John Hechinger recently published an explosive book (TRUE GENTLEMEN: THE BROKEN PLEDGE OF AMERICA’S FRATERNITIES) about the fraternity culture of binge drinking and sexual assault, behaviors that typically are ignored, tolerated, and excused.
This piece is an excerpt from his book. It explains who is protecting the current fraternity culture. Just a few days ago, a student at Louisiana State University died during a fraternity hazing ritual that involved binge drinking.
Why is this allowed to continue?
Each spring, scores of fresh-faced undergraduates flock to Capitol Hill to lobby Congress in support of legislation sympathetic to Greek organizations and to network at a cocktail reception and $500-a-plate fundraiser. In April 2016, at the elegant Liaison Hotel, U.S. Representatives, flanked by American flags, posed for photos with fraternity men and sorority women. The lawmakers were the honored guests of the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee, commonly known as FratPAC, which bills itself as the largest political action committee “focused solely on higher education issues.”
Since 2005, when it was founded, FratPAC has given more than $1.3 million in campaign contributions to members of Congress, almost two-thirds to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group that tracks money in Washington. Fraternity and sorority alumni, who make up less than 4 percent of the adult population, are disproportionately represented in the capital. Thirty-nine percent of Senators in the 113th U.S Congress, and one-fourth of U.S Representatives, belonged to Greek organizations, primarily fraternities—as well as one-third of all Supreme Court justices and about 40 percent of U.S. presidents, according to the North-American Interfraternity Conference, which represents most of the oldest and largest fraternities. (Presidents Trump and Obama were not fraternity men.)
In 2012, FratPac helped forestall the introduction of a bill that would have revoked federal financial aid from anyone that a school disciplinary board found responsible for hazing. The fraternity lobby has also defended the due-process rights of college men in sexual-assault cases. In 2015, it backed a bill that would have required the victims of sexual assault to report the allegations to law enforcement before requesting a campus hearing. Fraternity and sorority trade groups and three national fraternities spent $250,000 lobbying for the bill.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m not even sure FratPAC is necessary. As I said before, most members of Congress and other political creatures were themselves fratboys. I don’t think they’re in any danger of reining in frats.
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I have to admit I’m puzzled at the either-or argument (campus misconduct hearing or police report), why not both? Colleges need to have hearings re: conduct infractions. They have prerogative to sanction / suspend / expel for behavior that doesn’t meet their standards. If it’s a ‘kangaroo’ court w/ career-harming sanction on a barely-defended accused, they will probably have to answer to lawsuit, which helps keep them in line.
Meanwhile as you say, anyone from owner of vandalized property to victim of rape should be callng 911 (not campus cops) pronto. Good idea for campus to conduct parallel hearing so as to make necessary adjustments right away while crim/civ wheels grind slowly on.
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Fed DOEd made the decision some time back to encouage “everyone” to get a 4-yr degree, backing it w/bigtime wade into college tuition loan biz. Now like it or not the millstone’s around DOEd neck, they have to wade into policing college culture cuz JQPublic not happy w/subsidizing outrageous animal-house-type behavior. If FratPAC wants to maintain its anachronistic stranglehold under glare of public eye, it may find itself having to substitute its own tuition scholarship for every pledge who’s not independently wealthy.
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FratPACFixed.
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Fraternities are peculiar to colleges and universities which gives college and University officials primary responsibility for what happens in them.
There might be a lot of people in society at large who have been in frats, but the primary blame for what goes on in frats lies with college presidents and other college officials who make the rules and set the tone for what is acceptable.
Just as Hollywood directors and other higher-ups in Hollywood are primarily responsible for 100 years of sex abuse and harassment in Hollywood. The idea that they did not know is just a cruel joke. Even those who were not perpetrators like Weinstein were complicit in their silence.
There are college Officials who have banned frats altogether, which immediately solves the problem. Sure, they might have lost potential money from donors, but that is money they should not have taken anyway if it was made contingent on continuation of a policy that allows what is going on in frats.
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You really have to ask yourself “What kind of people are being selected to run colleges and universities?” when they continue to allow hazing, rape, binge drinking and all the other stuff that has been happening at frats for ages.
I think it would be a gross understatement to answer “Not the best”
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Penn State is a good example.
University officials were warned by a former student about out of control drinking and hazing 2 years before last year’s hazing death.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/08/us/penn-state-fraternities-hazing-alcohol/index.html
After the death the Penn State President warned that frat drinking violations “could” mean the end of Greek life.
Of course he was careful not to say “will”, to leave him wiggle room.
Reminds me of my teaching days. When you tell students that certain actions “could” or “might” bring a certain response, they usually just ignore you. When you say “will” they tend to listen, presuming you did not say “will” in the past and not follow through.
Just this past week, there was another drinking related incident at Penn State that may have been related to a frat serving alcohol.
It is still under investigation and it will be interesting to see how it is “handled”.
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Correct. There are many colleges & unis which have managed frat conduct well & reliably over the decades. I grew up in an Ivy League collegetown, am an alum, & still have family & alum ties there. Never a hazing or binge-drinking death, w/ Greek chapters periodically suspended or permanently closed for bad behavior. Perhaps their secret was that Greek orgs did not dominate the social scene; there were perhaps 10, each w/a membership of 120 or so, on a campus of 14k students.
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I’m all in favor of public scrutiny of fraternities in the context of general public discussion of rape culture, hazing, binge-drinking etc (there should be more discussion of the latter which is connected to both of the former). I’m not in favor of broad-brush condemnation of campus Greek orgs.
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This site alleges that Donald Trump belonged to the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity when he was attending Fordham University.
https://www.freshu.io/kailyn-slater/politicians-who-were-frat-boys
And what is Phi Gamma Delta’s nickname?
Answer: “Date-Rape Frat”
And guess who defended this fraternity known as the “Date-Rape Frat”
Answer: Neil Gorsuch
https://www.thedailybeast.com/neil-gorsuch-defended-columbias-so-called-date-rape-frat
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The same frat was responsible for the death of a freshman at MIT in 1997
http://news.mit.edu/1998/da-0923
MIT paid out $6 million to keep that one out of court – a trial which would almost certainly have exposed the gross negligence of MIT and it’s President, Charles Vest, with regard to policies about alcohol use at frats.
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