Campus has been buzzing ever since news broke last week of allegations of hazing and procuring alcohol to minors against eight members of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Exacerbating matters is the fact that the most egregious allegations being made, which I doubt I need to repeat here, actually go well beyond that.
Reactions within the UNL community, including alumni, have been predictably varied, some being enormously helpful while others are nearly as horrifying as the allegations themselves. Many have pointed out, wisely I might add, that right now the allegations are precisely that - allegations. So we should be careful in our reaction and need to put our torches and pitch forks away because in this country we do believe in the idea of “innocent until proven guilty.” And if we forget that, a few young men at Duke University will be more than willing, I’m sure, to remind us of what happens when allegation is mistaken for fact.
Others have pointed out, again wisely, that should the allegations prove true then this is simply one more example of the need for more education on matters of sexual assault and hazing. And, they argue, the Greek system especially needs to be proactive in pursuing this.
In her column last week, Sarah Melecki cited a truly frightening statistic that said Greek women are twice as likely as non-Greek women to experience aggressive sexual advances during their college years. That statistic should frighten us.
Still others remind us that we must be careful in passing judgment against Greeks as a whole based on allegations against a few. There are many fraternities on campus, and even if every allegation against Sigma Chi proves to be true, that is not an indictment against the Greek system as a whole, but only against Sigma Chi.
The often-unacknowledged reality on campus is that there’s tremendous tension between certain members of the Greek system and certain non-Greeks, and this incident can make that tension even worse.
So, these people tell us, we need to remember the many positive contributions made by Greeks to the university. And these people are right to a large extent. Greeks do most of the philanthropy work on campus and keep alive nearly all the traditions. Non-Greeks need to be honest about this and admit that it’s the Greeks who help keep these things alive and make the campus the wonderful, enjoyable and unique place that it is.
If the reactions could stop here, we’d be alright. Sadly (but predictably), they do not.
Some have responded to the allegations by essentially saying one of three things to those condemning the alleged actions of the eight men of Sigma Chi: “Boys will be boys,” “You’re just jealous!” or “Everybody is doing it.”
First, the “boys will be boys” line is appalling and demonic. And the only people that buy it are the immature, emotionally stunted and inept guys who think their only goals during college should be to drink a lot of beer, play and watch a lot of sports and sleep with lots of women. These men are an embarrassment to their gender and not only do great harm to the people close to them, but destroy their own souls through their callous disregard of other people. As the Proverbs put it, their throats are open graves and we’d do well to ignore them.
Second, the “you’re just jealous” line represents the same sort of insecurity. It’s the insecurity that can’t honestly face the possibility that one might be wrong and thus turns to juvenile retorts as a defense mechanism.
Third, to “everybody is doing it,” every mother’s favorite excuse: There’s the bridge. If the allegations are true, eight of your friends may be jumping off it in the near future, and the river they land in will be a jail cell. If you don’t grow up soon, you’re going to join them.
However, another equally unhelpful response is the purely self-righteous response. It is good to condemn wrongdoing, but it should never be done in a manner detached from our own evil tendencies. Human evil is a terrifying, insidious thing and often the most vocal critics of a given offense are the ones most guilty of it themselves.
When I was in middle school, for example, I was the target of considerable bullying from upperclassmen. My response? To bully whomever I could from the extremely small group of people beneath me on the emotionally insecure totem pole.
The frightening reality being that what is deplorable when done to us is often empowering when done by us. True, those of the self-righteous response are not likely to go out and procure alcohol for minors before asking strippers to do unspeakable things to them. But there are other ways of denying someone their humanity, and every single one of us is capable of that.
The challenge we face then is that we must condemn evil rightly when we see it. It’s not part of God’s intent for the world and it is deeply destructive. However, we must condemn it in a way that reflects a deep level of humility and awareness of our own evil tendencies.
The point is, strength comes from humility, an uncomfortable and hard-to-maintain attitude if ever there was one. Yet if we fail in this, our reactions to last week’s allegations will only make the situation worse.
Jake Meador is a Junior History & English major. Reach him at jakemeador@dailynebraskan.com.
MEADOR: Constructively condemn fraternity’s alleged behavior
Published: Sunday, April 26, 2009
Updated: Sunday, April 26, 2009
1 comments
Capitalist Pig
Hmm...did Niles Paul get the benefit of your divine blessing before he was proven guilty, or did you pass judgment based off of police allegations?So it's okay to condemn an alleged drunk driver but not alleged sexual assault? Hokay!
