Fraternity Scandals Bring Questions About Greek Life

As some fraternities get engulfed in scandal, people should remember that they aren’t necessarily representative of the whole.

Whether it’s warranted or not, recent scandals involving college fraternities may have defined some people’s perceptions of the organizations.

A string of recent fraternity scandals have made national headlines and inspired countless opinion pieces and documentaries questioning fraternity’s roles on college campuses.

There was Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Oklahoma chapter, which was caught on video performing a racist chant promising never to allow black people into the fraternity. In response the local chapter was closed, students were expelled and Oklahoma student groups protested the fraternity.

At Penn State, more than 100 students protested after Kappa Delta Rho was found to have a private facebook group featuring photos of naked or partially nude women. It prompted school president Eric Barron to review the entire fraternity system, citing past issues of hazing, drinking and sexual misconduct. The police are also investigating that scandal to determine if criminal charges should be brought.

Elon University’s Pi Kappa Phi and Dartmouth College’s Alpha Delta have also been engulfed in hazing scandals, just to name a few.

Perhaps the most prominent source to shine a negative light on fraternities, ‘The Hunting Ground’ documentary accuses school administrations of covering up assaults to lower crime statistics. Bloomberg media writes that ‘The Hunting Ground’ “singles out fraternities for creating an environment that enables assaults.”

Campus Safety Magazine recently reviewed ‘The Hunting Ground’, and although the film’s message is important, it doesn’t paint a full picture of the state of fraternities nation-wide.

The problem with learning about something exclusively through news stories is that you’re more than likely only reading the negative things about that subject. We have written about the negative skew of the media in the past, and it applies to fraternities as well. 

Many fraternities put an emphasis on charity work and improving their school’s relationship with its community. Many have never been the subject of school discipline, and have nothing in common with their more rowdy “brothers” at different schools.

Has the outrage following these recent scandals been justified? Absolutely. But are these scandals a reflection of the fraternity system as a whole? That’s something students, school officials and lawmakers should consider before rushing to judgment.

There are plenty of fraternities doing great things for their schools and communities right now, just don’t expect it to make front page news.

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About the Author

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Zach Winn is a journalist living in the Boston area. He was previously a reporter for Wicked Local and graduated from Keene State College in 2014, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in journalism and minoring in political science.

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