Harkness Tower at Yale University Image : AP Images

Months after Bret Kavanaugh argued that he couldn’t be a rapist because he “got into Yale Law School,” women at Yale are suing the university for promoting a social environment dominated by dangerous and alcohol-filled fraternities.

The New York Times reports that three students, Anna McNeil, Eliana Singer and Ry Walker, filed a class action lawsuit on Tuesday against Yale. All three say they were groped at fraternity parties their first semester of college. Walker, who is black, also said she was passed over in favor of white attendees by fraternity brothers controlling admission to a party. The lawsuit demands Yale take responsibility for the party scene and also asks for a court order to force fraternities to admit women, who are shut out of the system’s housing and networking opportunities. “Simply put, fraternities elevate men to social gatekeepers and relegate women and non-binary students to sexual objects,” the lawsuit reads.

Even though Yale University presents itself as an institution where Greek life isn’t an overwhelming part of student life, arguing that they can’t intervene, the lawsuit says that the two are indelibly connected. The lawsuit points out that even though the fraternities are off-campus organizations they’re allowed to use university email addresses, bulletin boards, and campus for recruitment.


The lawsuit follows a growing trend in students and universities trying to curb Greek life, including Harvard which began regulating single-gender fraternities and sororities in 2016. In 2017 a UCLA student sued two fraternities for failing to protect her after her sexual assault and Greek life at several colleges has been banned or curbed in the past few years following reports of death, sexual assault, or harassment.