GΘING ΛGΛINST GRΣΣK Text by OLGA MUYS and NEIL RATHI
Safety concerns at Stanford fraternities and the fight to abolish Greek life on campus
M
ayfield Avenue at first appears to be simply another winding road in the sprawling campus of Stanford University. Tree-lined and tranquil, apart from the sounds of students playing spikeball on the grass. However, this part of Stanford — unofficially dubbed Frat Row — is the target of a campus-wide movement to decentralize, dehouse, and eventually abolish Greek life at the school. On Jan. 21, parents of a Stanford student filed a lawsuit against Stanford and the Theta Delta Chi fraternity following the death of the student at a fraternity party in January 2020 due to a fentanyl overdose. The lawsuit alleges that Stanford administration continuously ignored TDX’s violations of university policies,
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leading to the student’s death. The lawsuit has come up alongside calls from Stanford students to end Greek life on campus altogether, claiming that fraternities perpetuate sexual assault and harrassment, homophobia, racism, and substance abuse. “Frats and Greek life tend to concentrate a lot of certain people on campus,” said Alex, a Stanford undergraduate and advocate for the abolition of Greek life at Stanford. “They tend to be a lot whiter, a lot more privileged, and not accepting of queer people.” Alex has requested to not use their real name due to death threats received while organizing for the movement at the national level. Fraternities are dominant parts of social life at Stanford.
Photo by NEIL RATHI “They [fraternities] are kind of the only social scene on campus,” said Angelina Duran, a Stanford freshman. “They’re the source of most socializing and parties.” This monopoly over social events can cause a variety of issues, Alex said. “When you give people in power more power, it can result in a lot of bad things,” Alex said. “So frats at Stanford are tied with increased incidents of sexual assault; lots of incidents of racism, classism … tend to happen around frats.” This is where efforts to decentralize Greek life from the core of Stanford’s social scene come in. It’s not so much that Stanford doesn’t have other sources for socializing and community; it’s simply that Greek life dominates over these other options within the undergraduate consciousness, according to Shawn Lee, one of the original founders of Abolish Stanford Greek and a recent graduate of the university. “I think that Greek life is very visible,” Lee said. “The reality is we have armfuls of voluntary student organizations open to all Stanford students of all gender identities, which every day do interesting and important things in the community. … The one thing is that, as an undergraduate, that might be difficult to see at first. And the reason why that’s difficult to see is that there’s this kind of bright flame of Greek life in the middle, sucking out all the oxygen.” In June 2020, Stanford released data from a campus survey conducted through the Association of American Universities, which revealed several concerning trends regarding the consumption of intoxicating substances and sexual violence.
