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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Staff Editorial: Moral accountability

Members of GWPride were confronted with an unpleasant anti-gay epithet Friday night as they walked past the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house, where a student on the house’s front porch proclaimed, “I hate fags.” According to police reports, the student felt no shame and pointed himself out to the GWPride members to let them know whoused the slur. While Delta Tau Delta members should do more to discourage such discriminatory remarks that carry real pain from being uttered on their property, the fraternity should not be punished for actions of an individual whose relationship to the fraternity remains unclear.

Hate speech is a universally recognized problem, and one that only goes away when people are intolerant of comments like the one made Friday. It is not good enough to discount comments because they were not meant to hurt. All students should work to maintain GW’s high level of diversity, as people from all different races, nationalities, cultures, social backgrounds and sexual orientations descend upon our campus. Delta Tau Delta should make it clear that it is on campus to help this cause.

The same night, UPD confronted students sitting outside the Delta Tau Delta house who officers claimed were drinking – a violation of D.C. law, according to UPD. One student was reported for underage drinking. Student Judicial Services may lump the two cases together to decide the fate of a fraternity that was recently placed on social probation for its “Rock the Vote” party in February. This would be a poor move for the University, which needs to differentiate between a minor alcohol offense and a case of discriminatory student comments.

The Code of Student Conduct prohibits “acting in a manner to annoy, disturb, interfere with, obstruct, or be offensive to others,” and committing these acts “because of a person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation.” Clearly, students who break this code should be held accountable for hurting the campus culture of acceptance.

Delta Tau Delta members now have the unfortunate stigma of being associated with someone who is compelled to make hateful, anti-gay comments. While the fraternity should not be held legally responsible, members should address the issue and condemn those hateful comments.

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