The Dark Power of Fraternities(theatlantic.com) |
The Dark Power of Fraternities(theatlantic.com) |
> Gentle reader, if you happen to have a son currently in
> a college fraternity, I would ask that you take several
> carbon dioxide–rich deep breaths from a paper bag before
> reading the next paragraph. I’ll assume you are sitting
> down. Ready?
> “I’ve recovered millions and millions of dollars from
> homeowners’ policies,” a top fraternal plaintiff’s
> attorney told me.Now I'm the party pooper every time. I've almost gotten into fights trying to stop people from climbing trees. It's always worth it.
Warning: this is quite a shocking read about what was going on in frat houses at UVA, and the administrations utter failure to handle it.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/12/sabri...
I don't think it invalidates the whole piece though, and the UVA administration's behaviour closely resembles those of other universities that have recently become public, so it still seems credible.
http://reason.com/archives/2014/11/25/uva-rapists-should-not...
Systems (like human institutions) have organizing principles, which are at least a level above the members which comprise them. Two different institutions can have the exact same people in them, but show vastly different outcomes.
The fraternity house is generally scapegoated in the article as the locust of bad deeds because they tend indeed to be a locust for collegiate social interaction. Some bad things really do happen in fraternities.
I'll say though, the ~"60 people died in incidents related to fraternities over 10 years" stat is almost laughable if the author wasn't apparently serious. From a risk management perspective, focusing on 6 people a year out of 10's of millions that interact within a fraternity environment doesn't seem like the right prioritization.
Sexual assault happens more frequently and concern there is well-placed. But I do wonder if its incident rate wouldn't simply transfer to the general school population should, for example, fraternities be close on a campus.
It just seems to make sense to me that, if folks are going to come together and socialize with inhibition-inhibiting substances, some people with bad intentions are going to act on them, whether at a fraternity house party or a non-fraternity house party.
> What I'm missing is how this article is HN-relevant
I agree that the journalist behind the Rolling stones article should have heard the alleged rapists. It's bad journalism not to, but I seriously don't think the story would benefit from hearing them unless someone actually would admit guilt.
What really struck me as weird in the Reason article is how the colleges are involved in rape cases. I suppose it's PR but how on Earth are they able to expel rape:y students on their own without going through the justice system.
I'm not sure why that points to gaping holes in the UVA case. While some of the criticism is valid, frankly I find the overly sensationalist deconstruction of the original article for the sake of attention and page impressions rather distasteful.