Phi Kappa Psi at U of Virginia Voluntarily Suspends Activities
Phi Kappa Psi at the U of Virginia has voluntarily suspended activities pending an investigation into alleged rape / sexual assault.
http://wvtf.org/post/uva-fraternity-...nds-activities Additionally, the Phi Psi house has been vandalized. Edited to add: a report about the vandalism of the Phi Psi house and the "demands" of the person or persons anonymously claiming responsibility: http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article...nymous-demands |
Here is the link to the Rolling Stone article. It is not for the faint of heart.
http://rol.st/1yStBLf |
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I live pretty close to Charlottesville, and people have known about this for years and years. These criminal acts have gone unreported and even unacknowledged for the reasons stated in the Rolling Stones article. Senator Warner of VA has introduced a bill in Congress giving the US Dept.of Justice jurisdiction of cases such as these. Where this will go is anyone's guess.
I HOPE that all the GLOs on the UVA campus join together along with other students to lead in demanding accountability for these acts and supporting criminal prosecution where indicated. Along with support for the young women to bring charges against these young men. We have friends with daughters and granddaughters at UVA who are just beside themselves with anxiety and concern for their loved ones. Sanctioned criminal rape should have no place whatsoever in fraternity life anywhere. |
If you haven't read the story, you should be warned: it describes in very graphic detail a pre-planned gang rape involving 7 men who took turns violently abusing a freshman girl who thought she was going on an actual date with a junior member of Phi Kappa Psi.
And, just so you know, the article also goes into detail about another gang rape that happened in the house decades earlier, where a man was prosecuted after confessing. This article is stirring up a lot of PTSD for rape and sexual assault survivors. And the woman at the center of the story came forward because she met two other women on campus who also were gang raped at Phi Kappa Psi. Be prepared to feel physically ill: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...ampus-20141119 |
Students there are organizing, holding rallies and the like. There are several petitions going around, including one calling for the abolishment of the Greek system. IMO this is a golden opportunity for Greeks to step up to the plate and show leadership on campus.
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article...sexual-assault |
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This quote resonates: "Grab its motherfucking leg" Everything in that story and the use of "it" illustrate that sexual assault and rape are dehumanizing abuses of power rather than being about sex. |
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These women should never have been advised of any other option than to report these atrocities to the police. It is not up to universities to adjudicate felonies.
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I think what we all need to understand is rightly or wrongly the Greek system is seen as a locus of the problems. We need to be part of the solution. And through our actions, not just our words. Where are chapter advisors addressing the problem of fraternities supplying alcohol to minors in their houses, not to mention date-rape drugs? What protocols are in place for those who know these kinds of things are going on in their houses but say or do nothing to stop it? Where are the sorority chapter advisers insisting on very clear cut guidelines for members to protect themselves? Where is the support for members who have been raped and being fearful of filing charges against the perps? |
All those are good ideas. But they can get twisted around. For example:
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Why were women supporting this fraternity at all? ETA: One of the Cavalier articles says that it's not for sure that all seven men were fraternity brothers. Is this true? |
Update: Problems with the Selection of Person to deal with Investigation
http://wtvr.com/2014/11/21/mark-fili...investigation/ |
I don't believe there's any coincidence that UVA selected a federal judge with ties to Phi Kappa Psi to lead the investigation.
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For example, see http://wtvr.com/2014/11/21/uva-stude...-lot-of-power/ |
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I don't know why young women were supporting this fraternity. I suppose they wanted to be seen as being "cool". In their minds this was considered a "top tier" frat. And also the fear of being blamed by other students. The lack of support for victims among other students is appalling. |
An NBC affiliate posted Phi Kappa Psi's statement.
http://www.nbc29.com/story/27451877/...-stone-article |
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This article in The Cavalier Daily is being well received. Excerpted:
There is something we can do about this. The best remedy for ambiguity and false facts is the provision of real information. Greek women need to make it very clear to first-year girls that sexual assault — as it relates to discussion, activism and reporting — is not evaluated during sorority recruitment. This should be done in a clear, explicit fashion — most sensibly through official presentations given to first-year women in their dorms. The ISC is moving toward more transparency, sponsoring a number of Go-Greek Nights in recent years — though these events are opt-in, and unsurprisingly tend more along the lines of, “What should I wear to Round Robbins?” and less along the lines of, “I was assaulted last weekend, but didn’t want to report it because I am worried about the stigma within the Greek system.” By establishing formal networks of communication between older women in the Greek system and first years predicated upon issues of sexual assault — a “some-contact policy,” if you will — we can begin to combat this. The first six weeks of college are known as the “red-zone” for first-year women, who are more likely to be assaulted during this period than at any other point in their college careers. As a first year, I did not know this. I just wanted to get into Phi Psi. Any opportunity to provide accurate information to this vulnerable population of women should and must be acted upon. Barriers to entry help define the Greek system, but barriers to information absolutely cannot. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article...idnt-know-then |
^^^ My response to that article:
1. I want there to be fewer suggestions on what women should do to prevent this unless it will be matched by suggestions to men. 2. There are few, if any, articles written to men (in general) and fraternity men (in particular) on what to do to prevent themselves from being the perpetrator and from being the assistant to the perpetrator. 3. These incidents are in a GLO context but power struggles and community climates should be addressed beyond the GLO context. I believe more change happens when addressing both the larger issue and the GLO-specific issues. |
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UVA didn't select him, Mark Herring did. He wasn't selected to lead the fraternity investigation, he was selected to lead the university's policy revision. He was actually a very well-qualified candidate to do this, as his firm's profile page reflects (Kirkland Ellis). I don't understand how people think a former prosecutor, assistant attorney general, and federal district judge is unable to lead an impartial/unbiased investigation merely because he was a member of the fraternity at issue, despite having been initiated at an entirely different university. |
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^^^ This. In fact, I'm shocked that Judge Filip apparently accepted the assignment in light of the appearance of conflict. There are a lot of excellent lawyers in this country who aren't members of Phi Psi.
