Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity hosted a panel discussion on the Greek system and sexual assault featuring five members from Dartmouth's Greek houses Monday night as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week. The panel aimed to openly address the Greek system's responsibilities in responding to issues of sexual assault and in creating safer social spaces for women on campus, according to Tri-Kap member and event organizer Ian Tapu '08.
Tapu asked panelists to discuss ways to make Dartmouth and its fraternities more welcoming for women. The talk largely focused on the speakers' beliefs that more open conversation about gender dynamics and about sexual assault must occur within Greek houses to facilitate progress within the greater Dartmouth community.
"Greek organizations need to try to express to their members that they need to change their perception about what the phrase sexual assault means," Preston Copley '07, a member of Gamma Delta Chi fraternity, said. "Until we change our mind about what the term sexual assault means as a fraternity member, it's going to be harder to identify it in terms of social actions."
Communication is especially important during pledge terms, panelists said, to encourage new members to consider their attitudes toward women and issues surrounding sexual assault in a way that is conducive to positive gender relations.
Ideas of sisterhood and brotherhood may make affiliated students feel obligated to support the actions of other members of their organization, hindering them from confronting each other about actions which they deem inappropriate, according to the panel. This idea of community, however, may make Greek organizations a safer space to discuss such sensitive issues, suggested Christine Pfeiffer '07, a member of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority.
Panelists also highlighted the role that students play by supporting each other in combating sexual assault. They said that ensuring that women do not go to fraternities alone and taking care of friends when they are in a vulnerable state can have a significant effect on decreasing instances of sexual assault.
Many members of the Dartmouth community, however, do not care for each other as much as they should, Pfeiffer argued.
"I think that one of the biggest problems here at Dartmouth, at least in the community of women here, is that there seems to be some tensions and animosity between classes, particularly between freshman women and senior women," Pfeiffer said. "If you see someone ... struggling because they've had a little too much to drink, go and talk to them. Offer them help."
While panelists discussed the need to create more female-dominated social spaces to balance out the fraternity system, Sigma Phi Epsilon member Jamal Brown '08 emphasized that creating more social spaces would not be adequate to address the issue of sexual assault at Dartmouth.
"I think it's great that we should open up sororities, but in the end we don't want that to be a space where men go there to get drunk and then take advantage of women," Brown said.
All of the panelists emphasized that by changing attitudes within their houses, leaders of Greek organizations could change the overall dialogue on campus surrounding sexual assault.
The panel was the first event planned as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week. Other events include Tuesday's "Green Day," where students will wear green ribbons to demonstrate support for victims of sexual assault. Mentors Against Violence will host a dinner discussion about "Intersecting Identities at Dartmouth: Conflict and Compromise" on Wednesday, and there will be a dinner discussion about the ways that sexual assault affects racial minorities on Friday.
"Speak Out," featuring stories, poems and artwork by students and faculty who have been affected by sexual assault will occur on Thursday.
