EDITORIAL: Early last week, a story came out that shook America.
A Cornell University student going by Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit against the university and seven current and former members of the Chi Phi fraternity chapter. The lawsuit alleges that she was drugged, raped and sexually assaulted by the seven men listed in the lawsuit.
The new detailed information, as well as some of the decisions made by Cornell surrounding her report back in 2024, has people outraged and finally ready to have difficult conversations about fraternities on campus.
Fraternities’ stated goals are to build leaders, foster brotherhood and serve their community. While that does take place, fraternities also bring a very distinct party culture to campus.
This culture is present from the beginning, when freshmen seeking to prove themselves and become brothers of the fraternity are known as “pledges.” While not every frat hazes their pledges, it is historically a problem for most. Hazing can come in many forms, but often manifests in incidents like forced consumption of drugs and alcohol, forced reckless behavior, sexual acts, public shaming or a combination of more than one of these.
On top of the way fraternities can treat their own brothers, their parties are also shrouded in hazard. While they can be fun, there is a sense of danger, and a necessity for caution to make sure horrific events like the ones that Jane Doe is alleging don’t happen to you or someone you care about.
While numbers in studies vary, there are reports that members of fraternities can be three times as likely to commit a criminal sexual act than their peers. On top of this, women who are in sororities — the organizations who are often partnered with frats and frequently attend frat events — are up to 74% more likely to be sexually assaulted than other women on college campuses.
But we don’t need to tell you that fraternities often have a reputation of bad behavior. If you’ve been on campus long enough, you know which frats to go to and which ones to avoid — and that should never be a thought people have to have.
This latest incident at Cornell has brought some people’s minds to a question that others have been pondering for a while: why are fraternities necessary on campus?
Fraternities can bring good things to campus and are not all net negatives, but with certain behaviors they bring, it can make you wonder why they are university organizations.
If fraternities stay on campus, they need to be the opposite of what their current image is. They need to be the lead group in helping fight the culture of sexual assault that can reside on a college campus. Additionally, until this culture changes, universities need to have a higher level of scrutiny concerning fraternities and not have leniency when it comes to punishment.
There needs to be systemic change, because this behavior is happening at every university, not just Cornell.
