We recently noted that Amherst College renewed a 30 year ban on sororities and fraternities.

And while there is an unfortunate tendency the limit the constitutional freedoms of students, such as the right to peaceful assembly and association, documents have been revealed that do not, perhaps,  make the best case for reinstatement of those institutions.

Especially in light of the Title IX Sex Harassment Crusade now playing on campuses everywhere.

…[Delta Kappa Epsilon] is currently aggressively protesting the decision, and has criticized the college for not soliciting student input. The college has not recognized or supported Greek organizations since 1984, but the groups have continued to exist underground.

The AC Voice, a website run by Amherst students, on Monday published a 13-page internal DKE document, known as “sheets.” Prospective brothers with the fraternity are meant to memorize the list of “laws,” which include a number of veiled misogynistic references and glorify binge drinking.

Note: The quotes below contain explicit language.

  • “Moore’s Requirement: Suck or Walk.”
  • “Kuffler’s Call: I don’t drink to get drunk, I drink to solve my problems.”
  • “Seelbach’s Defense: I was blacked out.”
  • “DMO’s Law: See some trash, pick it up.” (“Trash” here purportedly refers to women.)
  • “If you can’t be with the one you love, take the bus to Smith … Or stay at Amherst and ride the hein train.”
  • “Ripper’s Recommendation: Drink it, smoke it, snort it, fuck it … and perhaps shit your pants.”

The sheets also list “beers of choice” and stipulate which brands are allowed in games of beer pong.

The Amherst DKE chapter issued a statement apologizing for the sheets and noted the offensive laws had been added by previous members and “no one bothered to remove them.”

“These offensive entries were a few of the many that have been left in for decades without review,” the chapter said. “Still, given how grossly they contradict the values of our contemporary members, we should have removed them. We hope our fellow students will forgive us and recognize that our actions, not these dated entries, are what truly represent us.”

In response to the above information,  a current member of the Amherst DKE chapter wrote the following:

These laws are not emphasized in our new member education; rather, we focus on DKE history and the chapters. Our irresponsible failure to take these items out of our sheets should not imply, as the article has suggested, that we promote a sexist culture. Although we are unfortunately tied to the statements of 30 years ago due to their existence in the sheets, we are not in any way tied to that offensive culture of 30 years ago — a culture which we individually and collectively push back against.

 


 
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