Wesleyan University To Force Fraternities To Admit Women

Anonymous00011 years ago

Wesleyan Greek life has taken another big hit. You might recall that the school’s chapter of Beta Theta Pi was suspended by its national organization last month when a student was injured after falling from the house’s third floor window. Today, the university made an announcement saying all fraternities “must become co-ed within three years, submit to additional oversight and eliminate freshman ‘rushing’ activities or students will no longer be allowed to reside there.”

Kate Carlisle, a spokesperson for the university, claimed, “This has been under discussion for a long time, probably for a number of years. It’s not really in reaction or prompted by any incidents or recent events, but really more it’s part of the progression toward making sure that our campus reflects our value of gender equality.”

It always sucks to hear that a fraternity system is being effectively disallowed, but in the case of Wesleyan, it’s probably been a long time coming. The Beta chapter in particular has had a contentious relationship with the university for the better part of a decade. The fraternity has had an on and off housing dispute with the administration, and the chapter hasn’t been an officially recognized campus organization since 2005. Beta was also the location of a widely covered 2010 sexual assault that came on the heels of the university itself sending a student-wide email advising students to avoid the house, which had apparently come to be known as “The Rape Factory.” The non-member suspect was found guilty and sentenced to 15 months in prison. A lawsuit stemming from that incident was settled out of court earlier this year.

The lesson, as always, is to keep your head down and don’t do anything stupid, because universities are always looking for reasons to neuter their fraternities. Also don’t rape people, because no shit.

[via Hartford Courant]

Image via Wesleyan University