Tonight I had the chance to listen to Professor Daniel Schwarz share life advice and talk about his book How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning. A great deal of the advice that Professor Schwarz shared was about how to succeed in the early years of college – tips such as taking classes with professors that care about the students, building relationships with professors, taking a wide variety of classes, and going abroad. Unfortunately, I am a senior about to graduate, so I won’t be able to put much of his advice to use.

Professor Schwarz also shared his (unfavorable) opinion toward the Greek system, prefacing it by saying that he knows his opinion is a controversial one. He said he feels that the Greek system is toxic, and that people in the Greek system – especially in fraternities – all seem to have the same set of beliefs, which cuts down on cultural discourse. I am not in the Greek system, but many of my friends are, and every one of my Greek friends is incredibly kind, intelligent, caring, and open to learning about other cultures and beliefs. I agree that the Greek system does have many flaws that need to be addressed, but I think it is unfair to make the generalization that every person in the Greek system is single-minded and judgmental.

Another statement of Professor Schwarz’s, that sororities are problematic because most victims of sexual abuse are in sororities, struck me as completely off-base. This idea is basically victim-blaming; it implies that women in sororities bring the sexual abuse upon themselves. This is completely outrageous – the blame for such a crime lies solely with the person who actually committed it. Additionally, the idea that abolishing sororities would help stop sexual abuse is problematically narrow-minded in that it fails to acknowledge or stop sexual abuse that happens to girls who are not in sororities.

Of course, the corollary argument that Professor Schwarz seemed to be implying was that most perpetrators of sexual abuse are in fraternities. But of course, the issue is not that simple. There are many fraternity men who do not commit sexual abuse, and there are many non-fraternity men who do. The issue of stopping sexual abuse should not be equated with just stopping fraternity members from doing it; it should be equated with stopping all men from doing it.