How Frats Get Away with Shit

by Anonymous

Note: The article that has been adapted for this piece was originally written for the Daily Pennsylvanian on 11/8/21.

A grandiose house, fit for a king. A cardboard sign reading “Racists Live Here,” and a crowd of students chanting “Silence is Violence.” Chalk graffiti on the red bricks of Locust asking, “No one did anything. Would you?”

After the story broke about the alleged assault of a Penn student by a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity (commonly known as “Castle”) in the early morning of Sept. 4, 2021, campus mobilized. Outraged by the incident and the administration’s reticence, a group of student organizers wrote a list of demands and held a weeklong protest in front of Castle. Some circulated a petition to kick Castle out of their house, while others hung up posters across campus calling to “End Frat Culture.” 

This story, however, is not the exception. It’s just another point in Penn’s 270 year history of fraternity violence, student outrage, and the administration’s silence.

Greek Presence at Penn

Greek life commands university space and identity. Walk down Locust and you’re just as likely to see a fraternity house as an academic or cultural building. In fact, 25% of Penn students belong to Greek life. Greek life’s ubiquity continues to be a point of contention even after its tumultuous and problematic history. In 1991, the “Report of the Committee to Diversify Locust Walk” stated the committee’s discontent with the atmosphere of exclusivity fraternities cause on Locust – often manifesting as “verbal and physical harassment” – and urged the University to uphold its message of diversity and inclusion by replacing Greek houses on Locust with cultural centers.

Thirty years since the report’s publication, its findings still resonate. It’s true, Penn has converted a number of Greek Houses into academic or cultural spaces. The Kappa Alpha house is now the Perry World House and Theta Xi is now the Penn Women’s Center, among others. However, issues persist — the minority cultural centers on campus are all confined to the basement of the ARCH Building, which are, ironically, directly across from Castle (see: Cultural Houses). 

Not only are fraternities a physical force to be reckoned with on campus, they’re deeply embedded into University bureaucracy. Out of the 32 fraternity and sorority houses on Penn’s campus, the University owns 24. Not only does this exempt fraternities from paying property taxes, but the University also covers maintenance and repair costs. This relationship proves to be lucrative for both parties. A 2020 Daily Pennsylvanian report found that some Penn fraternities are worth over $10,000 with several controlling tens of thousands of dollars worth of assets. Furthermore, another report suggests that Greek life alumni are significant donors to universities. Penn risks alienating its wealthy alumni list by abolishing Greek life – again proving the university’s value system: money over morals.

A History of Violence and Discrimination  

However, Greek life arguably causes more problems than it is worth. Greek life is exclusionary by nature. Originally created as social clubs for wealthy white men, fraternities only abandoned their whites-only membership clause in the 1960s. Today, Greek life remains overwhelmingly white and rich. And fraternities’ physical presence on campus asserts their position at the top of the campus social hierarchy.

The alleged racially motivated assault at Castle joins a long history of racialized violence in Greek life, particularly at Penn. In 1988, members of Zeta Beta Tau hired black women to perform at their rush event. Members shouted racial slurs and even physically molested the women. In 2016, a Mexican-American Penn sophomore accused white Sigma Nu brothers of assaulting him and taunting him with racial stereotypes. The same year, a Pi Kappa Alpha member sent a racial slur to the fraternity’s listserv which was followed in suit by slurs and hateful language from current members and alumni. In 2017, a white Phi Gamma Delta fraternity member and his date called their beer-pong team “VietPong” and wore costumes referencing the Viet Cong guerrillas that fought against the U.S. during the Vietnam War. In 2019, a Kappa Alpha Theta sorority pledge allegedly shouted “I love Donald Trump” and “Build A Wall” at a Mexican-American student as a part of her hazing process.

Castle, in particular, is no stranger to violent crimes. In 1990, ten Castle brothers abducted and assaulted a rival fraternity brother. They kidnapped him from his home, blindfolded him, bound his limbs with duct tape, handcuffed him to a playground pole, and proceeded to torture him for over four hours. As a result, Castle was banned from campus for eight years – the building used in the interim as a community service programming center – but returned in 1998. Despite the incident, not one student was expelled.

Greek Life and Sexual Violence at Penn

Additionally, fraternities are notorious for being cesspools of misogyny and harboring a culture that promotes sexual coercion. A 2019 AAU Campus Climate Survey reported that, since entering Penn’s campus, 25.9% of women have experienced unwanted sexual contact. The single-most frequent location of this sexual violence is fraternity houses. 

