’t, I guess that means that hazing isn’t so bad, really, I mean not bad enough to actually disband a fraternity, even if they just keep doing it. What’s a few kids washed up on the shore compared to the trauma of losing those frats?</p>
<p>" One photo shows a banner painted with the words “No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal.”…
Phi Delta Theta’s national headquarters has suspended the Tech chapter, Texas Epsilon, for the duration of an investigation into the matter, according to a news release.</p>
<p>Trey Hudgins, president of the Tech chapter, apologized for the incident in a statement released Tuesday…“The images and statements do not represent the values of Phi Delta Theta or the feelings of the Texas Epsilon chapter towards women." </p>
<p>Of course not. Signs like that just happen by accident. And after all, surely they raise money for charities and they all love their frat buddies, so it’s all good. Of course, someone made those signs and hung them. No one from this frat took the signs down. But of course, no one agreed with them.</p>
<p>It boggles my mind that the majority of the guys at that Texas Tech frat went along with these signs. No one was willing to speak up?</p>
<p>@Consolation “It boggles my mind that the majority of the guys at that Texas Tech frat went along with these signs. No one was willing to speak up?”</p>
<p>This is the problem. Everyone thinks it is funny until charges are filed, then they are sorry. The problem is that colleges continue to treat each incident as if it is isolated. It is clear that it is not. Here is the quote from the article:</p>
<p>"The incident was the third in a month that Texas Tech has had to discipline one of its fraternities.</p>
<p>In late August, Phi Gamma Delta was suspended after it was revealed a former pledge shared a naked photo of a female student with his friends in the frat, local KCBD-TV reported.</p>
<p>The other, Alpha Sigma Phi, was suspended after a pledge, Dalton Debrick, 18, died from alcohol poisoning following a rush event."</p>
<p>Fraternities have two sexual misconduct allegations and one hazing death so far this month at just one college. When is it time to realize that enough is enough? How many days will it be until the next “isolated incident” occurs? Who will die or be drugged or raped next? </p>
<p>Not defending bad behavior, but I can’t stand it when facts are misconstrued and conclusions drawn on incomplete information. It benefits no one when that happens.</p>
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<p>According to the article, the party was an “unsanctioned” event. It is unclear what this means, but it might mean it was a private party held by some individual chapter members, and not an official all-fraternity sponsored event.</p>
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<p>This must be terrible reporting, because it certainly doesn’t describe anything offensive or shocking on its face.</p>
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<p>Someone categorized this as “hazing.” Possibly, but perhaps the adult member drank on his own volition. We can’t tell from this quote. </p>
<p>Btw, when my D attended Yale, some kids in the dorms strung Christmas lights forming the shape of a huge penis from their windows overlooking the quad. It hung there for weeks for all to see, including us parents. No one seemed to care. Weird.</p>
<p>The censored word was the name for male anatomy.</p>
<p>The pledge class before mine at my sorority was only five pledges, and there were 40 girls in the sorority. So they had a lot of stuff done to them, mostly involving alcohol and lots of it.</p>
<p>Our pledge class had 20 pledges, and they kept regretting that they could not haze us. Poor things deprived of the fun. </p>
<p>On the other hand, is it up to fraternities to educate adults on the dangers of alcohol, when those adults should have been warned about it by their parents? </p>
<p>IMHO, fraternities and sororities try to become like religion - you protect those who are members and you suspect and ostracize those who are not. There is a reason why there are Greek and Panhellenic organizations at colleges, even bringing together fraternities is difficult, let alone forcing them to stay in communication with the university.</p>
<p>Fraternities and sororities can be great positive influences. We don’t want to ban marching bands because of the hazing death at FMU. We haven’t forced all Catholics to leave the US because of the pedophilia of some priests and protecting pedophiles on the part of some bishops and cardinals. And we certainly did not shut down PSU’s football program when it was made clear that they protected a child rapist, and possibly brought about the deaths of two investigators.</p>
<p>If we didn’t do that, we shouldn’t ban fraternities and sororities en masse.</p>
<p><a href=“Infamous 'Rapebait' Frat Disbanded for Being Entirely Too Rapey”>http://jezebel.com/infamous-rapebait-frat-disbanded-for-being-entirely-t-1558252895</a></p>
<p><a href=“Frat brothers rape 300% more. One in 5 women is sexually assaulted on campus. Should we ban frats? | Jessica Valenti | The Guardian”>http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/24/rape-sexual-assault-ban-frats</a></p>
<p>@mamalion, that first article is so horrifying that I couldn’t bear to read all the lyrics. Those guys are seriously sick.</p>
<p>Decades ago, I spent a lot of time at one fraternity house, and I can tell you that I never witnessed or heard about hazing, I never saw anyone with alcohol poisoning, and most particularly I NEVER saw women treated or talked about in that manner. And there is no way it could have been kept secret from me and the other women with boyfriends and friends there.</p>
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<li><p>Those lyrics were truly one of the most disgusting things I have ever read. </p></li>
<li><p>Doing nothing and continuing to allowing fraternities to continue on campus while knowing that they have much higher rates of rape and other sex crimes, creates a huge potential liability for the college. (In addition to being the rift thing to do).</p></li>
