Actions of Tau Kappa Epsilon need stricter consequences

Brea Jones/Contributing Writer

Tau Kappa Epsilon, aka “Teke,” has been placed on suspension after FIU administration, FIU office of Fraternity and Sorority Life advisors, and all Greek Chapter Presidents received an email of Teke’s group chat containing vulgar messages and images.

This isn’t the first time a fraternity has been suspended in FIU history. It isn’t even the first time of the 2017-18 academic school year that a fraternity has been suspended. Such incidents continue to happen, which begs the question of why our University isn’t doing more to prevent them from happening again.

To deter future fraternities — and sororities for that matter — from tarnishing our school, FIU needs to implicate stricter punishments when they go against school policy.

In 2013, Pi Kappa Alpha was suspended for five years for similar activities such as Teke’s, according to Miami New Times. The 5-year suspension is obviously not a harsh enough punishment if the act of sending non-consensual naked photos is still continuing four years after the initial incident.

Teke’s screenshots, which were sent in mid-October, is also not the first attempt to implicate the fraternity in the act breaking the student code of conduct. Photos of the conversations, which show over a year’s worth of content with over 100 members, were allegedly sent to administration in July, according to the Miami Herald. The board failed to have a formal hearing, causing the anonymous source resend the email and leak screenshots of the group chat.

What does that say about FIU if the sender had to make two attempts in order for justice of being served?

Since the incident, five out of the seven FIU sororities have stopped all interactions with Teke. The Panhellenic Council Statement said, “This action does not stem from an area of rash hatred and evanescent anger, but of genuine desire to enact change to the fraternal community.”

The action of ostracizing Teke really doesn’t accomplish anything. The sororities seem to be putting Teke in time-out. The silent treatment isn’t the proper way to handle a situation like this, especially since this is the second time this has happened with a fraternity within four years.

As women, sororities and female students at FIU should be livid about this happening twice. I know I am.

Disturbing comments such as “…wanna feel like a ped (pedophile)” and “It’s not rape if she enjoys it” have no place at FIU, or anywhere else in this world.  

Photo taken by Brea Jones

Although it’s possible not all of the people in the group chat participated in the conversations, they still allowed their fellow brothers to continue. This is just as horrific as engaging in the messages itself.

Some of the brothers of Teke might have even been bystanders, but they should have confronted their members and come forward when this started. Sitting back and letting your “brothers” send nude photos of underage girls and make vulgar comments is not a way of saying you don’t want to be a part of what is happening.

And for those members part of the chat who did not speak out, this demonstrates their tolerance and turning a blind eye of what was happening, so they deserve the consequences as well.

Trying to increase awareness about the dangers of sexual assault, FIU has a mandatory online sexual assault prevention called Understanding Sexual Assault. But simply having a 75-minute program where the student can click through without paying attention is not an effective way to spread awareness.  

FIU’s slogan, “It’s on us,” is a way of saying it’s on every person to stop sexual assault, but FIU doesn’t seem to be doing it’s part if this is the second time this has happened.

FIU’s administration and FIU’s sexual assault awareness campaign need to work together and find a better and more successful way to prevent this from happening in the future.

If it does, there have to be tougher consequences. Whether it be a longer suspension for the fraternity or maybe even expulsion, something must be done to stop this.

Teke’s motto is “Better men for a better world.” Part of making better men — and people in general — is teaching right from wrong and showing there are consequences when you do the wrong thing.

While I am unsure what the punishment will be after the investigation, I do know that FIU should take the necessary precautions and steps to ensure that fraternities and sororities are the role models many incoming freshman and transfer students look up to.

 

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

 

Featured Image by Michelle Marchante.

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