This letter is published on behalf of the 2012–2013 Executive Board of the Mu Epsilon Chapter of Beta Theta Pi:
To the Wesleyan Community:
The members of Beta Theta Pi share the campus’ outrage at the allegation of physical assault and attempted sexual assault at our chapter house early Sunday morning. We are cooperating with the University and the Middletown Police Department as they seek to identify the alleged attacker, and will continue to help the authorities in every way if and when he is found and arrested. Events such as this compromise the sense of safety and security that we as members of a campus community deserve, and we have zero tolerance for such actions. Unfortunately, sexual assault at Wesleyan remains a problem, and we share the belief that sexual assault, like any kind of assault, is always problematic and utterly unacceptable. That our house became the location of this unfortunate and intolerable crime is a powerful reminder to the entire Wesleyan community that we collectively need to do a better job at raising awareness and prevention of these types of events. Beta Theta Pi plans to strengthen our partnership with Wesleyan’s Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and we will continue to plan programs for our members such as last semester’s WESpeak-WEStand Bystander Intervention program, which aimed to create a campus culture that is actively engaged in the prevention of sexual assault. We all need to do our part in creating the safer community we deserve, and the incident early Sunday Morning makes it self-evident that we need to do better. Our thoughts, prayers, and solidarity are with the survivor.
We encourage anyone with any information about the incident to call Public Safety at 860-685-2345 or the Middletown Police at 860-344-3200.
—The 2012-2013 Executive Board of the Mu Epsilon Chapter of Beta Theta Pi
Also fuck Roth. what actions is he taking besides the emails he knows he has to send out? Yes, it is not just on him, but he is the face and representative of this school and we need to hold him accountable!
Fuck this. Too many rapes/attempted rapes. When does Beta get shut down??
“That our house became the location of this unfortunate and intolerable crime is a powerful reminder to the entire Wesleyan community that we collectively need to do a better job at raising awareness and prevention of these types of events.” Nah, [REMOVED], your HOUSE needs to do “a better job” at doing that! The rest of us are doing fine at making sure girls don’t get beat up.
I dont think Beta is owning up to the environment that their space creates. They need to understand that their space fosters the CULTURE. No one is saying that all Beta Bro’s are all rapists but what Beta needs to acknowledge is that their space is fostering terrible incidents like this, and instead of releasing the blame from themselves and saying that “the campus” needs to take action they should also be conscious that this keeps happening mostly in THEIR space and work on this. Yes we do all need to unite and work against rape, but Beta own up to your shit, its ridiculous. You really need to go through a serious and deep critical examination of your org. It is your responsibility and I am honestly done with your shit. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
I feel like a responsible response from Beta might also include a conversation about how to make parties at Beta safer. Maybe the Beta brothers could consider improved lighting at parties, assigning some members of the house to remain sober and on alert during parties, limiting more carefully the number of guests admitted, and ending parties early if they appear to be getting out of control.
I think that this statement hardly concludes their conversation about this issue, as they quite clearly indicate by saying that they plan to do more programs with CAPS and SART.
Can you imagine the conversations that actually went on when they heard about assault?
I agree that it’s a good gesture. However, that gesture will not make up for the trauma that the victim had to endure or that others on campus have to face. Unless these words are supported by actions, they are just a press statement to save face.
I’m also a little annoyed by the fact that the language pretty much feels like it has been copied and pasted from the Wesleying post yesterday.
There’s only so many ways one can meaningfully say that sexual assault is utterly unacceptable. Who cares if their language is similar to sentiments that have been articulated before? What matters is that the language concurs with the sentiment that what happened is not okay. In my opinion that’s a good thing. They didn’t just say they’re cooperating, they said that we all need to do a better job at maintaining a safe community–themselves especially included. It’s a better gesture than I at least expected. Perhaps its just words, but if you thought Beta’s response would be ground breaking and revolutionary you’re probably delusional.
