To the Editor:
I thought I was disgusted when I read about the sex paper published by members of Zeta Psi. I was even more disgusted with the hypocritical reactions of Greek leaders. While I do not intend to attack them on a personal level, it is completely ridiculous for any member of any Greek house to claim to be "appalled" by the Zeta Psi paper or to state that "This kind of behavior has no part in our system. We will not support any organization that fosters such behavior," as President of the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council Shihwan Chung said. Excuse me? We have all heard stories of incidents so much worse than the Zeta Psi paper that we don't even want to believe that they are true. I have heard them from '98s and '99s, from '03s and '04s. I have heard them from friends both Greek and non-Greek, members of my own sorority and close friends who deliberately chose not to support the system for that reason, stories of group rapes, games of conquest -- treating women with less respect than would be given the house dog. Forget the laws of the country and the College code of conduct -- these are violations of basic human rights.
I know individuals in the Greek system who are great people. I myself am a member of a sorority. I often question my own and others' involvement in a system that fosters such behavior and I frequently wonder what the best course of action might be to change such behavior. But to claim ignorance, to make the lame attempt at pretending that these vile newspapers are the worst things going, is to be even more insulting than the Zeta Psi paper and the Psi Upsilon chants combined. I admire Brooke Lierman '01 immensely for speaking up about her rape and the pathetic response of the College to that rape (a two-term suspension). I also admire Melissa Heaton '02, who spoke up against Zeta Psi. However, I understand why some women who have been treated like communal sex toys instead of human beings would not want to go public with their stories. Who would want to admit that they were gang raped by people they thought were their friends? We still live in a community that believes that she was drunk and dressed scantily; they were drunk and didn't know any better. Did any of us ever stop to think that any woman on this campus should be able to party in a fraternity basement dressed in whatever she chooses without having to worry about being assaulted or raped? And did we ever consider that if she is assaulted or raped, admonishing her for not being "careful" is not the appropriate response? The first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging that we have a problem. By feigning surprised disgust, we as a community are ignoring the true depth of the problems facing women on this campus and the role that the Greek system plays in sheltering and/or supporting those problems.
