Racist Chants, Hazing, Sexual Assault: Penn State Facebook Scandal Fuels Controversy Over Greek Life
By PennLive staff and wire reports
March 18, 2015 at 7:55 PM
A police investigation into a Penn State fraternity for sharing illicit photos of seemingly unconscious women on a private Facebook page has only added further fuel to recent media scrutiny of college fraternities.
"This seems to be another incident with fraternities behaving inappropriately and violating their institution's sexual misconduct policy," said Tracey Vitchers on Wednesday, chairwoman of Students Active For Ending Rape.
The suspension of the the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity at State College follows the suspension of two students at the University of Oklahoma only a week ago who were caught on video singing a racist chant. Around the same time, a fraternity at the University of Houston generated its own media storm over a police investigation into controversial hazing rituals.
Despite a major national push to reduce drinking and sexual assault on campus and increase diversity, some fraternity chapters have failed to clean up their act. Universities -- and the fraternities' national offices -- are quickly punishing the offenders amid yet more promises of reform.
Some critics blame popular culture, saying it is making fraternities essentially ungovernable.
"There's this underlying acceptance that boys will be boys, this is fraternity life, and this is what you have to accept when you walk through the doors of a fraternity," Ellen Kramer, legal director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said Wednesday.
Defenders of fraternities say that the organizations do a lot of good work on campus and that the focus on fraternity misconduct is misguided.
Pete Smithhisler, president and CEO of the North-American Interfraternity Conference, said that the organization expects fraternity members and chapters who act inappropriately and violate the values of fraternity will face appropriate disciplinary action.
"That's precisely what has happened in two recent high profile situations - at the University of Oklahoma and at Penn State University," Smithhisler said in an emailed statement. "In both cases, the national leaders of fraternities involved acted swiftly and decisively."
Penn State President Eric Barron said Wednesday that the Facebook posts were "very sad and very offensive" and that the students could be expelled.
Referring to Penn State's fraternity system, Barron added: "It's just unfortunately a large system with some very fine young men and some men who are not doing smart things."
Neil Irbin, executive director for Men Can Stop Rape, a national group that advocates against sexual assault, also believes that while the allegations against the Penn State fraternity is horrible, it shouldn't mar the reputation of all men in college fraternities.
Irbin said while allegations of sexual assault or misconduct were far too common in fraternities they were also far too common across college life in general. The issue of sharing illicit images of men or women against their consent was also hardly unique to fraternities.
"I think, unfortunately, technology has made it part of youth culture," he said.
Allison Tombros Korman, executive director of Culture of Respect, a group formed in October to prevent sexual assaults, said fraternities and universities in general can drastically reduce problems by targeting campus "social influencers" -- fraternity presidents, athletes and other campus leaders -- who set the tone for their organizations.
"I don't think it's an impossible task at all. I don't want to sell young people short. I think they are capable of making good choices and moving away from these types of behaviors," she said.
Like Irbin, Tombros Korman also doesn't believe the issues that have grabbed headlines lately are exclusive to fraternities.
"We are absolutely seeing a light being shined on Greek life right now, but these things are not unique to Greek life," she said. "Sexual assault or inappropriate behavior or inappropriate chanting or comments -- those aren't just happening in Greek life."
Staff reporter Daniel Simmons-Ritchie contributed to this story.
March 18, 2015 at 7:55 PM
A police investigation into a Penn State fraternity for sharing illicit photos of seemingly unconscious women on a private Facebook page has only added further fuel to recent media scrutiny of college fraternities.
"This seems to be another incident with fraternities behaving inappropriately and violating their institution's sexual misconduct policy," said Tracey Vitchers on Wednesday, chairwoman of Students Active For Ending Rape.
The suspension of the the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity at State College follows the suspension of two students at the University of Oklahoma only a week ago who were caught on video singing a racist chant. Around the same time, a fraternity at the University of Houston generated its own media storm over a police investigation into controversial hazing rituals.
Despite a major national push to reduce drinking and sexual assault on campus and increase diversity, some fraternity chapters have failed to clean up their act. Universities -- and the fraternities' national offices -- are quickly punishing the offenders amid yet more promises of reform.
Some critics blame popular culture, saying it is making fraternities essentially ungovernable.
"There's this underlying acceptance that boys will be boys, this is fraternity life, and this is what you have to accept when you walk through the doors of a fraternity," Ellen Kramer, legal director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said Wednesday.
Defenders of fraternities say that the organizations do a lot of good work on campus and that the focus on fraternity misconduct is misguided.
Pete Smithhisler, president and CEO of the North-American Interfraternity Conference, said that the organization expects fraternity members and chapters who act inappropriately and violate the values of fraternity will face appropriate disciplinary action.
"That's precisely what has happened in two recent high profile situations - at the University of Oklahoma and at Penn State University," Smithhisler said in an emailed statement. "In both cases, the national leaders of fraternities involved acted swiftly and decisively."
Penn State President Eric Barron said Wednesday that the Facebook posts were "very sad and very offensive" and that the students could be expelled.
Referring to Penn State's fraternity system, Barron added: "It's just unfortunately a large system with some very fine young men and some men who are not doing smart things."
Neil Irbin, executive director for Men Can Stop Rape, a national group that advocates against sexual assault, also believes that while the allegations against the Penn State fraternity is horrible, it shouldn't mar the reputation of all men in college fraternities.
Irbin said while allegations of sexual assault or misconduct were far too common in fraternities they were also far too common across college life in general. The issue of sharing illicit images of men or women against their consent was also hardly unique to fraternities.
"I think, unfortunately, technology has made it part of youth culture," he said.
Allison Tombros Korman, executive director of Culture of Respect, a group formed in October to prevent sexual assaults, said fraternities and universities in general can drastically reduce problems by targeting campus "social influencers" -- fraternity presidents, athletes and other campus leaders -- who set the tone for their organizations.
"I don't think it's an impossible task at all. I don't want to sell young people short. I think they are capable of making good choices and moving away from these types of behaviors," she said.
Like Irbin, Tombros Korman also doesn't believe the issues that have grabbed headlines lately are exclusive to fraternities.
"We are absolutely seeing a light being shined on Greek life right now, but these things are not unique to Greek life," she said. "Sexual assault or inappropriate behavior or inappropriate chanting or comments -- those aren't just happening in Greek life."
Staff reporter Daniel Simmons-Ritchie contributed to this story.
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