The future of fraternities as we know them looks bleak, as the men who join and preach the aspect of brotherhood could be saying goodbye to that very concept.
Recently, Wesleyan University announced that they are making their fraternities co-ed. Senior Nicole Updegrove, President of the Wesleyan Student Association, proposed the idea of bringing women into fraternities. The proposal stated that the fraternities either integrate with women by the end of the fall semester or they lose their campus housing, according to an article on insidehighered.com.
Updegrove claimed, “The culture of these houses contribute to the culture of sexual assault in a way we weren’t willing to stand for anymore.”
Just last week, the University listened.
However, the University never said in its announcement of this change that sexual assault was one of the determining factors.
The fraternities of Wesleyan University are considered “program housing,” giving the University the ability to put changes of this nature in place. Essentially, the fraternities need to meet the credentials of other program houses, and that means becoming co-ed, or they will be shutdown. A spokeswomen for the University, Kate Carlisle, said this was done to "increase gender equity on campus."
Whichever the true reason may be, this is a positive change for Greek life. Fraternities have always had their issues; being ASU students, we're fully aware of that. Most of all, fraternities get the most grief when it comes to sexual assault, and for good reason. Studies show that men in fraternities are three times more likely to rape, and women in sororities are 74 percent more likely to experience rape.
When you get that many males in one place, ego is bound to take over. They are pressured into being what they think a fraternity man should be. They need to be the attractive, confident and outgoing man that their brothers, as well as society, expects them to be. Take the need for conformity coupled with alcohol, and you’re going to have quite a few dangerous situations.
Having women within the fraternity might bring each boy's ego down a few pegs. Not only that, but one would hope that they would start to view their other members as equals within the same organization, and not just another prospect for a Saturday night.
However, it is doubtful we will see co-ed fraternities become a new trend. It is even doubtful that Wesleyan’s efforts will see results. The “brothers” within this frat are not going to want to integrate women in their organization. Not only that, but most organizations of this kind have chapter leaders mandating what goes on within the organization. As brotherhood is one of the main pillars of almost every fraternity, and basically one of the main aspects to their place in Greek life, I’m sure the chapter leaders won’t be keen on this change — that is, if they let it happen at all.
Greek life is heading in the direction of a great demise. If the frats agree to go co-ed, the appeal of fraternities will be gone. If they don’t, they will be kicked off campus. This might not be a bad thing. Although Greek life has merit to it, such as philanthropy, and that coveted aspect of brotherhood can be good in some instances, it has too many issues to go on without any change put forth.
Within this movement, fraternities as we know them will be gone, and it seems that eventually they will completely be gone altogether. Whether co-ed frats do actually become a successful trend, or we say goodbye to these organizations altogether, both are a movement in the right direction of change. Bravo to Wesleyan University — we’re all interested to see the change within your Greek life and the potential movement it may bring.
Reach the columnist at dpharias@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @_Desirayray
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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