Audie Cornish talks to Nicolette Gendron, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority at the University of Virginia and a writer for the C-Ville Weekly. She did a survey of sorority members on campus about how they would feel if sororities were allowed to serve alcohol and host parties under the same rules as fraternities. She says most women, including herself, feel that women would have more control and feel safer from sexual predation if they could host parties in their own houses.
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Transcript
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Greek life is back at the University of Virginia after a discredited article in Rolling Stone magazine on campus rape shut down the social scene for weeks. But the University extracted a few concessions before allowing fraternities to strike up the party. Beers must be served in cans and sober monitors must be designated to supervise parties. Fraternities bear the brunt of the regulations because, for decades, sorority houses at UVA and across the country have prohibited alcohol.
Now, with the national debate continuing over the dangers of alcohol and campus sexual assault, some women say campus life might be safer if women had more control and could serve alcohol in their own sorority houses.
Here to talk more is Nicolette Gendron, a senior at UVA and member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority there. She joins us from UVA. Welcome to the program.
NICOLETTE GENDRON: Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: So, Nicolette, you actually make this argument in the C-Ville Weekly, which is a weekly newspaper nearby - this is off-campus - about sororities being allowed to have their own alcohol at their own parties. And what are the reasons why you're arguing for this?
GENDRON: I found that - that this argument became really important with everything that happened with Hannah Graham this past fall.
CORNISH: And this is the young women who disappeared after being out at a party.
GENDRON: Yes. In talking with the editorial team at C-Ville Weekly, we realized that a lot of the issues is that - the anonymous nature of fraternity parties and how it was hard to track her trajectory that night. We then thought of - what's the counterargument? What if sororities could have parties where they had their own alcohol and, basically, existed just as fraternity parties do?
The conclusion we came to when I interviewed a bunch of sorority women and men was that it would be safer in the sense that women would have control over who's coming into their homes. They would be more cognizant of, you know, who is coming through the door at all hours where, at fraternity parties, there tends to be a bit of a lax attitude later in the night. And, also, a sense of control over how much alcohol is being served and if there needs to be no more serving of alcohol. And just, in general, being on their own turf instead of going to someone else's home all the time.
CORNISH: It sounds like you're saying that, essentially, you guys just want a little more control. I mean, does it feel like it's just totally in the hands of the young men?
GENDRON: I think so. And I think I'm not alone in this perspective, especially when I interviewed a bunch of, like, my fellow sorority women. It is male-dominated. I mean, we're - we're going to homes that are fraternity houses that are all men, that are lived in by all men. The parties that are run and put on and bartended and the doors are controlled by men. So it would just be nice to even the playing field and have, you know, it be a female-dominated environment where men show up and have to follow our rules.
CORNISH: Here's the thing. There are a lot of parents listening who are saying the solution to the problem of binge drinking or concerns about campus assault aren't going to be fixed by having more alcohol, right, available at the drop of a hat. I mean, help us understand why that makes sense.
GENDRON: Well, in college in general and at a place like UVA, there's going to be drinking no matter what. There's going to be drinking in first-year dorms. There's going to be drinking at frat parties, at bars. I think that Greek life in general at UVA doesn't promote moderation in drinking, and it's kind of inevitable. It's always going to be a factor. But where the drinking is happening and making sure, like, the environment is safe, I think that's a completely different story.
CORNISH: Well, Nicolette Gendron, thank you so much for speaking with us.
GENDRON: Thank you so much for having me.
CORNISH: Nicolette Gendron. She's a senior at UVA and member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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