The way that the administration has handled the recent events in our community has been immensely disappointing. While we all can acknowledge that these situations are difficult to address and can understand that the administration is in an often thankless role, they have a duty to us to respond in a more productive and proactive way.
The events that have transpired this past week are extremely upsetting and concerning. Sexual assault is one of the most incredibly traumatic and dehumanizing experiences that someone can go through and it is all too prevalent on college campuses like ours. However, the issue stems from a broader culture of violence, objectification and cultural complacency, not fraternities or Greek Life.
In the past, we have seen the administration place bans and restrictions on Greek Life, which have not been effective. Knowing this, the Cornell administration decided that the best solution to the tragic events was to essentially mandate that all Greek Life organizations cancel all of their respective events this weekend. There was no functional dialogue between the leaders of fraternities and Cornell administration, and no opportunity to pose solutions that would actually take a step toward making our community a safer place. Instead, Cornell administration unsurprisingly took the performative and unproductive approach of canceling all Greek Life events for the weekend, punishing all for the actions of a few.
Greek organizations are the only organizations on campus that Cornell feels obligated to treat as one collective entity. This entity includes not just fraternities but also sororities, whose punishment is completely unwarranted. Why should sororities suffer and have their events canceled when they had no involvement in the incident? It is baffling that sororities are subjected to the same collective punishment. This decision has stripped students of events that they have been looking forward to, especially after an already stressful week. Every chapter of Greek life is very unique — each chapter has a different structure and takes different safety and risk measures. Some register multiple events every weekend, whereas others might have one all semester. To group all of the organizations together, and to dole out collective punishment is not only irrational but also deeply unfair.
Furthermore, what does canceling events for one weekend accomplish? Currently, there is no further action being taken to make our fraternities safer. Unlike the Cornell administration, the Interfraternity Council was ready to take steps to make our campus safer. The IFC unanimously voted to mandate that every fraternity must meet with Sexual Assault Prevention and Safety Group. Additionally, many advocated that hosting a charity event to raise money and awareness for SAPS would be a much better solution than canceling events for one weekend, with seven fraternities each pledging $1,000 on the spot. However, because the administration was not interested in dialogue, our proposal never received any consideration. Our administration clearly is more interested in performative acts to save face than making changes to create a safer campus for all of us.
Lastly, many people overlook the fact that parties hosted by Greek Life organizations are often safer than those held by non-Greek organizations. Unlike the rest of campus, Greek Life members undergo extensive safety training, including consent and event management education, to create safer environments at their events. Fraternities also have leadership hierarchies and protocols to prevent emergencies and address them effectively if they occur. Additionally, fraternities have a clear incentive to ensure that their events are safe — if an assault happens at an event, the fraternity will face severe consequences, as seen in Chi Phi’s case. What safety procedures or consequences exist for the hosts of non-Greek parties where incidents occur? Unfortunately, there are none.
For those who remain skeptical, these arguments are supported by statistics. Currently, one-third of the undergraduate student body is involved in Greek Life. The 2023 Cornell Survey on Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct shows that incidents in fraternity spaces (30.8 percent) are proportional to Greek Life’s size on campus, dispelling claims that Greek Life uniquely promotes sexual assault. While only a percentage of Greek Life lives in these spaces, these spaces are where a majority of the Greek Life events are held. This trend is not new; the 2021 bi-annual survey found that fraternity spaces accounted for only 24 percent of these incidents. The commonly repeated claim that Greek life at Cornell promotes sexual assault is not only inaccurate but also unfair to the Greek Life community, which has made significant efforts over the past four years to foster a safer and more inclusive environment.
We would welcome the opportunity for dialogue with the Cornell administration, which unfortunately has not yet occurred. Decisions on complex, emotional issues should involve all affected, especially when organizations and events are impacted. We all deserve representation and the opportunity to express our perspectives on these matters, making it both concerning and frustrating that sororities were advised to cancel their events without input from their representatives. If we were to have a future dialogue, it should not only include fraternity leaders, but also leaders from sororities as well as representatives from SAPS. While we share a common goal of creating a safer community, we believe that meaningful actions, rather than performative measures, are the way to achieve lasting change.
Conor Burke is a senior in the College of Engineering. He currently serves as Vice President for Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. He can be reached at [email protected].