Changes need to be made in fraternities

The fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) has made headlines because of its recent video showing members singing a racist chant at an SAE chapter at the University of Oklahoma. The fraternity has been suspended from campus and two members have been expelled.

While it is still yet to be determined if expelling the members was in violation of their first amendment rights, there are other issues from this incident that need to be addressed.

According to an article from USA Today, SAE chapters across the nation have accumulated a total of 131 incidents requiring disciplinary action since 2010. Nationally, SAE has seen 10 deaths since 2006 related to hazing, alcohol or drugs.

These numbers should alarm people.

I understand many student organizations on campuses do stupid things and make poor decisions. But when those mistakes cost people their lives, something is seriously wrong with the organization’s system.

I also realize not all fraternities have incidents like these, and many are very respectable and do a lot for the community, but how many times do we read about scandals amongst fraternities across the nation? If SAE has that many deaths and incidents alone, it makes me wonder what incident numbers other fraternities are racking up.

How many more times do we need to read about problems within Greek life before action is taken to make a change?

Some may say that the media only focuses on the bad things that happen within fraternities instead of the good deeds, but I’m not sure how much those good deeds take precedence when students are caught on video reciting a racist chant or turned in for creating private Facebook pages of passed out nude women like Kappa Delta Rho at Penn State.

The solution seems somewhat simple, but I think there needs to be adult supervisors in all fraternities. Maybe some fraternities already have “house mothers,” but SAE at the University of Oklahoma did too, and a video of their “house mother” reciting racial slurs also surfaced.

Along with requiring adult supervisors at all fraternities, maybe the supervisors or “house mothers” need to go through a more intense screening process to ensure they are qualified and willing to prevent hazing and other lewd behavior.

Yes, we are in college, we are adults, and we are able to live our lives how we please, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need any more guidance from others. Our brains won’t be fully developed until we are 25 so I don’t think it is unreasonable to have supervisors overseeing fraternities.

If requiring supervisors in all fraternities would stop students from being harmed or killed, it is worth it. College is a time for trying new things and meeting new people, and yes, experiencing freedom, but that should not cost any student their dignity or life.