I am in an uncomfortable situation when it comes to discussing the horrendous acts of which brothers of the Sigma Chi fraternity have been accused. On one hand, I am a staff writer for The Badger Herald; I pride myself above all else on giving a perspective, regardless of whether or not anyone agrees with me, that will make people talk and make people think outside the box. On the other hand, the extracurricular activity I care most about is my role as president of one of the biggest fraternities on this campus, Alpha Epsilon Pi. My house is located almost directly across the street from Sigma Chi, and we have a very good relationship with them. When it comes to the extraordinarily unfortunate situation facing the victim I want to be able to write a completely unbiased piece, but unfortunately my proximity to the situation does not allow me to do that.
What it does allow me to do, however, is give an interesting perspective on this issue; one that I am confident in saying is not often heard. The perspective is that of a “frat boy.” The perspective is from a guy who has some very close, very trusted friends who are now attached to a nightmare of a situation simply because of the fraternity to which they pledged. The perspective is that of a guy who realizes the overwhelming evidence but still understands the case is far from over.
I thank God I have never been affected by rape or sexual assault. No member of my family or any close friend has ever had to take the emotional and physical toll incurred by victims of sexual assault. I have been told, and it seems perfectly logical to me, that after such a horrific incident the victim would be hesitant to speak up about it. This could explain why in his piece Thursday, Jason Smathers suggested “no one wants this kind of attention. Which is mostly why […] approximately 60 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to police.”
While the latter part of that statement is a staggering truth, unfortunately, the former simply isn’t the case. How about the Duke lacrosse team? What about the false gang rape allegations against the St. John’s basketball team? The difference is in those cases, no rape ever occurred; in our case, here it is almost beyond debate that a rape took place. The similarity is, in all the cases, the perpetrator of the crime remains unknown. We would be well served to wait and allow the evidence to continue to unfold before we rush to blame anyone.
The courage it took for this young lady to come forward is amazing. I commend her for that. I am not, like some people denounced by Smathers, calling her a liar — not by any stretch of the imagination. However, anyone who has attended a PAVE session understands how scary the possibilities of false rape accusations are. Again, allow me to stress that I am not saying the victim is falsely accusing anyone — what I am saying is we must allow the case to unfold before rushing to judgment against the brothers of Sigma Chi.
If they are guilty of these horrendous crimes, once I get over my shock, I will be appalled and disgusted; but they are not guilty yet. I learned long ago in the court of public opinion the accused is guilty until proven innocent, but at this point there are still two possible victims in this case: the victim of gang rape and the victim of a false accusation. While I understand there is a strong platform of evidence, there are still many questions to be asked, several possibilities that may be dismissed and several details to unfold before we pronounce these young men guilty. Even if we agree the accused was raped, must we rush to judgment on who was the rapist?
If these young men are guilty as accused, I am not the first to say I hope they rot in hell. As a son, brother to two sisters and friend to many girls, I think of rapists as the scum of the earth. Rape is disgusting, despicable and unforgivable. What it is not, however, is a reflection on the entire Greek community. The Greek community offers this campus so much, and to try to blame the entire community for the alleged actions of some individuals is outlandish. From Humorology to Greek Week, the vibrant Greek community on this campus has worked long and hard to establish a fine reputation, and I trust the students of this university will not be dumb enough to try to throw that all away based on the isolated actions of some individuals.
In the end, I ask everyone to not be quick to judge. Do not be quick to call the victim a liar, but also do not be quick to call the boys rapists. There is a lot of evidence — I have read all the articles — but there is a lot that remains to be seen. A fair trial is of paramount importance. Give these boys their fair trial and when all is said and done, hopefully our community will somehow emerge stronger because of this.
Jordan Soffer ([email protected]) is a junior with an undecided major.