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In the best of all possible worlds it would be wonderful if young women didn't have to worry about being raped on campus due to the changes in the young men and the entire community was on board. But how realistic is this? If our daughter were currently on a college campus, I certainly wouldn't wait until the young men got on board to teach her self-preservation techniques. And would HOPE that there were support for her to employ these techniques on campus from her peers. And most certainly support for her should she be a victim. It would be nice if we could be all things to all people, but we can't. Yes, there is a great deal of enabling behavior both on campus and off, including in police systems and the legal system. And even among alumni. And in this case the administration of the school. That must change as well. But about all we can do as individuals is within our own communities, including our GLOs. |
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^^^ And that it precisely why the "Cool Girls" in the GLOs need to make it very clear that it is not "cool" to protect a rapist. And for fraternity men to clearly and frequently state that it is disgusting and reprehensible to indulge or enable such behavior. Not at ALL "cool".
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“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.
Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not a Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)” ― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl |
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The last sentence definitely doesn't exist (in my experiences). Every woman I know who fits at least some of the "cool girl" description gets annoyed when need be, angry when need be, and would cuss the man out if need be. One of the points is to be on level playing field with men and that includes treating men only how they deserve to be treated. |
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Yes, I know it's fiction—and I haven't read the book so I admit I don't know the context of the quoted portion or the narrative reliability of it—but without context it seems to me like it's just trading a form of sexual objectification for a massive stereotype. |
That quote sounds like a bitter woman with no personality who pushed her friends aside for a man (and will eventually push her husband aside for her children) and can't believe she got dumped. Is that the context, or is that a woman we're supposed to root for? Because if so ugh.
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Actually, I think KDCat makes a good point. Those men exist, and you don't have to be bitter. In some industries, this type of juvenile objectification is more pronounced, and if you object, you will be passed over or given the least desirable assignments. Sure, it's fiction and accordingly embellisjed, but there is a kernel of truth there.
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Intimating that women must be fake because they act in a way that men find pleasing is kind of ridiculous, even in fiction.
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No, that quote isn't saying a woman must be fake if she is acting in a way a man finds pleasing. The quote is saying there is pressure for a (heterosexual) woman to be perfect in pleasing a (heterosexual) man.
I agree with the foundation of that quote. Everyday I hear girls and women boast about being "tomboys"/"just one of the guys" and attempt to place themselves in all-male environments to prove they are "different than other women". The need to do that portrays OTHER women as overly emotional, catty, silly, gossipy, bickering, unable to have fun, uninterested in sports or other activities, and only concerned with falling in love and all that entails. I've even had women tell me they can't stand other women because of these traits they attribute to other women. I tell these women that they need to meet the women who also claim to be "different than other women". Then all these "different than other women" can fight it out for the "Different Woman Crown". Street Fighter style. This also translates to how many of these women interact with men in romantic relationships. Always feeling the need to prove they are "different" so they won't scare a man away. This shocks my feminist sensibilities and is the opposite end of the patriarchy and sexism scale (the opposite end is women being pressured to be "traditional prissy princess"). Just another way to encourage women to conform to the male-standard. It prevents people from just being themselves. If a woman farts, plays video games, has male friends, and loves sports it should be because that's what she wants to do. It shouldn't be because she feels the need to prove herself "cool enough" and above other women. It shouldn't mean she is void of expressing negative emotions from fear of being branded "just another emotional woman." I think all of this factors into campus climates. That includes the fraternity that is considered awesome for getting the women. It also includes "the cool sorority" whose coolness is defined by how the fraternity men see them, sometimes sexually but mostly in terms of being fun to platonically be around. That happens in the NPHC so I don't doubt it happens in other councils and conferences. |
33Girl, I disagree.
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Not only that, I think it's kind of denigrating to assume that men (of all ages) can't see through bullshit. |
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Some women are genuine and some women are perpetrating. Yet even the women who genuinely do those things (not because of a man) should not feel obligated to subscribe to this: "Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl." I don't believe all men define "cool woman" in this manner. I do believe most men want some version. |
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Hopefully something constructive will come of this.
Excerpted: Inter-Fraternity Council President Tommy Reid, a fourth-year College student, issued a statement shortly after Sullivan’s email. In it, he emphasized a mission of action by fraternities to act as primary agents for change in sexual assault. “This is a temporary, short-term action that will ultimately benefit our University and our community in the long-term, not an impulsive move to blame rape on fraternities,” he said in an email. “The temporary suspension grants our fraternity system time to develop substantive and actionable solutions for the future.” Reid said sexual assault was not just a fraternity problem, but a University-wide problem. “At times, our organizations are placed with a disproportionate share of the blame for sexual misconduct,” he said. “The IFC recognizes that sexual assault is a problem in fraternities; we also recognize that we can be catalysts for the solution. Banning fraternities will not solve the complicated problem of rape in our society.” http://www.cavalierdaily.com/section/news |
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