On Tuesday, three female students at Yale University filed a lawsuit against the university and nine fraternities to force the fraternities to accept women as members.
Two juniors, Ry Walker and Anna McNeil, and Eliana Singer, a sophomore, claim that sororities simply don’t have as much power and influence as fraternities.
The lawsuit states:
When Ms. McNeil, Ms. Singer, and Ms. Walker arrived on campus as first-year students, they encountered a thriving all-male fraternity scene. Yale had a drastic shortage of University-run social spaces, and the fraternities were the de facto social environment students. Male students routinely controlled the admission, alcohol, lighting, and music for many Yale social gatherings. This dynamic created dangerous environments in which sexual misconduct thrived.
The lawsuit claims the three women were “groped at fraternity parties during their first semesters at Yale.” It continues, “Many Yale students now accept and assume that female undergraduates risk sexual harassment and assault by attending fraternity events. Fraternity brothers and other male attendees regularly deny female students admission to parties based on their appearance, verbally harass them, grind up against them, grab them, and grope them. Moreover, throughout Plaintiffs’ time at Yale, numerous reports have emerged of rape and sexual assault committed by Yale fraternity brothers.”
Then the lawsuit broadens its attack to include fraternities in general, stating, “Yale is a microcosm of the ongoing epidemic of sexual harassment and assault at all-male fraternities … Studies have found that fraternity brothers commit sexual assault at three times the rate of other male college students. Brothers are also reportedly more likely to use alcohol to obtain sex, more likely to be involved in gang rapes, more likely to endorse traditional gender roles, and more likely to espouse rape myths.”
The lawsuit attacks Yale for fostering an environment in which the university ceded social events “to the Fraternities while refusing to regulate them or enforce appropriate safety standards. Yale now allows the Fraternities to use Yale resources (and recruit Yale students) while largely turning a blind eye to the sexual harassment and assault occurring in connection with the Fraternities.”
Then the lawsuit addresses alleged gender disparities: “Delta Kappa Epsilon. Women and non-binary students at Yale are excluded from these social and economic privileges of fraternity membership solely because of their gender. The presence of Yale’s sororities does not alleviate this disparity. ‘Separate but equal’ Greek life reinforces gender norms, stereotypes, and prejudices. Sex segregation can hinder cross-gender relationships, facilitate the objectification of people of other genders, and normalize sexual assault. Greek life, with its binary assumptions, also largely excludes non-binary students.”
The lawsuit complains about the fact that fraternities predate sororities by over one hundred years, thus having greater resources: “Moreover, Yale fraternities and sororities are not, in fact, equal in economic, associational, and social resources. The sororities are over one hundred years younger than Yale’s oldest fraternities, offer fewer total housing units, and upon information and belief, have a smaller and less influential Yale alumni network.”
In fall 2016, McNeil and Walker helped create a student organization called “Engender,” which maintained that Yale’s fraternities must be integrated by gender.
The New York Times reported that Joan Gilbride, a lawyer for the fraternities, called the accusations “baseless and unfounded,” adding that the fraternities would stoutly defend themselves from the charges.