PA’s Swarthmore College Faces Rape Controversy

Swarthmore College is a small liberal arts institution and now it faces Title 9 controversy. It resides in a town by the same name in Pennsylvania. Despite its small size (around 1,600 undergraduate students), the college often ranks among the best in the country. Such prestige brings with it a level of exclusivity. In 2018, over 10,000 hopefuls applied. Only 1,000 gained admission.

However, despite the selectivity of the college, it is currently struggling under serious issues with its students. In a response to leaked documents, Swarthmore College’s only two fraternities, Phi Psi and Delta Upsilon, announced last week that they will officially disband. The information leaked detailed years of sexual misconduct and even rape by their members.

Sexual Assault, Misconduct and Becoming a Rape Statistic

Within the leaked documents are minutes from meetings spanning several years. These minutes contain statements from members which are sexist, homophobic and racist in nature. They even make reference to a “rape attic” and “rape tunnel.” The documents also contain very troubling events. One person states: “On Saturday [a student] decided to take one of these strolls and came across a chick passed out faced first in front of trotter. We weren’t given any real details as what occurred after he found her.”

Some of the other students say that they were denied access to food and water.

The illicit behavior seems to have largely taken place prior to 2014. According to a statement made by one of the fraternities, “[t]he current members were in high school and middle school at the time of the writing of these documents,” continuing. “We were appalled and disgusted by the content of these minutes, which led us to question our affiliation with an organization whose former members could write such heinous statements. We cannot in good conscience be members of an organization with such a painful history.”

It is note worthy, that this is not the first time these fraternities have come under fire. There have been calls in the past to ban them from campus. They have, conversely, also engaged in campaigns against sexual assault and rape shortly before and during the time covered by the documents. However, assertions made on Tumblr state that fraternity members openly dismissed any accusations of wrongdoing against fellow members. Many of the accusations seem to be in response to events going on at the same time as the campaigns.

One of Swarthmore College’s Fraternity Houses Circa 1944

The Reaction at Swarthmore

The current members of these organization seem to have taken the accusations seriously. After a lot of pressure and much deliberation, both fraternities decided to disband. They have both vacated their respective buildings and Swarthmore College has already assigned them to other organizations.

Not Satisfied with this reaction, on Thursday protesters gathered inside the office of the University’s president and in the fraternity buildings. Some of the other students say that they were denied access to food and water during demonstration. Despite the president saying she would be willing to meet with the demonstrators on the condition of them leaving her office, they refused to leave. Their demands included a permanent ban on the two fraternities. Eventually the police were called and the demonstrators removed.

The Big Picture

The protesters are not alone in their frustration and Swarthmore College is, in reality, just a piece of a larger debate. No one wants their college to increase the nation’s rape statistics. Most people consider rape and sexual assault major issues plaguing society. Several movements, including #MeToo, have arisen in the last few years over these concerns. One major debate has centered around the standard for evidence and presumption of innocence. There has also been much debate on exactly what constitutes rape and how often it occurs.

According to The Bureau of Justice Statistics, In 2014, 1 per 1,000 people over the age of twelve was a victim of rape or sexual assault. This was much higher than the murder rate, at 0.045, per 1,000 persons. It was surpassed, meanwhile, by armed robbery victims, at 2.5 per 1,000.

