On weekend nights, the presence of fraternities washes over UNC’s campus like midnight waves, and with the moon’s ominous pull, their existence reaches a high tide for the week. Their dark waters are ubiquitous in the form of lurid music, conspicuous solo cups and olfactory whiplash.
Unfortunately the sinister side-effects of high tide on campus are hidden underwater. The water is murky and opaque, obfuscated by a University that cannot be held accountable in protecting its constituents.
Weekend nights played on replay, studded with horrifying cases of sexual assault and violence, turn attention to the source of the tide — frats: fraternities that will look over their shoulder and defensively point to the moon.
We, the Chapel Hill community, need fraternities to hold themselves accountable to a higher standard, and this can start with something entirely in their control — the pledge process, a process that also has a sinister past. As frats kickstart their rituals and initiation sequences, we urge them to turn away from traditional methods of induction that may include binge drinking, physical violence and traumatic hazing.
The case for a miserable pledging process is embedded in the power of commiseration; a powerful sharing of raw pain often results in a durable tie between individuals. We can understand that.
Picking up trash, however, along Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd at 5 a.m. is also miserable — and it helps the community. A frat engaging in meaningful work to better the community while successfully tormenting pledges into liking each other? Sounds like a win-win. This is just one suggestion to dismantle the toxicity of pledging.
UNC has been a hub of innovation for many years, and creativity and innovation need to be channeled into the institutional framework of fraternities so that the good parts can get better and the bad parts can be cast away. While an outside perspective on pledging may be helpful, we urge the actors of fraternities, who collectively constitute its existence, to demand change from within the institution.
Greek life on campus needs a big overhaul, and we hope it starts now, with fraternities commanding a new community presence on crisp, clear mornings as they patrol and clean the more trash-ridden streets of Chapel Hill.
