The history of Greek life — and a viable future at the University of Iowa, if it exists

While philanthropy and the development of social and professional skills claim to be the purpose of Greek life on campus, that value-based ideal is tarnished by the reality of consistent sexual assault. For the past week, students from the University of Iowa have been protesting on their respective campuses, coming out in droves to decry the alleged sexual assaults that happened at Phi Gamma Delta, commonly known as FIJI.

In Iowa, the history of Fiji is rife with accounts of misconduct and sexual abuse and assault. The latest allegation stems from an incident on Sept. 5, 2020, where a woman attended a party at the fraternity house. She woke up the following day with no recollection of the night before, covered in bruises on her legs and arms. On Sept. 10, 2020, she filed a report of sexual assault, after friends told her that a video of her being sexually assaulted by two men from FIJI was circulating throughout campus.

Despite police executing a search warrant and collecting the woman’s clothing and cheek swabs from identified FIJI members, no criminal charges have been filed over the last year. The lack of criminal charges is what spurred the protests at Iowa, starting with an online petition that garnered over 130,000 signatures to shut FIJI down nationwide.

Greek life is resistant to reform, deeply devoted to archaic and harmful practices because they are “tradition.” However, calls to abolish all of Greek life take away from those institutions that popped up as a result of exclusionary racist, sexist and homophobic practices.

Now, having recently graduated from Iowa, this latest allegation didn’t surprise me. They’ve been suspended before but never abolished. That’s probably because some FIJI alumni are wealthy donors.

What’s happening at FIJI is reflective of issues with Greek life at large. Fraternities and sororities are historically rooted in racism, and live on in classist and misogynist rules, policies and practices. That’s a bold claim to make, but the reality of women, people of color and the unwealthy experience only confirms Greek life as an exclusionary institution.

During the first half of the 19th century, only white men were accepted at college institutions and slavery was very much real and enforced.

White women initially started sororities in the second half of the 19th century to provide a safe space for intellectual conversation and social support amid rampant sexism, according to NYU professor Diana Turks. As more white women enrolled in higher education, the mission of sororities altered in a more conservative standardization of their organizations, aligned with the interests of fraternities.

After Brown v. Board of Education (1954), fraternities and sororities were mandated to integrate, but that didn’t stop them from privileging white members behind the scenes in selecting new pledges and attracting white members from their explicitly racist pasts (social activities might include taking a picture with guns in front of a bullet riddled Emmett Till memorial, like three Kappa Alpha frat brothers did in 2019).

Greek life is resistant to reform, deeply devoted to archaic and harmful practices because they are “tradition.” However, calls to abolish all of Greek life take away from those institutions that popped up as a result of exclusionary racist, sexist and homophobic practices.

In the face of the discrimination and abuse they faced, minority students had found educational homes as a safe space in Greek life when residential housing and use of recreational spaces might be denied to them based on their identity.

So, when you say “Abolish All Greek life,” think about those institutions that historically provided people who experienced life-threatening discrimination with a safe space for success. Perhaps the way forward is not by abolishing a broken system but reforming it, starting with the upheaval of archaic rules and traditions that put women and people of color at risk.

In the case of sexual assault, perhaps people in power can recognize the current system that blatantly puts women at risk when the only times sorority sisters can go to a party for social interaction is at a frat house.

Nichole Shaw is a Gazette editorial fellow. Comments: nichole.shaw@thegazette.com

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