The Issue with Alcohol and Fraternity Parties
Before I began my first year at UNC-Chapel Hill, I understood that fraternities play a large and important part in college life. Its where countless students find community, support, and brotherhood; many people that I know and love have been a part of a fraternity at one point. However, one cannot discuss fraternities without bringing up their infamous legacy. Famous comedies like National Lampoon’s Animal House and countless teen movies project fraternities as wild alcohol-fueled party houses with insane initiation rituals. While I myself cannot confirm the initiations, as they are kept secret with the upmost seriousness, I was surprised to find that, in many cases, these movies hardly exaggerate fraternity parties.
I want to make it clear that parties aren’t malicious by themselves. They are a great way to meet people, have fun with friends, and catch a break from midterm stress. However, some of these parties carry more weight than just lively fun. The most prominent stigma that fraternities carry is that their parties enable destructive behaviors such as alcoholism, sexual assault, and accidental death or bodily injury by alcohol. Cases of death or severe injury by alcohol overdose and sexual assault are unfortunately not uncommon at fraternity parties. Considering the consistent issue across universities, one cannot deny that the current environment of fraternity parties enables injury and even assault of partygoers. Ultimately, the lack of safety and supervision within fraternity houses are direct causes of the abundance of alcohol-related harms, deaths, and assaults.
Fraternity parties consist of all of the perfect combinations for sexual assault- dim lights, excessive alcohol, loud music, and access to private rooms. Caitlin Flanagan of The Atlantic found that national fraternities buy extensive insurance policies of at least 1 million dollars to cover injuries that take place at chapter houses. Physical assault and battery are the most common insurance claims filed against fraternities, followed closely by sexual assault (Flanagan, 2019).
On average, nearly 100,000 college students per year in the US are sexually assaulted by someone under the influence of alcohol (McCready, 2018). Wesley Episcopo, a member of a fraternity at San Diego State University, found himself to be concerned about how assault is enabled at his fraternity’s parties: “Loud noise, dark, lots of people, plenty of alcohol. You know, whenever someone talks about a rape situation, they involve those four general topics. If you say those four things, it kinda sounds like a fraternity party.” Episcopo went on to say that while he is confident that fraternities have the best of intentions with hosting these parties, they could do more to ensure the safety of attendees (Carone, 2014).
Loud noise, crowds, and alcohol do not only create an environment enabling sexual assault, but also severe bodily harm. Per year, nearly two thousand US college students die of alcohol poisoning- an entirely preventable number (McCready, 2018). The encouragement of an “all-you-can-drink” presence of alcohol puts the lives and safety of all attendees in danger. In particular, the famed mystery punch that is present at nearly all fraternity parties creates a massive threat to the safety of individuals. Labeled as Jungle Juice, Tub Juice, or Trash Can Juice, drinking from these punches is free to attendees and easily accessible. The alcoholic content of the concoction is often unknown, leading many party-goers to accidentally over-drink.
UNC-Chapel Hill is not immune to the danger of accidental over-drinking via fraternity punch. A great inspiration for writing this article was when a friend of mine was hospitalized due to alcohol poisoning via the mystery punch at a Chapel Hill fraternity party. They were unaware of how much alcohol was in the punch, as its contents were not displayed. When the alcohol by volume (ABV) percentage of the punch is not even public knowledge, partygoers do not know how many drinks is one too many.
Upon experiencing the aftermath of my friend’s hospitalization, I became concerned about how partygoers are unable to put their safety into their own hands. I stumbled upon a survey conducted in 2019 by the Association of American Universities (AAU) that surveyed nearly six thousand current students at UNC-Chapel Hill. The study showed an alarming percentage of sexual assault on campus, with the most concerning statistic showing that one third of surveyed undergraduate and graduate students identifying as women have experienced at least one physically sexual assault since arriving at UNC. According to the survey, 57% of sexual assault victims at UNC stated that their attacker was under the influence of alcohol, and more than 63% of victims said that they themselves were under the influence of alcohol (UNC Tables). These statistics exceedingly imply that alcoholic intoxication is a moderating variable in assault cases. Additionally, the results of the survey showed that UNC students are more likely to be assaulted on a fraternity property than any other location- both on and off-campus.
