preview

Should Colleges Ban Fraternities?

Decent Essays

Fraternities are well-known for members claiming that within their time of membership they met many people whom they still have regular contact with as alumni. Other times, a fraternity’s wild parties or even hazing cause them to be infamous. Ian Lovett, a reporter, interviewed various people connected to Sigma Alpha Epsilon, including the president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Lovett reported on Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s decision to eliminate the tradition of pledging as part of their membership initiation process (Lovett). Then within another article called, “Should Colleges Ban Fraternities,” written by Katherine Schulten, the author raises the question of whether fraternities should be banned or not. Fraternities are groups of college students that …show more content…

The negatives of fraternities outweigh the positives of having them; any positives attributed to fraternities can be created without having fraternities, this is because multiple types of alternatives to fraternities exist. In the current state of fraternities, it is necessary to ban them; too many accidents have occurred at fraternities for colleges to still keep them available. These accidents include rape, sexual assault, deaths, injuries, etc. These are not just one time accidents but happen almost yearly. In fact, according to Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College in Indiana, “at least one student has died every year in a hazing-related incident since 1970, and about 80% of them involve alcohol.” (Marklein). Another compelling piece of evidence found “fraternity men were three times more likely to commit rape than other men on college campuses” (Foubert). This evidence is in accordance with research published in Violence Against Women, in which a study found that 29% of sorority women reported they were sexually assaulted while in college (Minow). To put it another way, having fraternities and sororities on college campuses is a danger to students thus colleges should start banning them in an attempt to fix the problem. Not only this, but it is important to consider the pain experienced by those affected by rape or sexual assault, including but not limited to …show more content…

Colleges and students should not afraid that this will impair their opportunities to make new meaningful bonds because so many different alternatives are available. It is important to realize that well-being of students is more important than keeping fraternities and sororities on college campuses when they are proven to be correlated with negative aspects. Creating a community should not come at the expense of the safety of students. Under the current circumstances of college fraternities and given these points banning fraternities is necessary in order to protect students from dangerous

Get Access