The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/fraternities-cornell/)
We would thus like the opportunity to provide our own views on Greek life, with the hope that we may help both Prof. Schwarz and our fellow Cornellians to better understand why fraternities and sororities still have their place on campus today.
More than a decade after being banned from campus over the death of George Desdunes ’13 during a Sigma Alpha Epsilon hazing activity, a campaign by the fraternity’s alumni has helped to return it to campus this spring.
Up and down the streets of Collegetown, house after house played host to various scenes of debauchery. There was dancing, zero social distancing and carefree fun. In other words, it was everything COVID-19 took from all of us. Guarding these oases of unrestrained enjoyment were various iterations of the fraternity trio I encountered posing similar questions to would-be partygoers and ensuring that the sanctity of their fraternity’s “mixers” were maintained.
Oh, Fraternities. From their stupendously shitty taste in music to their toxic environment of elitist exclusivity to their growing count of associated rape cases and deaths, what’s not to love? Sorry if that was harsh, the hook has gotta be abrasive to weed out who really wants to read the entire thinkpiece, it’ll be worth it when you get to the body paragraphs. You understand, right? It’s a surprise to absolutely no one that Greek life, at universities all across the United States, is ridden with a plethora of serious problems. So why, in spite of this universal truth, are these organizations allowed continued existence; An existence that inherently grants them power and authority?
Hazing can be deadly. On Nov. 2, the Piazza, Gruver and Braham families shared the tragic stories of their sons’ deaths due to fraternity hazing with a full house of students in Bailey Hall. Their presentation “Love, Mom and Dad” was the keynote at the A.D. White Annual Summit for Sorority and Fraternity Life. The stories shared and their grief were an emotional gut punch, reminding me of the tragic death of George Desdunes in 2011 and Cornell’s slow progress rooting out hazing.