Across the United States, some universities and colleges are mandating that fraternities stationed on campus will have to become co-educational within the next few years.
Wesleyan University in Connecticut recently announced that its fraternities must open its doors to women within the next three years or be removed from campus, according to the Wall Street Journal. The change comes after students put pressure on school administrators to take a firmer stance in opposition to sexual assault. The new mandate will affect two fraternities on Wesleyan’s campus, as well as a potential third.
“Wesleyan’s board of trustees asked President Michael S. Roth in May to ‘prepare a plan to address the future of Greek life’ after ‘highly publicized incidents of sexual violence,’” said CNN’s Sarah LeTrent. “In a March 2014 lawsuit against Wesleyan’s Xi Chapter of Psi Upsilon, a then-freshman student alleged she was raped in front of onlookers at the fraternity’s on-campus residence.”
Wesleyan is not the only school to require co-educational fraternities. Trinity College, also in Connecticut, required its fraternities to admit female students beginning in 2012. Middlebury College in Vermont mandated co-ed fraternities in the early 1990s as a precursor to turning them into ‘social houses’. In addition, many schools, including Columbia University in Manhattan, offer fraternity-like coed social clubs.
Several Wesleyan students were pleased with the administration’s decision.
“Up until today, the [administrative] response has been inadequate,” said Chloe Murtagh, a senior at Wesleyan. “But students are extremely appreciative of action to coed the frats.”
Others, however, claim that the issue lies elsewhere.
“Sexual assault and hazing…are problems across the entire community, and not unique to Greek life,” said Melody Oliphant, a recent alumna of Wesleyan and a co-founder of the school’s lone sorority. “[The decision] is more of a publicity stunt than a step in the right direction.”
In a survey issued this year, 61% of Wesleyan students polled believed that fraternities have “a negative impact” on gender relations. In addition, 56% of those polled said the campus would be improved through coeducational fraternities.
While the idea has taken hold at many colleges nationwide, it may not permeate UTM for some time.
“Because of the exclusive nature of fraternities, and sororities as well, the internal structure would be compromised,” said UTM sophomore Jake Hershberger, a Finance and Accounting major and member of Sigma Chi.
“If we initially viewed [a fraternity] as a ‘social fraternity’ instead, the idea of the co-ed atmosphere is more likely to be accepted.”