Where did they ever say that they expect this gesture to make up for the trauma she suffered? I hope you’ll realize that these individuals were, as we know it now, uninvolved in this attack, and are simply acting as concerned, sympathetic Wesleyan students even more troubled that the attack took place in their house. As a senior, if someone were sexually assaulted in my house, would I be expected to make the situation right? Can anyone even make the situation right? No. But they are promising to work with SART and demonstrated by their previous actions with the bystander intervention program, I believe they will make good on that promise. The burden is on all of us, as members of the Wesleyan community, to make our campus safe from assault. So I might suggest that you get off your high horse and dig in to start helping our community recover and improve.
I think this is a really good gesture. I just hope they can back it up.
@twitter-189028749:disqus it’s probably “alleged attacker” because 1) that’s legal terminology and 2) until you find out who the actual attacker was, it it is “alleged.” I find it difficult to read this message and think the brothers of beta theta pi don’t believe the incident happened, or that they are not concerned. I think they come across as sympathetic human beings emotionally disturbed by an attack on someone in their house. Maybe it’s just rhetoric, but its good and appropriate rhetoric and I think our community needs it.
The Mu Chapter of Beta Theta Pi must align itself with the other Beta chapters in the country enacting a dry (alcohol-free) house on a voluntary basis. This is not a punishment but an education to all those who live and go to the house to enjoy themselves. Incidents such as these do not come without consequences and the best administrator/group to enforce any actions would be the Mu chapter itself. Other Beta chapters have seen success in being a dry house and be it a period of a year or more, it is an important display of respect to the University and sexual assault awareness advocates to enact a dry house policy.
Either go forward as a dry house or allow the University to punish the Mu chapter with as much malice as necessary so that incidents like this no longer occur at Beta.
While we’re at it then, can we call for dry policies in all program houses? But why stop there when a large portion of our community ends their most drunken evenings on Fountain Avenue? Drinking is not the root problem here. Sexual assault does not simply occur at Beta or exclusively at frat houses. Drinking does not cause individuals to sexually assault their classmates; that’s our American rape culture.
Drinking and substance abuse actually have a lot to do with it.
According to scholar Mark Kleiman, “Half the people in prison were drinking when they did whatever they did. … There are connections between alcohol and wife-beating and numerous other social ills, including health issues of course.” Alcohol abuse is more serious than we often give it credit for.
now does you’re cherished scholar critically distinguish between causation and correlation? And do you blindly accept everything you read?
Alleged attacker? Why is the burden of proof on the survivor?
It’s called innocent before proven guilty, a cornerstone of our judicial system.
Agreed, we know that she was attacked (there were injuries). The attack is not an alleged attack. If someone is accused, then THEY are the alleged attacker. When we’re just describing the attack without an accused person involved as of yet, I think he can just be the attacker. (and that’s how innocent until proven guilty works, it’s not “lying until proven attacked”)
Before this gets totally hated on, I do think it’s fair to call this a good gesture. Nothing more than rhetoric, but it’s better than silence.
It may be a good gesture. But it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. While sexual assault does happen everywhere on campus, it is worth thinking about the kind of spaces that fraternities foster. I hate the fact that Wesleyan has fraternities and societies to begin with, but exclusive male-only societies like Beta seem to be very indicative of the fucked-up rape culture that Wesleyan has. So yes, it’s nice that Beta sent this message out. But unless the kind of place that Beta is changes, this message is meaningless.
Sexual assault can happen anywhere. I encourage you to be less closed minded and more willing to break down stereotypes. It’s mindsets like yours that thwart our community’s efforts to effectively enact sexual assault prevention.
I know it can happen anywhere. I said “While sexual assault does happen everywhere on campus, it is worth thinking about the kind of spaces that fraternities foster. ” Rape happens in Westco and it happens in Beta and it happens in senior houses. I am willing to break down stereotypes. I am not saying that Beta brothers are more likely to rape than other students. BUT Beta is an institution and one that seems to foster a climate of gross assault. I think having all-male exclusive clubs on campus is fucked-up. I do think it can contribute to sexual assault.
Because one person’s actions should stand for an entire group? Honestly, fuck you.