Fraternities Are Focus of Measures to Reduce Assaults and Misconduct

The fraternity quad at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in May. Credit: Armando L. Sanchez for The New York Times. 

As policymakers and advocates contemplate how to prevent campus sexual assault, attention is turning to the role fraternities can play. This raises the question of whether or not both students and pledges should receive some kind of trauma-informed training with regard to binge drinking, risky behavior and assault. 

Facing a barrage of bad publicity and lawsuits, a growing number of federal investigations and a recent White House task force report, colleges are under intense pressure to curb sexual assault, binge drinking and hazing. They have increasingly focused their efforts on fraternities.

In just the past few months, fraternities have been suspended or put on probation at the Universities of Tennessee, Connecticut, Illinois and Mississippi, as well as at Kent State, Emory, Lehigh, Cornell and Northwestern Universities, among others. In March, after being linked to a string of injuries and deaths, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the largest national fraternities, announced a ban on the pledging rituals that often devolve into hazing and drunkenness.

Numerous studies show that members of Greek organizations drink more heavily than other students, and alcohol abuse is strongly tied to other forms of misconduct. But in interviews at multiple campuses, fraternity members said that their reputations had been tainted by the bad acts of others.

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