To the Editor:
When I left for class this morning, I thought it was just another overcast day. As I walked along Webster Ave. on my way to class, I noticed it wasn't. Sometime before I woke, the "We are Watching" group had chalked several provocative statements on campus sidewalks. Some of them were strange, some of them made good points and some of them were simply discriminatory. Here are some of them:
"Frats Rape." They don't. Individuals rape. And fraternities do not condone that behavior. There is a huge difference between refusing to condemn someone before they are proven guilty and refusing to condemn rape. Yet the actions are considered identical by the "We are Watching" group. Anyone who doesn't join the witch hunt becomes a perpetrator.
"Women are pissed." And they have every right to be. The fact that we have made so many advancements in gender relations and not been successful at eradicating sex crimes is ridiculous to say the least. I want to go on record as saying that men are pissed, too. We are tired of being treated like animals because a very small minority of people related to us only by gender can be so brutal.
"Sexism at Chi Scam?" There may well be. But look at the question. Certainly, Chi Scam is a popular nickname for Chi Gam, but the use of it is in itself discriminatory. The rhetoric of the "We are Watching" group serves to focus attention on them, but some of it is negative because of the hypocrisy they proclaim in such a public manner. It only hurts their cause.
"Rapists at Zete?" Maybe. At least the probability is the same as the existence of rapists in any building on campus that has an equivalent number of males in it. Is singling out a single fraternity house a fair way to go about spreading your message? No. It is also divisive. The entire campus should be working together to solve the problem of sexual assault. I am not proud to go home and hear Dartmouth being called "the date rape capital of the world" by my peers at other schools. Instead of singling out houses or organizations, we should be combating a problem that is campus wide with a unified front.
"Safe at AD?" Probably just as safe there as at any other social gathering. Rapists are predators. They look for prey. Calling for the elimination of the current social scene isn't going to solve the problem of predators. Alternative social scenes have the same chances for predator behavior occurring. Eliminating alcohol might help to a degree, but it is not going to solve the problem. You can't take away all the places a rape can occur. They are infinite. You have to use education to attack the root of the problem.
I am personally offended by a group of individuals that wishes to categorize me by my peers and my gender. I make every attempt to avoid doing that to other people and expect the same in return.
The hypocritical and divisive behavior needs to stop and the cooperative solutions need to start.
At least if anyone wants to get something done to remedy our problems.
