Fraternities and sororities are now allowed to table and fundraise in the University Centre (UC) Atrium and Residence Commons as long as they are not wearing their Greek letters, following an initial ban in September.
Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) president Fahd Alhattab said Greek organizations can continue their philanthropy work, but will not be able to wear their letters while doing so.
This means these organizations will not be able to distinguish themselves from other Carleton students using the space.
This decision followed Carleton’s ban on tabling for Greek organizations, on the grounds that they are exclusionary to non-members, according to Jen Sugar, director of student affairs.
“Carleton does not recognize fraternities and sororities,” she said via email. “Given that Carleton doesn’t recognize these groups, it would be counterintuitive to allow them to table and recruit.”
Eric Goncalves, vice-president of the Carleton chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), said he feels the school has unfairly targeted them.
“The end goal is to phase us out—that’s just my speculation,” he said. “It caught us definitely by surprise because we’ve worked very well with them in the past, we had almost a mutual understanding. We just want to have a dialogue.”
Goncalves said he understands Greek organizations can appear exclusive due to their recruitment process, but membership is open to anyone who applies.
“People get this idea stuck in their head that ‘oh, I’d never be able to join that organization,’ until they’ve tried it,” Goncalves said.
Goncalves said the stigma surrounding Greek organizations—especially fraternities— might be the real reason behind their exclusion from campus.
“People think we do all these crazy things, whether it be hazing or doing all these crazy tasks,” he said. “We would never want to inherit that tradition because it would damage the morale—it damages brotherhood and what we think the true essence of brotherhood is.”
He said he understands one of the most damaging stigmas surrounding fraternities is the issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment at parties.
He said this behaviour is unacceptable and that TKE makes sure to have proper oversights in place at gatherings. Goncalves added they take all reports of sexual assault seriously.
Graham Pedregosa, president of Carleton’s Acacia fraternity, said he agrees Greek organizations are being misrepresented.
“There’s a lot of skewed views on fraternity life, especially when you look at the [United States] side versus the Canadian fraternities, and I think when it comes to it you need to come see for yourself,” Pedregosa said.
Léa Roswell, a fourth-year psychology student at Carleton, said she doesn’t think the problem is the Greek organizations themselves, but rather the culture that exists within them that encourages negative behaviour.
Roswell said in first year, she attended a fraternity party with a group of seven female friends. She said they believe they were given spiked drinks at the party.
“We all remember these frat guys walking around with these bottles with [spouts] attached to them and they would go up to the girls, like they would just walk around the house and they’d yell ‘shot!’ and they’d pour this bottle over you in a way that you had to drink from this bottle, or else it would just get all over you,” Roswell said.
“Very soon afterwards, a good amount of the girls I was with . . . were absolutely messed up,” Roswell said. “Like some of them I have never seen that drunk since then.”
But Roswell said she doesn’t think the university should force Greek organizations to disband, as they are very involved on campus.
“They definitely do have a role . . . just because of how involved they are told to be on campus by the actual sorority or fraternity executives,” she said.
At the same time, Roswell said she thinks there needs to be more oversight given to Greek organizations.
“I think there needs to be a lot more oversight if the fraternities and sororities are to continue, and right now, because I don’t think that’s the case at all, I think they’re left to do whatever they want and the school doesn’t interfere,” Roswell said.
Anne Bowker, a Carleton psychology professor, said via email that any group that helps a new student develop a sense of connection to the university and to campus is a good thing, particularly in first year.
“We know that campus connections and developing a sense of ‘belonging’ are critical to a smooth university transition,” she said.
“I have to admit that I had significant reservations when my son announced that he was joining a fraternity.” Bowker said. “I would have to say, however, that my son’s experience has been a very positive one, with opportunities for leadership and community building, so my opinion has changed from my initial one.”
But Bowker said she does agree Greek organizations are not without their problems.
“I think alcohol is certainly an issue for many university students and universities are particularly sensitive to that, and don’t want to look like they’re condoning excessive drinking,” she said.
Although Bowker said she is not aware of any incidences of sexual assault involving fraternities and drinking at fraternities in Canada, she said she can understand why a university would want to distance themselves from Greek organizations.
“I’m sure that these incidents . . . make universities very reluctant to appear to be endorsing membership in a fraternity,” she said.
Alhattab said the issue of Greek societies not being allowed to table now goes beyond Greek organizations, citing that the university may be controlling CUSA spaces.
“CUSA is taking issue with it because in a sense this is [a] CUSA space and the university is trying to dictate what CUSA can do with the space, so that’s where our issue is now,” he said. “It’s beyond the Greeks and it’s kind of a more holistic issue, because at what point does the university decide to ban certain groups from our space?”
— With files from Lea Batara & Anna Sophia Vollmerhausen
