Becoming a brother of Delta Sigma Phi has been one of the milestones of my college career. I don’t say it emptily nor do I say it hyperbolically. I mean it. The relationships I’ve built and the memories I’ve made through my chapter have shaped who I am as an individual.
Joining Delta Sig gave me a sense of purpose: to be a better man, to build a better fraternity, to better the communities to which we belong.
That’s why I was dismayed to learn, from Delta Sig’s national executive director no less, of our fraternity throwing its support behind the Safe Campus Act — a piece of federal legislation that would force survivors of sexual assault to report their attacks to law enforcement in order for a college or university to take action against the alleged perpetrator.
The legislation in question has the potential to deter survivors of sexual assault from reporting the crime, based on the simple fact that only a small fraction of sexual assaults committed are actually reported to police to begin with.
According to “the nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization,” RAINN, out of every 100 rapes only 32 are reported to police. A study by the United States Department of Justice is even more startling. Eighty percent of female college students aged 18 to 24 who were sexually assaulted between 1995 and 2013 did not report the assault to law enforcement.
There are many reasons for not doing so. Survivors can feel ashamed or distraught following an assault.
After all, the last thing many would want — as he or she tries to process such a traumatic experience — is to relive it in such a public way, like in a trial. Others are afraid of their peers or family finding out the circumstance in which the assault happened. Fears of retaliation or social stigma can also weigh heavily in the minds of survivors.
Making it a requirement for survivors of sexual assault to go to the police has the potential to further deter some from seeking justice, while also tying a college’s hands in disciplining or removing a student that has broken its code of conduct independent of potential criminal charges.
I can’t imagine why our fraternity is advocating for such a misguided and dangerous piece of legislation. Moreover, I’m equally astounded as to who we’re getting in bed with in Congress to push for the legislation.
Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., an anti-gay conservative, is working with two other Republican co-sponsors, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Tex., and Rep. Kay Granger R-Tex., to introduce the Safe Campus Act. Sessions has previously blamed gun violence on diversity in America during a radio interview on the Chris Salcedo Show, while Granger previously voted against hate crime legislation, the Defense Authorization Bill, meant to protect LGBTQ Americans in 2009.
Delta Sigma Phi’s history underscores the value of different people coming together to move society forward. Our support of this bill runs absolutely counter to those values.
I’m proud to call myself a Delta Sig and always will. But I could not be more ashamed of our current position on this matter.
edsalas@indiana.edu
