Clarification appended
The University Police Department is increasing campus patrols this fall to clamp down on underage drinking.
Officers will monitor parties on and off campus where they suspect students are drinking, and UPD Chief Kevin Hay told the Interfraternity Council last week that fraternities should expect a larger police presence at their events, several members said.
Hay said officers will crack down on enforcement, but he declined to comment on why he met with Greek chapter heads. He also declined to provide the number of this year's on- and off-campus housing patrols compared to past years, but he has said in the past that 18 officers patrol the Foggy Bottom Campus at all times.
Some Greek chapter presidents said they feel targeted in the aftermath of two sexual abuse reports at Townhouse Row – Greek housing – earlier this month.
There are 14 Greek townhouses on campus, with additional chapter housing located at Strong Hall and International House. The University also considers groups of fraternity members who live together in off-campus apartments to be part of chapter-affiliated housing.
Colton Blackman, president of Pi Kappa Phi, said chapter heads were told the crackdown was a direct response to the sexual abuse allegations in Townhouse Row, along with two other reported incidents near campus, so far this year. All four reported abuses involved alcohol.
He said he agreed with GW's focus on safety, but added that he would feel targeted as a member of the Greek community if that were the only student organization approached by UPD.
Colin O’Brien, president of Beta Theta Pi, called the additional patrolling “unprecedented” and said he felt that the Greek community was being singled out unfairly. He said chapters must create more sexual assault prevention programming to erase a stigma surrounding the Greek community and sexual abuse.
O’Brien said his chapter cancelled a handful of events last weekend to play it safe the weekend before rush begins. Five other chapters said they also kept a closer eye on their parties this weekend and alerted members of the additional patrolling.
One chapter head, who wished to remain anonymous, said his chapter sometimes holds parties that are not registered with the University’s Center for Alcohol and Drug Education, because they are not planned in advance. He said he is concerned that officers will shut down such parties and force their chapter into probation for breaking the University's policy of registering every party that serves alcohol with CADE.
Jared Benoff, president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, said he was “encouraged” that the University was taking steps to make campus safer, but said he hoped the alleged sexual assaults would not spur the University to stifle the Greek community.
Daniel Gil, president of the Interfraternity Council, and presidents from 10 fraternities – including Phi Kappa Psi, where two of the reported sexual assaults this semester took place – did not return request for comment.
Greek Life director Christina Witkowicki did not return requests for comment.
This article was updated Sept. 24, 2012 to reflect the following:
The Hatchet reported that Jared Benoff said he hoped the sexual assault allegations would not damage the Greek community. To clarify, Benoff said he hoped the allegations would not give the University cause to stifle the Greek community.
“Some Greek chapter presidents said they feel targeted in the aftermath of two sexual abuse reports at Townhouse Row – Greek housing – earlier this month.”
This is disgusting that some Greek presidents have that mentality. It is insulting and a slap to the face to the victims of sexual abuse on campus. I love Greek life I really do but on campus if the environment isn’t managed appropriately by the university it definitely can be a breeding ground for dangerous drinking practices, hazing, and sexual abuse. I for one am happy that the university is taking measures to prevent any further situations where sexual abuse could occur.
Didn’t the US defeat people with the same fascist mentality as UPD in World War II?
Don’t speak out against UPD!!! They are all knowing and all powerful, and above reproach.
(And don’t be surprised if UPD comes to your room investigating a “noise complaint”…)
Real funny, but if UPD came to where I live and tried to harass me, they would be subjected to a nice lawsuit since I live nowhere in their jurisdiction. Plus I’m over 21 and don’t abuse drugs or possess illegal ones.
While it is unfortunate that these incidents have occured, the entire Greek community is actually being targeted (according to this article) as evil. If they are going to resort to these measures, they should do so to all organizations, not just Greek Life. Sports teams, MCG, theater groups, and your “typical” student organization should be included.
The university fails to recognize how positive Greek Life as been for the institution – philanthropy, high GPAs, extra-curricular participation, networking, etc.
@’11 Alum. I think the big issue here is that Greek has houses. The only other type of organization on campus that has housing are the LLC’s which (not intending to insult anyone) tend to be more involved in their subject (academic, research, exploration, cooking, etc.) as opposed to being social which is what the Greek life chapters are. There’s a huge difference between throwing a dorm party for a few people and hosting a party at a house that aims to have the biggest and baddest parties.
They would be wasting time and resources by “targeting” other organizations since Greek life serves primarily, and almost solely, as a social organization and everyone can agree that most of their social functions include drinking– including underage drinking. If you don’t want to be targeted, don’t allow your members to break the law. It’s that simple. This isn’t unfair targeting or singling out, it’s responding to an issue by focusing on this ongoing issue.
the rule of thumb for police department staffing levels is that if they have time to worry about underage drinking, it’s time for layoffs
This is just going to make underage assault victims more afraid of going to UPD and telling their story.
Underage drinking is prevalent on all college campuses and when it gets out of hand, it usually leads to more serious issues. It’s no surprise that all the reported sexual abuse incidents involved alcohol. UPD is not the problem here; they will be chastised for doing too little or too much. The focus should be on resolving the issue. The Greek Chapter heads and UPD need to work together on this one.
Those poor fraternities, having to shut down events before rush so that their members won’t rape anyone, getting extra attention from UPD.
So unfair. Their male privilege must be so wounded.
This is BS. Greek life has been repeatedly cracked down at GW since I have been a student 4 years ago. There are now no longer parties where people are out on the street because they are too big. There needs to be a point when people see that we are in college and want to have fun. Pretty soon that will cease to exist at GW.