A recent leak of a seventy-page pdf document has caused quite a stir at the American University Campus in Washington DC. This document presents a series of emails and text messages exchanged by the brothers of the Epsilon Iota fraternity, containing explicit racist, sexist, and homophobic content. A Tumblr page (The Fratergate AU) has been created with the intent of displaying a censored version of the the leaked document.

According to the Fratergate AU, “EI is an unrecognized fraternity at American University in Washington, D.C. The group lost their charter after an alleged date rape scandal in 2001, but continue to operate on our campus”– thus some feel more than simply shock at the situation. The creators of this Tumblr page claim to be pursuing some level of disciplinary action against Epsilon Iota, and this pursuit is picking up steam.

AU students have started a virtual petition tiltled, “I Will Not Be Silent” on change.org, with a host of demands they would like to see from the University administration. Chief among their immediate demands is the expulsion of the Epsilon Iota members involved, on the grounds of, “condoning sexual violence, assault, battery, slander and all other actions relevant to physical, sexual, emotional and all other forms of abuse.”

In this article, I have zero ambition to condone the actions of these students. However, it is worth addressing what I see as four major problems with calling for their expulsion on the grounds of a sexual transgression. (It is worth noting that there may be other violations, such as the continued underground operation of a disbanded fraternity chapter, that allow for expulsion, but I will only be addressing the sexual grounds.)

1. There is no admission of guilt within the documents present on the Fratergate AU Tumblr.

I have read through all of the emails and texts that the Fratergate page has published, and I have yet to find any instance where the EI students admit to committing any crimes. There is only one circumstance where there may be an instance of admission, but it is unclear as to how seriously we can evaluate the text. One student wrote the following, “she was not beaten. she assaulted us repeatedly alongside with calling the entire brotherhood a rape gang and worthless piece of shit after what she eventually got slapped back very softly, slipped and fell in the bushes (she was perfectly fine by the way).” This is the closest case in the document to any claim of wrongdoing. The DCist reports this as an ‘alleged slapping’ when they summarize the document contents as follows, “in censored emails[…] Epsilon Iota discuss the alleged slapping of a woman, routinely describe women as ‘bitches’, seek drugs, use racial slurs, and strategize about how to make women feel comfortable at their parties, despite an alleged sexual assault.”

2. These emails do not conform to the definition of sexual assault in the AU handbook

Many are claiming that the EI students who authored these emails have engaged in a sexual transgression, specifically sexual assault. However, the nature of the conversation and context of these comments make it difficult to define it as such. The American University Handbook says that, “what constitutes sexual harassment […] may be described generally as: unwelcome sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; and other oral, written, or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” Unfortunately, the definition provided is very opaque, and states that, “the determination of what constitutes sexual harassment will vary with particular circumstances.” It is hard to say exactly how these originally ‘private’ exchanged emails that were not directed towards a victim will fit the schools weak definition of sexual harassment.

3. There is nothing about Petitions in the AU Handbook

While I personally applaud the creation of a petition to show support for student opposition to the horrific nature of the leaked documents, it may have little to no impact on how the AU administration handles the situation. The AU University Codes, Policies, and Guidelines has a specific section titled Sexual Assault Reporting Procedures for Students, which outlines how to report and process cases of alleged sexual violence, assault, and harassment. Unfortunately for the 1600 plus students who have already signed, there is no mention of a petition as part of the processing procedure.

4. AU has policies that protect Freedom of Speech

In the section of the AU handbook titled, Freedom of Expression Guidelines, it is clearly stated that every AU student has the right to freedom of speech and expression as defined by the law. Simply, each individual has the right to make their own disclosure in anyway they please. Freedom of speech does have its limits, but only if what is said or written qualifies as legal obscenity. Unfortunately, it is not clear that the EI emails and texts qualify due to the fact that these messages were private and not intended for the public. Historically, in cases like Miller v. California, we have seen legal obscenity most often applied in circumstances where an obscene text or speech is being sold to the public.

[The Fratergate AU]

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Bo Donoghue

Featured image courtesy of [Jake Waage via Flickr]

Bo Donoghue

Bo Donoghue is a student at The George Washington University. Contact Bo at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post 4 Reasons Why Secret AU Frat Might Avoid Trouble appeared first on Law Street.

