How Come It Can’t Be Just “A Guy?”

A few days ago, I got an inquiry from an acquaintance about a problem his daughter was having. His daughter is a student at a large university in the mid-west and has what he called “a stalker.”

I’m not there. I don’t even know his daughter. I’ve never been to this school. Since I work with schools across the country and often work in the fraternity and sorority system, he asked my help.

“She’s been stalked and harassed by this frat guy. He’s been peeping on her dorm room and has followed her around campus.”

My advice was first, call the cops. Stalking isn’t to be taken lighttly. Second, call campus security-they can get there fastest if there’s another incident. Third (and what he was callling for), talk to the director of fraternity/sorority life at the college.

This is a horrible situation. Period. Yet, as with anything that goes wrong on a campus, it seems like the first people to get pointed at are the fraternity members (not so much with sororities since their reputation isn’t as bad). I mean, even if a student in question does something wrong, the media will often phrase it as “a fraternity prank.” That affiliation carries a reputation from the days of Animal House when Greek Life was different than today.

This is all the more reason why fraternity/sorority members are held to a higher standard. Unfair as that association is, it’s still there.