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CHAPTER RESPONDS TO NEWSPAPER
Steve Dorsey, American '09
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The American University chapter of SigEp took offense to a controversial story in the AU student newspaper. The chapter chose to stand up for their values and send in a response, rather than remain silent.
Outrage over a March 28 column published in The Eagle, titled, “Dealing with AU’s anti-sex brigade,” sparked protests throughout the campus.
The column’s author, 20-year-old AU student Alex Knepper, rallied against “feminists” and claimed some women bring date rape upon themselves.
In the column, Knepper wrote: “any woman who heads to an EI [an AU underground organization] party as an anonymous onlooker, drinks five cups of the jungle juice, and walks back to a boy’s room with him is indicating that she wants sex, OK? To cry ‘date rape’ after you sober up the next morning and regret the incident is the equivalent of pulling a gun to someone’s head and then later claiming that you didn’t ever actually intend to pull the trigger.”
EI (Epsilon Iota) is an underground organization that was formed after a recognized Fraternity at AU lost its charter.
Hundreds of comments responding to the column were subsequently posted to the newspaper’s website, and the issue was highlighted in media outlets like The Washington Post and the CBS Early Show.
The SigEp chapter on campus responded to the column’s claims about date rape in a “letter to the editor” of The Eagle, the 11th one posted here.
“We are offended with his [Knepper’s] portrayal of any person who attends a social function as passively accepting sexual intercourse regardless of actual consent,” the chapter said in its response.
The chapter’s response also described how brothers work to prevent date rape and educate themselves on the issue.
Brother Brooks Keefer, American ’10, spearheaded the response from the chapter, also defending all of American’s recognized Greek organizations.
“I like to believe they all have very high standards for their brothers,” Keefer said. “I think we can all agree that women and men have the right to their bodies and their sexual choices.”
Keefer also said the campus community responded well to the response, including leaders of programs and activities aimed at supporting women.
“They were absolutely astounded and excited they had male allies to rely on,” he said.
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