U-Va. sororities ordered to avoid UVA frat parties for safety - Guess how that went down?

[astro]

The sorority members agreed that this would be best for their own safety… oh wait that’s not quite what they said. It was more along the lines of “WTF!?”

Story here

U-Va. sorority sisters ordered to stay home Saturday night for their own safety – while fraternity brothers party

Sorority sisters at the University of Virginia were ordered by their national chapters to avoid fraternity events this weekend — a mandate that many of the women said was irrational, sexist and contrary to the school’s culture.

It’s not about one night of parties, several students said, but about their ability to make their own choices.

And they’re not taking that lightly.

There are 16 sororities on U-Va.’s campus that are part of the National Panhellenic Conference, with more than 2,000 members, according to the campus Inter-Sorority Council. The NPC can come to “unanimous agreements” among its national presidents that are binding on local chapters and their members.

At some U-Va. chapters in recent days, students described mandatory emergency meetings with representatives from their national chapter telling them they risked suspension, fines and other penalties if any of them attended bid night parties. Boys’ Bid Night is typically a night when sorority sisters go from house to house sharing drinks with friends.

A petition, started online on Monday, had almost 2,000 signatures by midday Tuesday. It reads, in part:

“Instead of addressing rape and sexual assault at UVa, this mandate perpetuates the idea that women are inferior, sexual objects. It is degrading to Greek women, as it appears that the [National Panhellenic Conference] views us as defenseless and UVa’s new fraternal policies as invalid. Allowing the NPC to prevent us from celebrating (what used to be) a tight-knit community, sends the message that we are weak.”

And another widely-circulated letter, directed to the National Panhellenic Conference, reads, in part:

“Our concerns lie in the way sorority women are being used as leverage to change the actions and behaviors of fraternity men. This resolution has misconstrued us as a passive aggregate rather than active agents for change. It has also had the unintended consequence of subjugating women. … Women have historically been the targets of sexual violence, and forbidding us to exercise our agency plays dangerously into gender stereotypes surrounding the issue.” The mandate is diametrically opposed to the central values of the sororities in fostering and supporting women’s strength, the letter continues, and, “This solution is not long-term, realistic, or sustainable.”

[kopek]

I smell a revolt kegger in their future.

[DigitalC]

Yeah, that seems incredibly condescending. I could see maybe suggesting it, but ordering them? dumb move. I assume the national chapters for sororities are controlled by women right?

[Smapti]

Well, how else are we supposed to prevent sorority girls from making up stories about being raped?

[Your_Great_Darsh_Face]

“Guess how that went down?”

Like a drunken sorority girl?

[Ranger_Jeff]

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests - we did.

But you can’t hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn’t this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we’re not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

[astro]

@Ranger_Jeff

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests - we did.

But you can’t hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn’t this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we’re not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

Wow… nicely played.

[kopek]

@astro

Wow… nicely played.

Indeed but I still would have gone with:
I would like to direct this to the distinguished members of the panel: You lousy cork-soakers. You have violated my farging rights. Dis somanumbatching country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be taken away by a bunch of fargin iceholes… like yourselves.

[yellowjacketcoder]

@Your_Great_Darsh_Face

“Guess how that went down?”

Like a drunken sorority girl?

Slow clap

You would think that national organizations would recognize at this point that ordering college aged people (doesn’t matter the gender) to NOT do something is basically assuring that it will happen out of spite if nothing else.

Idly, I wonder what would happen if the sororities told national to take a hike, they’re gonna do what they want. How critical is a national organization for a sorority anyway? I imagine all sororities started as single-school chapters.

[Celyn]

…Now some sororities are planning mandatory in-house retreats that night, to avoid any risk of inadvertently violating the rule.

At some chapters, women were told not only to avoid going to fraternity parties on Boys’ Bid Night, but to avoid any social gathering with fraternity members, said Ben Gorman, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council at U-Va. That would mean a ban on attending off-campus parties or gatherings at bars that night…

This all sounds a bit mediaeval. :dubious: Well, some kind of old-timey. “Girls, you must not go out, because the boys might be out and about”.

And “mandatory in-house retreats”?

Very weird.

[Senegoid]

Yeah, I read some of those articles, as well as at least one op-ed piece by a girl on one of those sororities decrying the stultifying control that sororities exercise over the sisters’ lives in general.

To which I could only wonder: Why the fark do you choose to join and live in such a place?

[Melbourne]

My opinion of sororities just went down another notch.

(1) It’s a democracy: you elected those representatives, they make binding decisions. Living in society means accepting consensus decisions.

(2) It’s a sorority. Strength in numbers. You hit harder if you all swing together girls.

(3) Don’t be stupid: play to your strengths: this solutions doesn’t have to be “long term, realistic, or sustainable”, because the boys will fold, fold, fold, like wet newspaper.

The protestors have completely misjudged “passive aggregate” and “active agents”. Those girls need to do a little consciousness raising and self-awareness.

And that’s without even getting to the place where I disagree with their politics.

[BigT]

Oh. I read about this on a feminist blog, and I never noticed it was an order. Now I get their ire. I could’ve sworn they acted like it was just a suggestion, getting all offended that anyone even mention the idea that women might do anything to be safer.

Maybe that site isn’t such a horrible one.