Greek organizations occupy a hallowed place at many American institutions, with powerful alumni who are often among a school’s most generous donors. Truly getting a handle on assault, these advocates argue, means confronting the reality that fraternities are often a primary, if unintentional, enabler. Research shows that more than three-quarters of sexual-assault victims were incapacitated at the time of the attack. At many schools, frats are the hub of campus social life–which means they’re also a center for the binge drinking and codified social structures that experts say fuel the assault problem. But the circumstances surrounding the horrific allegations at UVa are casting light on a part of the problem that has gotten far less attention: the role that fraternities can play in creating a climate for sexual assault. Since the Obama Administration began its campaign against campus sex assault in 2011, schools have responded by launching peer-awareness programs, tightening disciplinary procedures and beefing up support staff for survivors. Many more have overhauled their misconduct policies in an attempt to avoid a similar fate. Some 90 schools, including UVa, are under investigation by the Department of Education for mishandling sexual-assault cases. This has been a year of reckoning for America’s institutions of higher learning, with so many developments that TIME devoted its May 26 cover to the subject. Jefferson’s university took center stage at a critical moment in the roiling national debate about rape on college campuses. In her statement, Sullivan leaned on a quote from Thomas Jefferson, who founded UVa in 1819: “It is more honorable to repair a wrong than to persist in it.”Īnd with that, Mr. 9 while the school reviewed its policies for handling sexual assault. 22, UVa president Teresa Sullivan announced she was suspending all Greek organizations and their social activities until Jan. 19, which told of a student being gang-raped at a UVa fraternity house and a school community that apparently failed to respond. Their protest was prompted by a harrowing story published in Rolling Stone on Nov. Events like tacky Christmas-sweater cocktails and Phi Delta Theta’s caroling have become yearly rituals–no small thing at a university that takes tradition as seriously as UVa.īut instead of the sound of clinking glasses, Rugby Road was filled on a recent night with the angry chants of students and faculty carrying signs reading End Rape and Take back the party. After studying hard for final exams, many students toast semester’s end with punch-filled cups at holiday parties thrown by fraternities at their rambling redbrick mansions along Charlottesville’s Rugby Road. The stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas tends to be a festive time at the University of Virginia.
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