3 Sexual Assaults. 3 Weeks. 3 Fraternities. Same School.

Even with the massive amount of campus sexual violence-related content I process every week, I still occasionally see a headline that just totally shocks me. Like today’s “3rd Sexual Assault in 3 Weeks at U of M Fraternity.” Yes, that’s right: over the past three weeks, one student reported an attempted rape, and two students reported sexual assaults, all at different University of Minnesota frats. Those are some staggering numbers, right???

So far, the campus response has been to ban alcohol from fraternity parties indefinitely. Apparently “alcohol was a factor” in each assault, which I am assuming just means that the alleged assailants and/or the victims (or some combo of the two) were drinking. While normally I would make a big fuss about how alcohol doesn’t cause sexual assault (assailants do), the decision was made by the fraternity leaders themselves and not imposed by the administration. I think that illustrates a really impressive commitment on the part of the students to take some time and reflect on what’s going on. In fact, it was a unanimous vote. Until further notice, frat members who are over 21 can drink in their house, but no alcohol is to be consumed if guests are present. Anyone who has ever been on a college campus with Greek life (or seen a movie about one) knows what a big deal that is.

The idea is that the ban will give “Greek and University leaders time to re-evaluate policies and procedures.” I hope part of that includes putting some resources into some primary prevention education, and not just holding some lectures about how alcohol “raises the risk” of rape. There is definitely potential for something positive here, amidst such a horrifying series of incidents.

I’m not really encouraged, though, by the dialogue coming out of the U of M right now. Jezebel pointed out this report from Fox news about the first two assaults, which is largely focused on female college students talking about how the incidents reaffirm the need for women to be “responsible.” Of course, this could be the Fox frame of the story too. But Jezebel also reported this weekend on a really unfortunate messaging campaign currently underway at the U of M related to alcohol. Especially frustrating is the poster that depicts a woman in the process of taking her shirt off in front of a group of guys, with the caption, “Reputations aren’t drunk-proof.” The “slut-shaming” here is pretty clear-cut. So I dunno. I’ll be watching the news for signs of change at U of M, and I’m trying to be hopeful. If you can get an Inter-Fraternity Council to effectively call an end to frat parties, then perhaps anything is possible.