Frat house of horrors

As pledge season gets underway, hundreds of new students are familiarizing themselves with traditions rich in history.

From learning about the organization’s Founding Fathers to the mission of the organization itself, this sort of knowledge is passed down from older members to new ones, ensuring the cycle continues.

Last week Georgia Tech saw the perverse side of this process in an internal email sent to members of Pi Kappa Tau, in which the sender — the social events chairman — outlined to new members how to lure women into sex.

Among the moronic jewels of advice were how to dance, “ ... let them grind against your dick. After that, slowly alternate between ... your hand across their stomach, but don’t go to high (keep it under the boob) or too low (dont try to finger her ... yet).”

Of course, Plan B was included if all advice failed. “IF ANYTHING EVER FAILS, GO GET MORE ALCOHOL.”

Despite there being so many stomach-churning things wrong with the email, the most nauseating part of it all is how desensitized we’ve become to this sort of behavior, which is almost expected of fraternities.

In recent years, we’ve seen a shift in fraternities from their original purpose as selective social clubs to alcohol-fueled factories of men hell-bent on getting laid at any cost.

Alcohol has gone from being a lubricant of social interaction to a crutch fraternities depend on to be able to interact with the opposite sex.

It’s this misguided and recently created cultural expectation among greeks that seems to be contributing to the prominent role alcohol —­­ specifically hard liquor — plays in the social scene of the greek system.

This new expectation too often results in preventable tragedies ranging from serious injuries to sexual assaults to even deaths.

Yet, fraternities aren’t the only ones to blame. Sororities that continue to pair with fraternities known to demean women are as complicit in perpetuating a culture dangerous to women as the men who actively devalue them.

In terms of administrative accountability, it’s beyond clear that most colleges — including IU — have only reactionary mechanisms to deal with fallout once the damage has been done.

The greek system is a beast even administrators can’t directly control, which is why so much of the responsibility to educate falls on the laps of student leaders in positions of power inside fraternities and sororities.

Unfortunately, when you have leaders like the social chair of the Georgia Tech fraternity, the future doesn’t look too good.

The Editorial Board — which is composed of both greek and non-greek students — would, however, like to commend chapters that are actively trying to change the status quo in the greek community.

It’s our hope that one day these sorts of chapters will be the norm rather than the exception.

­— opinion@idsnews.com
Follow the Opinion Desk on Twitter @ids_opinion.