PARTY'S OVER

What fraternities must do after the Delta Kappa Epsilon bust to avoid
being shut down for good

For many of the academically minded among us at the University of
Toronto, the news this summer of the Delta Kappa Epsilon's Alpha Phi
fraternity house being busted by the cops for (gasp!) drugs and
weapons was no doubt a welcome piece of schadenfreude, and a point on
the scoreboard in the never ending war of the jocks versus the nerds.

And perhaps it speaks to what makes UofT a welcoming haven for those
geeks among us that fraternities - and, for that matter, organized
sports - have so little sway over general campus life. But in this
case, we have not just a cathartic moment for nerd. Many are also
taking this particular case to be concrete evidence of the pernicious
social influence of frat houses that jeopardizes campus safety.

Let's examine the contents discovered in the house. First off, the
bust turned up three hundred grams of cocaine and one kilogram of
Ketamine. Nothing against recreational drug use, but we shouldn't
forget how infrequently Special K is used for that purpose. Ketamine
is used pretty extensively as a date-rape drug outside of medicinal
applications.

Also discovered in the house were brass knuckles, though details were
still unclear about whether these were property of the fraternity
itself or rogue members.

Certainly, this doesn't look good. And now, the argument is being made
in some circles for the banishment of unofficial frats altogether. The
case can clearly be made that, if we really want to not just project
the image of a modern university, but to also fulfill this promise, we
must move beyond the unnecessary risk posed by harbouring
self-described fraternities. Since fraternities are not officially
sanctioned by the university, Uof T should take action into their own
hands and crack down on those houses near campus residences.

What's probably the worst about this situation is how little has been
done to counteract this argument.

After refusing comment to reporters on the issue, the DKE leaders took
down the University of Toronto chapter website. Virtually nothing has
been said on the issue since.

Some individual members expressed shock in later pieces, but there was
no apology, or attempt to explain the situation.

They could have disowned the individual members charged with
possession, issued a public apology or explanation, or done ANYTHING,
really, to reverse the negativity of this situation.

Worse yet, there seemed to be minimal reaction from other frats on
campus. But why, some would ask, should the other fraternities have
reason to respond to this? Of course, fraternities aren't agents of
rape and violence. There are many that do positive work across the
UofT campus, such as the more respectable Delta Upsilon, and likely
all of the other fifteen or so groups operating on campus.However, an
incident like this taints the entire 'brand' and should be addressed
seriously.

The other fraternities should come together to disown this incident
and redefine their purpose before public disasters like this overtake
the public opinion of them. A press release and a great public show
would probably be enough.

While the university should certainly be more proactive in its
relations with on-campus frats, when used positively, fraternities are
agents of positive social cohesion, and their banishment is
unnecessary. While students should be wise to consider this, the
impetus is now on the organizations themselves to give us a positive
reminder of it. In the court of public opinion, a group is guilty
until proven innocent, especially on issues of public safety. It's
time for frats to launch their defensives.