In many ways, the campus has actively done many things to educate its students of sexual assault and alcohol dangers, such as requiring that all first-year and transfer students take modules on these two subjects since 2016. However, the Association of American Universities studies of previous years show that the sexual assault rates at UNC have gone up since 2015, which implies that the required sexual assault module has not been effective at its goal of reducing sexual crimes.
Many different routes can be taken to actively decrease the rates of death, injury, and sexual assault facilitated by alcohol, but only a few realistic ones. As can be seen, requiring all students to take a module on how to not sexually assault someone has not proved to be effective at UNC. The most controversial and unrealistic option to decrease the chances of sexual assault and death by alcohol is to ban fraternity parties. Greek life is a large part of UNC-Chapel Hill, and the amount of backlash from fans of fraternity parties must be considered. Many think fraternity parties to be an integral part of the college experience, and it would most likely be impossible for UNC to successfully implement a ban on fraternity parties.
Secondly, UNC could ban alcohol from being served at parties. However, this too would most likely be a failed mission. Currently, UNC enforces temporary alcohol probation on fraternities that misuse alcohol or have a dangerous incident occur on their property due to alcohol. Even then, with temporary bans on alcohol, fraternity members continuously break the rules and possess alcohol anyways. In an anonymous interview, at UNC fraternity member told me that his organization was put on alcohol probation for an injury that occurred at a party. However, he told me that he and other members smuggled alcohol into the house by hiding it with the cleaning supplies under the sink, and they would bring it out strictly for their parties. Without strict and continuous supervision, jumping even further and altogether banning alcohol from fraternities will not allow real progress to be made in the frat community.
To create a safer environment for those who choose to attend fraternity parties, something realistic must be put in place. After looking at possible solutions and examining their hypothetical success, I propose a solution that will work in the best interest of all who are involved- attendees, fraternity members, and the safety of fraternity parties as a whole. To lessen the amount of sexual assault through intoxication and to decrease the chance of accidental overdose, fraternities should label the alcohol by volume (ABV) of all alcohol served at parties- especially the punch. If the ABV of all alcohol at the party is labeled, people will be more in control of how much alcohol they drink, and will have the ability to know when to stop drinking.
As of now, most fraternities do not label the ABV of their drinks, which has led to multiple accidental deaths and injuries by alcohol poisoning. The lack of labeling also enables sexual assault, as when people do not know the alcohol by volume content, they often accidentally over-drink. The AAU survey found that more than 60% of sexual assault victims reported that they were intoxicated at the time of the incident. As can be seen in the survey’s results, being intoxicated has a positive correlation with being assaulted. Likely, predators target victims at the parties who have accidentally over-drank. If people at a fraternity party are aware of how much they are drinking, they have a better control of their own consciousness. Labeling the ABV at fraternity parties has the potential to significantly increase the safety of all who are in attendance.
While it is just an informed hypothesis, labeling the ABV of alcoholic drinks has the potential to make fraternity parties safer. It will not solve the issue of sexual assault and death by alcohol poisoning as a whole, as those are an entirely different beast to conquer. However, considering that nearly a quarter of UNC sexual assaults occur on fraternity house properties, it would undoubtedly be a step towards progress.
References
Capone, C., Wood, M. D., Borsari, B., & Laird, R. D. (2007). Fraternity and sorority involvement, social influences, and alcohol use among college students: A prospective examination. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21(3), 316–327. DOI:10.1037/0893–164X.21.3.316
Carone, A. (2014, October 21). Fraternity Culture Linked To College Sexual Assault Problem. Retrieved from https://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/oct/21/fraternities-and-campus-sexual-assault-problem/.
Flanagan, S. by C. (2019, September 9). The Dark Power of Fraternities. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/03/the-dark-power-of-fraternities/357580/.
McCready, A. M. (2018;2019). Relationships between collective fraternity chapter masculine norm climates and the alcohol consumption of fraternity men. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 20(4), 478–490. DOI:10.1037/men0000180
UNC Tables. (2019, October 15). Retrieved from https://safe.unc.edu/files/2019/10/University-of-North-Carolina-at-Chapel-Hill_Tables.pdf