American University has a problem. Well, more specifically a small group of young men at AU have a problem. The “brothers” of Epsilon Iota, an apparent underground fraternity at the DC University, were outed in a major way recently when about 70 pages of their private emails, texts, and other communications leaked online. And trust me, it’s not good.

It’s important to note that this fraternity is neither recognized by the University, nor by any national chapter. In 2001, when they operated under the national organization of Alpha Tau Omega, they had their charter yanked due to hazing and underage drinking allegations. Instead of working with both institutions to regain their status, they continued to operate as an underground organization.

About two months ago, The Atlantic published an expose called “The Dark Power of Fraternities.” It’s an incredibly interesting read, and it focuses mainly on who is liable when things go wrong at fraternity parties. It has a lot to do with communication between the chapter and the national organization, but that article, in conjunction with this recent event does beg the question: What happens when there’s no accountability to the University or to a national organization?

So here are three things about this leak that are incredibly problematic, and what they can tell us about the concerning world of undergrad frats as a whole.

3. These emails indicate a coverup of some pretty awful behavior. 

Much of the conversation between these “frat” brothers involves an incident where a brother may or may not have hit a girl who was attending one of their parties. The guys seems to have a few goals. A very, very small percentage appear to want to figure out exactly what happened. The rest oscillate between blaming the girl, downplaying the abuse, and figuring out how to make sure that, “b*tches will still go to our parties.” Even the one brother who makes sure to emphasize that one should never hit a woman goes on to say that the priority needs to be formulating an excuse.

Abusive culture aside, there are just a lot of problems here. Because this is an underground organization, the actions that this young woman — who was probably abused in some fashion — could take were incredibly limited. She could bring suit at the University against the individual who hurt her, but given that this organization has absolutely no legal standing within the school, there’s not much they can do. There’s nothing preventing me and my friends from getting together and calling ourselves whatever we please as a club, and the school can’t do anything to stop that. And I’m not necessarily saying they should be able to — that’s my right in this country. What I am saying is that because this underground frat as a whole has no need to worry about getting in trouble with the school, they worry about things like “getting b*tches to still come to our parties,” without recognizing the consequences of their actions.

2. If it wasn’t for these emails, could anyone ever prove that the organization exists?

That brings us to our next point, and that’s one of accountability. These emails were leaked by someone who evidently got access to EI’s listserv — possibly a former brother, or someone who got a brother’s password, or whatever. But without these emails that do name some of the members, would this underground frat ever have been caught? It’s obviously operated for more than ten years, and has done an excellent job of never really having enough problems to shut it down entirely.

And what, exactly, can the University do about it? The University can maybe expel the students who said particularly inflammatory stuff, but unless they find every single one of these guys, the population will still exist on campus. They can still recruit new members if they want. The only thing the University can hope to do is catch enough members that staying involved seems to be too big a risk for those who remain. It s a gutsy move on the group’s part to remain unaffiliated from the University and from the national chapter — after all being affiliated with both of those institutions gives you legitimacy, money, and prestige. But they’ve done just fine, and I bet that they’ll keep doing just fine. And that’s a concerning notion to consider — that what this fraternity has been not only viable, but rather successful for the last decade.

1. These emails are really a perfectly horrifying example of campus rape culture. 

Here’s the really big problem with these emails, the part that elevates my internal yelling to full out banshee-like external screaming. I don’t even know where to start, partly because some of these are too disgusting to put on this website, and partly because there are just too many examples. This group consistently says overtly disgusting things about the women they interact with. These are, I swear to god, some of the more benign examples:

• “Get the b*tches in the right state of intoxication so the plows will be raining all over the place.” Great. Getting girls too drunk to consent. That’s not a gigantic, Texas-sized red flag. 
• “If your [sic] trying to get laid tonight bro don’t go with the Asians. They’re hit or miss. You gotta go straight w**re.” Racism and sexism. Charming. 
• “She had a friend who got raped at our house? I would like to meet this lying c*** and show her how african men treat their woman [sic].” I can’t even dignify this one with a comment. 

Believe me when I say that these are the mild selections from these emails. They constantly use disgusting, derogatory language to refer to women. Now, obviously they thought these emails would never get out, but it’s not just about a few people saying really dumb and gross stuff in private — it’s about the culture that this creates and propagates within this secret frat. Because this kind of language, this kind of culture, mixed with the lack of accountability and ability to be secretive is a veritable perfect storm.

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Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Nejmlez via Wikipedia]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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