Greeks Combat Sexual Assualt

In a fall issue of last year's Collegian, an independent student wrote an article entitled "Rape: Fraternities at Fault," which caused a subsequent rift in the student body because of the article's numerous negative claims against the Greek community. Fraternities were directly accused of excessive acts of sexual misconduct and sororities were inappropriately described as being used solely to "justify the presence of fraternities" at Kenyon.

As an active member of the Epsilon Delta Mu sorority, I felt that it would be best to take a proactive stance against the article and the ensuing campus-wide discussion. Last semester, my organization sat down to meet with Kenyon's Sexual Misconduct Advisors, students in the community who work as resources for students who have been victims of sexual misconduct. They explained to us the College's consent policy and the misconceptions of sexual safety here at Kenyon. After meeting with the advisors, I realized that these meetings should be mandatory for all Greek organizations on campus, specifically the pledges of each organization, to create an improved Greek culture of sexual awareness.

With Greek Council, I created a sexual misconduct education program for all spring semester Greek pledges on campus. Pledges from every organization met with Sexual Misconduct Advisors to discuss Kenyon's consent policy, explain resources for those who have become victims and define sexual assault. The "Rape: Fraternities at Fault" article accurately explained that Greeks throw the vast majority of parties on campus, so we wanted the program to help pledges identify ways of preventing assault, especially at large parties predominantly funded and organized by the Greek community.

One goal of the program was to improve the campus-wide community by stressing Greek accountability here at Kenyon. Creating sexual misconduct information sessions for all incoming members of the Greek community helped strengthen the importance of upholding the values and moral obligations that each organization lives by. This program helped open an immensely positive dialogue between the Sexual Misconduct Advisors and the Greek community about the necessity of a safer social experience. Greek Council has decided to make the program a permanent addition to the annual pledge education process, and the formation of a similar program for club and varsity sports teams is currently underway.