Over the course of my term abroad in Spain, I have followed recent events at Dartmouth from a relative distance, and I have been horrified. But in spite of the chaos, I cannot agree with the automatic and impetuous outcry against the Greek system.
Blaming fraternities entirely for sexual assault is dangerous. Doing so misses the root of the problem and places blame just for the sake of placing blame. This draws attention from the real issue of sexual assault and its underlying causes. Yes, these underlying causes happen to exist in the Greek system, but they also exist in the outside world. By placing the blame solely on the Greek system, we miss the chance to delve deeper and examine the societal and psychological causes of sexual assault.
The issue is not black and white. There are so many causes of sexual assault: a traditionally patriarchal society, a media that continues to push the boundaries of how much sexuality and sexism it can show, our impulsive, instant-gratification generation that believes it is entitled to what it wants, when it wants it — even if what it wants is another person’s body without consent.
But alas, these problems are not limited to the Greek system. They exist on a broader, societal level. At Dartmouth, we seem to live in a bubble. We refuse to look beyond ourselves to see how many other schools are facing the same issues. Sexual assault appears to be pandemic. Yale University, Columbia University, Swarthmore College, Stonehill College and the University of California at Berkeley are just a few of the myriad other schools currently grappling with this issue. There are dozens of schools, including Dartmouth, currently under investigation for violating Title IX.
Eliminating Dartmouth’s Greek system would do little, if anything, to curb sexual assault. Sexual assault would still exist, both on our campus and in society at large. It is not a shock that sexual assault has taken place within the setting of the Greek system, as the Greek system is a collection of people from this troubled society; thus, this selection reflects the problems of society as a whole.
Those quick to decry the Greek system conflate cause and effect. The Greek system does not automatically cause sexual assault. Rather, when any group of people is selected from a society riddled with sexism, patriarchy and sexual assault, all of the above will unfortunately be present, whether that group is a fraternity or a sports team or even an entire college campus. The sad reality is that there are people who do heinous things to others in this world; if you compile a large enough group of individuals, some of these bad seeds will inevitably show up. The Greek system provides a location and house at which sexual assault can occur, but without fraternities, a new location would merely take their place.
This is not an excuse to give up pursuing the issue of sexual assault. We still need to address it and do all we can to reduce it. I agree that the Greek system has faults that need to be tackled: classism, racial tensions, excessive hazing, among others. Maybe these reasons are even enough to disband the system. But doing so will not realize an end to sexual assault, nor will it magically rid campus of the other problems I just mentioned. Eradicating the Greek system in an effort to cure society’s maladies is like putting a Band-Aid on a deep, festering wound. Without a disinfecting salve, one that gets to the core of the injury, it will just become infected and continue to worsen.
Society, not a social system comprised of fraternity houses, needs an overhaul.
By all means, let’s fight to reform the Greek system. By all means, we should do all we can to reduce sexual assault on campus. But do not be foolish enough to think that by simply by achieving the former, the latter is sure to follow. And maybe, just maybe, if we stop wasting time placing blame on one small institution and get to the root of the societal disease, we will be fortunate enough to see improvements to our campus and the Greek system.
The piece has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended: March 5, 2014
Due to space constraints, an important section of this column about societal composition was inadvertently cut from the print publication in a manner that changed Gil's column's meaning. The section, found in paragraph six, has been replaced in this online version.
