The Center for Women and Gender vetoed attempts by Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity to sponsor a booth at last week annual Sex Festival due to campus perceptions of the fraternity, according to the co-organizer of the festival.
Chi Gam reportedly expressed interest in sponsoring a booth, called "Kiss Me Here, Please," at which students would place a sticker on a cutout of a human body, specifying their erogenous zones. According to Will Olivos '05, Chi Gam's programming chair, involvement in the Sex Festival would have been part of a larger effort to change the fraternity's reputation.
Wade Meyer, the Center's interim outreach coordinator who helped organize the festival, did not give a concrete reason for why Chi Gam was not permitted to operate the booth, but he said the decision was based on a general perception of the fraternity and not on the Good Samaritan calls made earlier this term.
"I talked to the staff of the Center for Women and Gender because there was some concern about the reputation of the fraternity. There was concern about that frat and how their sponsorship of that particular booth might not be good for them or us," Meyer said.
Meyer would not comment directly on what this "perception" of Chi Gam was, but said students have expressed concern to the Center about Chi Gam and other fraternities.
During planning for the Sex Festival, Meyer contacted all student organizations on campus to see if they would like to run booths but did not include any Greek houses in this request.
Later, Meyer sent a BlitzMail message to the programming chairs of Greek houses, asking them to donate cookies for the event. At the bottom of the message, Meyer wrote that if anyone wanted to participate beyond making cookies, there was still space to sponsor a booth. In parentheses, Meyer noted that the "Kiss Me Here, Please" booth was still available.
Olivos responded to Meyer's BlitzMail message, expressing an interest in sponsoring the booth and mentioning the possibility of teaming up with a sorority. After speaking with colleagues at the Center, Meyer rescinded his offer.
"I'm concerned that this might feed into the negative perception of your house," Meyer wrote in a BlitzMail message to Olivos.
Meyer said he was still eager to have Chi Gam participate by running a different booth but was worried about the erogenous zones table. Olivos never responded to Meyer's requests to discuss the festival in person.
Olivos said his fraternity is actively trying to change its reputation, and the Sex Festival could have been a step in the right direction.
"Obviously certain fraternities acquire certain stigmas that are very entrenched in history that aren't apparent anymore," Olivos said. "I don't know if it's just administrative inability to see that people are trying to change these stigmas, but if we're not allowed to do things, how are we going to initiate change and change people's perceptions on campus?"
Olivos said that until the campus gives Chi Gam the opportunity to change its reputation, "it's kind of just running in circles."
Meyer, however, did not see running the erogenous zones booth as good move for the fraternity to alter its reputation.
"[Operating the booth] would end up sending messages that undermine your efforts -- as a house -- to change that perception," Meyer wrote in a BlitzMail message to Chi Gam.
Olivos said he had contacted Gretchen Gehrke '05, programming chair of Delta Delta Delta sorority, to inquire about the possibility of co-sponsoring a booth.
"Perceptions of sexuality in the social scene usually have the guys' side and the girls' side. I thought we could successfully implement a Greek initiative with two single-sex Greek organizations coming together," Olivos said.
Gehrke contacted Meyer directly to decline Chi Gam's offer. She declined to comment about why Tri-Delt did not want to team up with Chi Gam for the booth.