Incidents of sexual assault in Greek life at Penn date back decades, perhaps the most salient example being a 1983 gang rape at Alpha Tau Omega. ATO denied any such event, calling it a “gross exaggeration” in an official statement. However, the DP quoted a fraternity brother saying, “[the victim] was loose and wild, imbibing many things…”, suggesting a ‘they had it coming’ narrative.  An internal investigation from the University recommended that ATO’s recognition be revoked, but after a lengthy court battle, ATO was only suspended for six months with no charges. 

Rape and rape culture is not an issue of a bygone era. In 2016, off-campus fraternity, OZ, sent an email imploring first-year women to “wear something tight” to their “first showing.” In response, students posted flyers across campus with the words “THIS IS WHAT RAPE CULTURE LOOKS LIKE.” The incident gained national media coverage. The following year, only five out of Penn’s 27 fraternities attended mandatory education programs on sexual health and violence. While some received a $100 fine, others were excused by the Interfraternity Council.

In response to the Greek community’s extensive history of turning a blind eye to sexual assault, the Coalition Against Fraternity Sexual Assault was formed in 2019. CAFSA, a coalition of University of Pennsylvania student groups supporting the cause to expel fraternities from Locust Walk, immediately faced threats and intimidation from fraternity members and Penn administration. Although CAFSA subsequently ceased operation, it still serves as a valuable source of information about the history of fraternity sexual assault at Penn.

No Justice, No Accountability

Since March 2023, Alpha Epsilon Pi has been accused of asking women to disclose their BMIs in order to gain access to a St. Patrick’s Day party. A rapidly-circulated video seemingly showed an AEPi brother at the door of the chapter house asking women for their weight and BMI, then “visually inspecting” them as if to verify. AEPi has denied that the man in question was a brother and claims to have no knowledge of what was taking place on their own front porch. Despite getting attention across campus, the University has yet to get involved. Just a few months later, it is as if the event never took place. The video has been all but scrubbed from the internet, and no report from the DP or other outlets was ever published.

Greek life has walls that are all but impenetrable to justice. The University provides recognition to Greek life on campus in order to establish “a commonality of goals and standards,” as well as “mechanisms of accountability.” Supposedly, upholding this accountability is an array of bureaucratic structures including – the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, the Interfraternity Council, the Intercultural Greek Council, and a Greek Alumni Council. Instead of accountability, these structures, coupled with the wealth of Greek alumni, provide more layers of protection. 

Following the alleged Castle assault, the University remained tight-lipped about the entire incident. The administration only stated that an investigation was taking place. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life declined requests to comment, appearing entirely absent from campus discussion around the incident. The student community, by and large, was left in the dark. Then news broke that the accused brother was found not guilty. 

In January 2023, the Municipal Court of Philadelphia ended the trial after ruling that the accused individual was not guilty on either of his charges: assault or harassment by physical contact. This ruling is damaging for multiple reasons. First, it is a devastating lack of justice for the victim who sustained serious injuries and required hospitalization. Second, it is demoralizing for Penn community members who mobilized against Castle and the University’s complicity. Lastly, it dangerously perpetuates and artificially inflates myths surrounding false assault reports. The trial verdict was an undeserved win for fraternities like Castle who are  unapologetically accustomed to getting their way.

Greek life is deeply woven into the fabric of Penn — not just in how the University makes its decisions, but in how students interact with the campus, each other, and their identities as Penn students. After the Castle assault, we need to reevaluate Greek life’s interdependent relationship to Penn. It’s important to understand that these aren’t isolated incidents, and they aren’t endemic to a specific fraternity. They have been occurring since fraternities existed, and will continue to occur in the absence of any accountability.

Penn is completely driven by money and image, both of which are central to fraternity life. When those things are threatened, they respond. The truth is Penn could have replaced the fraternities years ago. They have the ability to buy or stop renting the buildings the Locust fraternities occupy, but they won’t. They won’t unless we continue to push.

Despite decades of toxic Greek life, there are still ways to stay safe and fight back at Penn. Such massive issues do not get resolved overnight and will likely persist in one form or another for years to come. However, incremental change paves the way for bigger shifts. Many universities have already removed Greek life from their campuses—let’s make Penn the next one.