LETTERS: A FRATERNITY VIEW

To the editor:

I watched the TV movie, "She Cried No." It struck a chord with me. It was about a college freshman who was a victim of acquaintance rape during her first week of school. The problem does exist.

I took several things from the movie. One, women have to be careful to protect themselves. Alcohol is often the main contributing factor when acquaintance rape occurs. College women cannot afford to drink so much alcohol that they are unable to foresee a dangerous situation. By the same token, a man cannot afford to drink so much that he too is unable to make a good decision.

Second, I worry about the portrayal fo fraternities in the movie. I will not deny that date rapes and alcohol abuse happen in fraternity houses. I will deny, however, that the type of criminal behavior we say in the movie happens in all fraternities. I am a fraternity man. The young man in the movie is a criminal and a rapist. I consider that to be a huge difference. I have met thousands of outstanding Delta Chi men who would be just as appalled over the movie portrayal as I am. However, I have also met Delta Chi members who would act exactly like the idiots portrayed in the movie. It is time that the good people took a stand against that type of idiocy before one more young woman is raped in our chapter houses.

Yes, there are problems in the fraternity world and in Delta Chi. I believe the movie accurately portrayed what can happen in a fraternity chapter that has no standards, no sense of responsibility and no members with the skills or backbone to look another brother in the eye and say, "No, you are not going to do that." Those fraternity chapters should be closed before it is too late.

However, chapters that are doing good do not deserve to be lumped in with those types of chapters. When that happens, it does a lot more damage than people realize, and it is not fair.

Just like a woman does not deserve to be raped, most fraternity men do not deserve to be blamed for it when it happens.

DARRYL L. SPURLOCK, Member

Delta Chi Fraternity

Southeast Missouri State University

Cape Girardeau