Updated Thursday, Jan. 22 at 12:08 p.m.
Following the University’s ban on alcohol service at residence hall parties announced Monday, many students have expressed support for the administration’s emphasis on ensuring student safety and preventing sexual assault. But others have reacted with frustration and skepticism at the rationale behind and consequences of the policy change.
Kathryn Graves ’15, president of Brown’s Panhellenic Council, said she believes the new policy will “absolutely” improve student safety. “Only time will tell … but this is definitely a step in the right direction,” she said.
But in more than a dozen interviews, several undergraduates said they are displeased with the administration’s focus on alcohol instead of what they perceive as the larger problem of sexual assault.
Maahika Srinivasan ’15, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, said she found the framing of the campus-wide email concerning, though she noted that she was expressing her personal view rather than that of UCS members. “Alcohol is not a root of sexual assault but a mechanism,” she said.
Emily Schell ’16, founder of Stand Up! — a student-run initiative aiming to foster dialougue about sexual assault on campus — said she is “glad the University is taking a proactive stance against environments in which alcohol can be served and sexual assaults can happen.”
But Schell cautioned that “alcohol is only one part of the problem” and “sexual assault can happen in any place where alcohol is served, not just in Greek program houses,” which were specifically mentioned in Monday’s campus-wide email about the policy change from Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, and Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy.
Insufficient bystander intervention and a culture of complacency are more significant than alcohol in facilitating sexual assaults, she said. “We have a culture here where people do not intervene in a situation where a sexual assault could potentially happen and, at times, allow perpetrators to continue their actions by not holding them accountable.”
Emma Phillips ’17 also stressed the importance of considering other factors besides alcohol in sexual assault prevention efforts. “We need to be really careful that we’re not conflating alcohol with sexual assault and understand that those are separate issues.”
“Sexual assault can happen independently of alcohol,” she said. “Rape culture does exist.”
Other students critiqued the new alcohol policy for its potential to encourage more students to drink off campus, where the University is not legally responsible for their actions.
Nicha Ratana-Apiromyakij ’15 said she thinks students will largely be able to avoid the ban by gravitating toward off-campus houses. “My well-being and my ability to spend time with my friends will not be impacted, and I think a lot of students will be able to say that,” she said.
David Correa Orozco ’15 said the summer social scene at Brown could indicate what the future of partying looks like during the academic year. “There are no frats during the summer, so what happens? People party at houses.” Students can easily communicate when and where parties are happening, even if off campus, he said. “If we’re going to party, we’re going to party.”
As a senior, Correa Orozco said the restrictions underclassmen and future students will now face are “harsh” given that parties on Wriston Quadrangle have long been “part of the Brown culture.”
Tauseef Khan ’15 said he supports University action to prevent sexual assault but suspects that public relations concerns fueled the recent measure. “It’s great that the University is doing something. I just think that what they’ve chosen to do is more a result of outside pressure.”
Whatever the University’s motivations, Caryn Cobb ’15 said, “In any way trying to make any sort of environment safer for people is great.”
Still, other students voiced unease about the policy’s long-term feasibility and efficacy.
“The policy seems like it should be preliminary and temporary,” said Will Serratelli ’16, co-president of French House. Beyond the campus-wide email, he said he has yet to receive any information from the University regarding changes French House must make to comply with the new policy. Serratelli said he believes French House will only have to cancel its one semesterly party.
It seems as though “prohibition” will fail in the long run, he said. Recalling his first training with the Office of Residential Life, he said he was told that Brown’s “self-governing policy”was in place to allow students to become responsible. “This policy goes against the Brown ethos.”
Students have also debated whether the punishments enacted against Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Chi are appropriate. The University stripped Phi Kappa Psi of recognition and the right to program housing for the next four years after finding the fraternity responsible for providing a drink with the date-rape drug GHB at an unregistered party it held in October. Sigma Chi was prohibited from recruiting new members and holding rush and initiation events following an unregistered October party in its basement where a student was allegedly touched in a “sexual nature,” according to the email.
Schell said the fraternities deserve a chance to “clean up their act” instead of being scolded and punished.
Permanently banning alcohol at residential parties will deter fraternities from having productive conversations about sexual assault, she said. “If this alcohol policy is going to stay and keep being a draconian type of punishment, it would be ineffective because you’re never going to allow fraternities to reclaim ownership and make an active change in their community.”
Kavia Khosla ’16 said fraternities are a staple of Brown’s culture, and their “disbanding” eliminates a social outlet.
Jameson Snead ’16 said a few individuals, rather than “frat culture,” are responsible for the incidents that occurred at Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Chi.
Greek Council wrote in a letter to the editor Monday evening that it “supports the University’s efforts to promote a safer environment on Brown’s campus.”
Leaders of all six fraternities and all three sororities either declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries.
- Additional reporting by Caroline Kelly and Kate Talerico
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