In any negative situation, blame exists. This blame is usually justified, but it is by no means uncommon for someone or something to be falsely accused and blamed.
Recently, Villanova fraternities received a penalty for recent behavior that had been building over the course of months prior. That penalty being: no freshman rush this spring. Fraternities have long held the reputation as being sources for binge drinking, poor decision-making, and a center for rowdiness. Solely due to their stereotypes, fraternities are put under a different lens than other organizations. If something bad happens to a student, the fraternities are punished. Essentially, if the school or the public needs a scapegoat…the fraternities are blamed.
This ban on freshman rush for this upcoming is moronic—a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that is deeply-rooted and incredibly misunderstood. All else aside, meaning even if a severe school-wide punishment was deserved, they are punishing the wrong people. The people that this has the greatest effect on are the freshmen guys who were going to rush.
This is like not allowing a Patriot’s fan to watch any NFL games the season after they were caught cheating; the freshmen quite literally have done nothing to possibly be responsible for whatever has happened to cause this punishment. Quite frankly, I would not be at all surprised if the transfer rate out of Villanova drastically increases as a result.
What makes matters worse is that I firmly believe that a severe prejudice against fraternities exist on Villanova’s campus. Every sports team, both club and collegiate, every club, organization, and every other group on this campus is involved in the same things that fraternities are. Why are they not scrutinized in the same way that fraternities are? Is the solution for our fraternities to simply run under another name? Should we rebrand ourselves as the men’s chess club?
Fraternities are misjudged, underappreciated, and undervalued. Even if every fraternity on this campus fit the stereotype given to all of Greek life, that does not eliminate the colossal amount of good that fraternities provide. We provide massive amounts of philanthropy and volunteerism that has come to define a Villanovan. We entertain students both in and out of Greek life through funny activities in the quad that also spread a positive, much-needed message.
In addition to philanthropy, fraternities benefit this campus by making better men. Regardless of which chapter you are a member of, being a member of a fraternity develops you as a leader. They develop you into a role model for the rest of this campus to look up to and try and model themselves after. Men of character, men of value, men of strength, courage, and ambition are created because of fraternities.
Yes, fraternities mess up sometimes. Some acts do deserve reprimanding, and punishments are in fact in order, butfraternities provide more good to this campus than anything else on this campus. If you eliminate us, you eliminate the Villanovan. You eliminate the very spirit that runs through this campus.
Extinguish us, and you extinguish the flame that has ignited change on this campus and throughout the world.