Discussion of house usage raises questions about sexism in Greek Life
“I feel frustrated because sororities are held to the same standards as fraternities, especially in terms of disciplinary measures. We aren’t given the same privileges, benefits, and attention as them, though,” said Claire Minter ’22, president of Kappa Alpha Theta.
Many members of Wofford Panhellenic were upset and confused after fraternities seemed to receive permission to use their houses in the Greek Village and sororities did not. They felt that this was unfair, due to the more social nature of fraternities, while sororities are very service-oriented.
“Organizations have the ability to give their members access to the house and that is true for both fraternities and sororities.” said Matthew Hammett, assistant dean of students for student involvement.“Some sororities have given their full membership access and others have not requested to do so. That is consistent with the fraternities. Not all fraternities have requested full access.”As the rules stand now, both sororities and fraternities must request access to their houses before hosting events or allowing people inside.
“The fraternities have completed paperwork to host social events at their houses the last two weeks,” said Hammett. “The Working Group decided that for the first couple of weeks of Level 2 that social events would be member’s only to keep the numbers moderately low for Covid-19 purposes.”
However, some members of Panhellenic feel as though the administration was not very clear while conveying information about the rules to them, but were clear with the fraternities.
“Administration gave fraternities express permission to throw Covid-unsafe parties in their houses while the girls in my sorority can’t even use our house for Zoom class, teledoc, and teletherapy appointments,” said Minter.
“Apparently all this boiled down to a communication issue, but I still haven’t gotten my members access to our house days after I’ve submitted requests for it,” continued Minter.
Another issue arose shortly after the rules were adjusted for Level 2 operation when some men in Kappa Sigma responded to the rule change by hanging a banner on their house that read “No Chicks Allowed — #SausageFest.” Some Panhellenic women are considering filing a Title IX claim in response to this act.
These issues culminate from a history of sexist incidents within Greek Life that may or may not have previously been acted on. On Girls’ Bid Day in 2020, a Kappa Sigma member allegedly held up a whiteboard rating each girl’s appearance with a number value as she went onstage, for example.
A meeting between Hammett and the president of each sorority, however, helped clarify some rules concerning the houses.
“In our meeting with Dean Hammett, he clarified that all Greek Village houses are allowed access of 15 people inside the house and 25 people outside of the house,” said Bri Basinger ’22, president of Tri Delta. “There is a National Panhellenic Council rule that does not allow for sororities to have alcohol on their premise,” said Hammett. “However, in my meeting with sorority presidents, I reminded them that they have the ability to complete the social event request form and host events over the weekend as well, just not with alcohol due to national policies.”
Hammet meets with Panhellenic and IFC leaders on a weekly basis to give reports and take questions. In addition to meeting with the delegates each Tuesday, he meets with the executive councils to help support the planning process of our strategic goals.
Despite this, there are still some discrepancies between IFC and Panhellenic permissions that involve when houses are and aren’t allowed to be open.
“The fraternities are allowed to be open on the weekend, or ‘the row,’ and the sororities are not, due to rules set in place by nationals,” said Basinger. “In our meeting with Dean Hammett we discussed the importance of resources and support for Greek Life that both sororities and fraternities feel a lack of.”
“I do think we can tighten up our communication to make sure the presidents are getting what they need from my office to successfully lead their organizations,” said Hammett.
Though the issue of house usage may boil down to a communication issue, the issue of sexism in Greek Life is still one many members have expressed concern over. Even with the house rules clarified, the response to the issue delivered by some fraternity members is considered by some to be grossly inappropriate.
