Petition: Ban Greek Organizations from UCSC

Greek life is irrevocably steeped in misogyny and rape culture. Just days ago, the Tau Kappa Alpha fraternity at the Univesity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was suspended for a coordinated date-rape incident in which they added Rohypnol (commonly known as "roofies") to several female students' drinks. The fraternity members had been offering free drink tickets specifically to female students who they considered "hot." Far from being an isolated incident, this is an example of the typical environment at Fraternities in the US. Since their inception, fraternities have been a breeding-ground for toxic, extreme masculinity that encourages young men to value themselves by their number of sexual partners. Drunk sex is seen as normal, and parties are viewed as an opportunity to "hookup" when women's inhibitions and critical thinking are reduced. In 2013, the UCSC Police Department reported on numerous drugging incidents happening at UCSC fraternity houses - but unfortunately nothing could be done about these incidents because evidence was too scarce. Fraternity members will advocate for treating sexual assaults committed by their "brothers" on a case-by-case basis, while ignoring the environment that results in a disproportionately large number of assaults committed by Fraternity members. But this strategy does not work - the solution is to prevent rape rather than reacting after it has already occurred. Therefore, we propose that the following rules be instituted to distance UCSC from Greek Life:

1) No organization referring to itself as a "fraternity" or a "sorority" shall be given privileges to display signs or erect tables in Quarry Plaza for the purpose of recruitment.

2) No such organization shall use the trademarked names "UCSC," "University of California, Santa Cruz", or "UC Santa Cruz" on any material it releases. Such organizations shall not imply any connection to or approval from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

3) No special privileges shall be granted to such organizations to organize activities or events on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus.

4) The University of California, Santa Cruz shall issue email warnings to all students about the dangers of joining or participating in activities sponsored by such unauthorized and unrecognized organizations.

The students of the University of California, Santa Cruz thank Chancellor George Blumenthal for improving student safety at this institution by heeding this request.

https://www.change.org/p/george-blumenthal-ban-greek-organizations-from-ucsc