Forget about brotherhood. Fraternities at Wesleyan University in Connecticut will be going co-ed within the next three years.
The school was prompted to make this change in response to the rising amount of sexual assaults among fraternities.
While this merging of men and women in the school’s greek systems may be a step toward equality, it also has its complications and sexist implications.
Inviting women to join these fraternities was an act to prevent sexual violence, and it might work.
However, there is not much proof that this move will actually make fraternities safer. It looks like the school is just trying to put a female Band-Aid over the gaping wound of fraternities.
This merge is not a slight accommodation. It will completely change the greek system.
The school is basically pressing a reset button to fix the issue of violence in the system.
Perhaps the university is inviting women into the fraternities in hopes that men might gain some empathy.
The idea behind the policy change makes sense. If they begin to interact with these women on a brotherhood-sisterhood basis, maybe they will see women as human beings instead of purely sexual objects.
But allowing women into the fraternities for the purpose of “fixing” sexual violence is not a good reason to finally reset the greek system. Gender equality and safety should have been the goal.
Fraternities are hotbeds for dangerous, or at least not-smart, behavior among men.
Wesleyan University’s change is based on the idea that women tame and civilize men. Women don’t attend college to babysit fraternity houses. They attend college to be successful in their own lives.
There is a chance that this merge might encourage equality among men and women.
This may open up a door for men and women to interact more often on an intellectual level.
However, given the history of the school’s male fraternity members’ sexual violence, this might simply be risking putting women in an environment where they could be harmed.
There are also many logistic complications that come along with this merge. Living arrangements must be discussed.
Some fraternity houses might have to be completely renovated. Funds must be raised and organized to accommodate co-ed living areas.
New rules have to be established and the rushing process will need to be reconstructed.
There are better ways to go about addressing this issue. Just last week, IU’s fraternities took a powerful pledge to end sexual violence on campus.
They will begin to closely monitor the actions of their fellow fraternity members and severely punish or expel anyone who appears to be crossing a line.
This merge will be complicated and frustrating.
It will be a great burden on the new female fraternity member’s shoulders to somehow prevent sexual violence.
The school should not expect women to calm fraternity boys down. IU is beginning to make strides in that direction.
Weslayan should reconstruct its fraternities to provide environments and education that encourage their boys to be men without throwing the burden on the shoulders of women to teach the pretty simple concept of “no means no.”
