Fraternities can fight rape culture

In response to the alleged sexual assault that took place inside the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity house, the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) unanimously voted to ban all open parties for the rest of the semester. The Editorial Board fully supports this course of action. Extreme circumstances, like the reported sexual assault of a 16-year-old, require a comparably extreme response — and we hope to see all IFC members abide by this initiative and for the IFC to impose forceful sanctions on any violators.

The Editorial Board commends the IFC for both creating this directive and unanimously voting to enact it. Student-led initiatives are by far the best way to create lasting change as they encourage students to find solutions within their own communities that reflect their own values. The initiatives that have the strongest chances of succeeding will be student-based and not University-based because for behaviors to change on a large scale, students need to want to solve the problem of their own accord — not solely in fear of punishment from an administrative body. For an issue as prevalent as sexual assault, positive peer influence and public, unified commitment will be the most effective ways to cause change to permeate through the campus population.

It is also certainly no small commitment to cease all open events, and the Editorial Board supports how seriously the fraternities appear to be handling this issue. As hosts of the primary Hopkins social scene, they have a responsibility to hold their parties safely and in accordance with their rules, the IFC’s rules and University policy. The University always has the duty of ensuring the safety of its students, so when the issue of sexual assault came to its latest head, the administration was required to step in. The fraternities, too, needed to take concrete action, and in this situation, such a drastic solution as banning open parties is appropriate.

While it may seem as if Greek life itself is the problem, the Editorial Board contends that this blame is misplaced; fraternities attract much of the blame because they are the epicenters of Hopkins social life. Yet it is crucial to understand that neither the victim of the alleged assault, nor, according to preliminary reports, the reported assailants were affiliated with Greek life or even the University itself. The perilous situation we find ourselves in is not a Greek life problem, but rather a community-wide problem. Blame shouldn’t be misguidedly directed toward Greek organizations.

Indeed, we believe that Greek life involvement is not the problem, but rather an axiomatic part of the solution. A Greek community that is singularly devoted to ending incidences of sexual assault on campus is the finest asset our community has in the fight against rape culture. The IFC has proven that it is dedicated to aiding in this fight, sacrificing fraternities’ open parties — not a diminishable concession. Additionally, it is apparent that many fraternity members deeply care about improving this culture, and they should therefore be embraced as part of the solution.

The Editorial Board thus advocates in the strongest terms possible for the inclusion of students, including those in fraternities, in the process of fighting rape culture, rather than any efforts to weaken or even degredate Greek life at Hopkins. Fraternities should drive the efforts to ameliorate rape culture in their houses and in their community.

Diminishing or even abolishing Hopkins Greek life would be utterly disastrous; these organizations, deeply rooted in friendship and further bound by living situations, would never simply cease their associations. Instead, fraternities would continue to have parties, choosing instead to host them underground. In turn, these fraternities would not be able to be held accountable to the rules that are currently in place. Essentially, the off-campus party scene would be anarchic in nature, and the issues that exist in the current system would only be amplified. Furthermore, the University would be held powerless, unable to do anything short of charging Baltimore Police to arrest its students. We’ve seen this dynamic play out before with underground organizations at Hopkins.

Parties will always be a part of the college experience. Even if all fraternities stopped hosting open parties, as per the IFC agreement, forever, sports houses and other organizations with an informal “house” can and would carry on hosting open gatherings. The Editorial Board stresses the importance of seeing fraternities as a crucial part of the solution to this problem. They are organizations held accountable to their general conventions, the University administration and each other. With a proven commitment to making Greek life safer, the Editorial Board looks forward to seeing what reforms the IFC enacts for the spring semester to combat future instances of sexual assault.