Fraternity pledge classes will now be required to participate in sexual assault awareness programming as a result of joint efforts by members of Mentors Against Violence, Sexual Assault Peer Advisors, the Interfraternity Council and Student Assembly. The programming, part of which will be facilitated by MAVs and SAPAs, will be instituted as a pilot program during Fall term.
The idea to integrate this programming into the fraternity pledge process was generated simultaneously by several student groups earlier this year. After some research, the various groups realized they were discussing a similar project, and decided to combine their efforts.
"We were all just like 'Oh!'," said MAV Chair Anna Swanson '08. "We should be doing this together."
The project was spearheaded by Swanson, IFC President Dave Lindenbaum '08 and Lena Martinez-Watts '08, the chair of Student Assembly's Diversity and Community Committee. The three worked together to create a program that would incorporate the ideals of the MAV and SAPA programs and make them applicable to the fraternity setting.
The program calls for each pledge class to participate in a two-hour session led by members of MAV and SAPAs, as well as a follow-up discussion coordinated by members of the fraternity. The formal session will place an emphasis on scenario-based discussion, Swanson said, a strategy in line with the model traditionally employed by MAV.
Lindenbaum said that this program represents the next in a series of steps recently taken by the IFC to address sexual assault.
"We acknowledge that we control, as fraternities, some of the major social scene on campus," he said. "We are in a unique position to address issues that evolve from the social scene. The best way is to start educating people about what happens in a social scene, and what you should be doing to protect everyone that's in that social scene."
With this effort, Lindenbaum said, the IFC wanted to address the issues in a small group setting.
"We realized that we wanted to do something really specialized," Lindenbaum said. "Any time you get to large groups, you lose effectiveness. It starts being like lecturing."
In order to help determine the program's content, Lindenbaum said, he deferred to members of the MAV and SAPA program. Lindenbaum also convened a committee of several fraternity presidents in order to help craft the program.
"[MAVs and SAPAs] came in with the resources, and we came in with what we wanted to do," Lindenbaum said.
Swanson said that the input of the members of the IFC was critical to the creation of the program.
"Everyone recognized that it's going to be most effective and most important if it's the house doing it within the house," Swanson said. "[We added] the resources of SA and the knowledge base of MAVs and SAPAs."
All three project leaders stressed the ability of different fraternities to shape the program to fit its individual needs.
"Each house has the opportunity to tailor [the program] to that house specifically," Martinez-Watts said. "Each house has a different personality. Different things will be effective in Sig Ep than are going to be effective in Tri Kap than are going to be effective in Phi Delt."
Fraternity members will talk to the MAV and SAPA facilitators before the program to ensure that the program addresses issues of particular interest within the fraternity. In addition, older members of the fraternity will be asked to take part in the events.
"We decided it would be a good thing to make sure that the upperclass brothers were there to kind of give that social weight," Martinez-Watts said.
The program's proposal passed unanimously through the IFC on May 15. The programming will be instituted next fall, and will then be reevaluated to determine whether it will be used during winter rush, which typically involves a smaller group of pledges. No similar program has been developed for sorority or coed pledge programs, though members of the Panhellenic Council have convened a committee to address the creation of such an initiative.
Lindenbaum, Martinez-Watts and Swanson all pointed to the cooperation between the groups as an important part of the program's success.
"It was a perfect meeting of the minds," Lindenbaum said. "The best thing in my eyes is that it sets the precedent of working together rather than against each other."
