By Sarah Faidell
Residential fraternities at Wesleyan University must now accept women. In an email to the student body at Wesleyan, the president of the university, Michael Roth, and the chair of the board of trustees, Joshua Boger said:
With equity and inclusion in mind, we have decided that residential fraternities must become fully co-educational over the next three years. If the organizations are to continue to be recognized as offering housing and social spaces for Wesleyan students, women as well as men must be full members and well-represented in the body and leadership of the organization.
Fraternities at Wesleyan are no strangers to controversy, and have had several problems throughout the years that centered around sexual assault and binge drinking.
And although officials at Wesleyan said the decision to make residential fraternities co-ed has nothing to do with a specific problem, some people wonder if this will fix any problems at all.
“I wonder if introducing women into a community where there’s concern as members is the right answer. I think the answer is better education,” said Courtney McKenna, the Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Quinnipiac University.
The decision could also have lasting implications for the fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon, or DKE.
“If the mandate of full membership of the fraternity holds, DKE will no longer be DKE because they will lose their affiliation,” said Scott Karsten, the spokesperson for the chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon at Wesleyan.
The president of the North-American Interfraternity Council, Pete Smithhisler, also expressed concern with Wesleyan’s decision, stating in an email that forcing a fraternity to accept women as members inhibits its freedoms.
And although officials at Quinnipiac University would choose to go the route of education if placed in a position similar to Wesleyan, it seems this three-year plan is here to stay.
Which causes problems for Delta Kappa Epsilon: “We are certainly consulting with lawyers and seeing what recourse we might have and you know we are hoping it doesn’t come to that but if we are fighting for our survival like we think we are, all of the options are on the table.”