<li><p>Colleges may be able to avoid having to ban frats by changing behavior. A college President, could make it clear that participating in a fraternity is a privilege not a right, and that by participating in a fraternity, all members accept responsibility and personal liability for whatever happens at that fraternity. Students need to agree to that up front.</p></li>
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<p>If students do not wish to take on that level of accountability, they should not participate. </p>
<p>If lyrics like those in the prior article are used at or by a Fraternity, I think that expulsion of all members is appropriate. No more games. No how did what. It does not matter. You knew your responsibility, and you allowed this anyway, now you are held accountable. That is the only thing that will bring change. </p>
<p>This behavior creates a hostile environment for women on campus. If fraternities move their behavior off campus, and beyond the college’s reach, then it is a state and federal issue and not the colleges issue. The college’s job is to ensure a non-misogynistic environment on campus.</p>
<p>I have never understood why so many people will tolerate these types of lyrics when it is about women, when they would come down hard if the song were about a racial or ethnic group. Why is it not as concerning if it is about women? </p>
<p>Can someone explain that to me?</p>
<p>Those lyrics (Yo Ho, Yo Ho) are from a John Valby song from the late 1970s/early 1980s. It is not a fraternity original, and I suspect neither is the other song.</p>
<p>Does it matter that it’s not original? Still disgusting.</p>
<p>The problem with fraternities and Greek life isn’t the idea of them, but rather what they seem to be in the eyes of far too many people, places where a group of people can get together and act anyway they like. It was funny in Animal House,but the reality is far too many seem to see it as an excuse to go nuts, and there is little self correction. What is worse is that many of the frats have a code of silence, that whatever happens, you don’t rat others out. If you want a really sad part of this, with the old school ties of frats, someone can be like something out of animal house, not exactly burn up the firmament, and because of the frat tie get into a job that someone who otherwise burned up the firmament at college, did well, wouldn’t even get looked at…and before someone says this isn’t true, I have seen real examples of it or heard it from people I trust, to make me think it goes on. </p>
<p>I wonder if what some others said is part of it, that pledging freshman year like that when a kid is young, away from school for the first time, probably a bit scared, looking for friends and a place to fit in, coincides in a bad way, and maybe after a year under their belt, they will be a bit more discriminating. </p>
<p>One comment I thought was interesting:</p>
<p>“Someone categorized this as “hazing.” Possibly, but perhaps the adult member drank on his own volition. We can’t tell from this quote.”</p>
<p>While legally these are adults, last I checked the drinking age is 21, in part because society decided that 18 year olds were not mature enough to drink. Among other things, it raises questions about why campus organizations aren’t being charged, someone bought that booze, and serving alcohol to people under 21 is a crime in almost all states. If alcohol is being served to underage students, then how come they aren’t going after that? It isn’t that I agree with the 21 year old drinking age, I don’t for a lot of reasons, but it seems like the administration of the college and the frats themselves are flouting a law that has gotten a lot of people in trouble outside colleges. A bartender or a bar serving underage people knowingly could end up with massive fines and lose their liquor license, parents who hosted parties with alchohol for their kids who were underage and allowed kids to drink have been arrested, claiming that this was an act of adults stretches things a bit, since in terms of alcohol, society has decided that under 21s are not adults. </p>
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<p>Oh well as long as it’s just a cover song, no problem.</p>
<p>I’m not saying the lyrics are right, just that the song probably came from a song book that is circulated nationally, but underground, by fraternities. It can’t be used as proof of their particular misogyny, that this one fraternity is any worse than the rest - they, and just about every other fraternity has a similar songbook with dirty lyrics sung to familiar tunes. I know in the early 1970s (before my time) a certain southern college’s fraternities would get together and have singing events where they would take turns singing songs like this.</p>
<p>One time camping I heard some 14-year-olds singing one of these old songs - I told them to cut it out. They had gotten the old John Valby songs from Youtube. That genie was out of the bottle long before they got to college. </p>
<p>Musicprnt,
The laws on alcohol consumption by those under 21 are state-specific and often complex. In many (most?) states it is not unlawful for under-21 to consume alcohol in private, just not purchase it or possess it in public. You would need to delve into each state’s laws to figure out what applies to any given situation. The drinking age was changed to 21 in many states to comply with federal highway funding requirements, not because particular states felt that 18 year olds are not “adults”. They are. </p>
<p>Maybe if the colleges stopped running interference and applied the actual legal consequences that anyone <em>not</em> in college would suffer for underage drinking and/or serving underage kids, this nonsense would stop. </p>
<p>Colleges are not police officers. My understanding is that many colleges are in favor of lowering the drinking age because they don’t want to have to fill the silly role of enforcer. </p>