Major drama at historic Tufts University.
The university and Tufts Police have just launched “multiple investigations into several Greek organizations” and issued cease-and-desist orders to four fraternities after an explosive article by a gay student appeared in a campus magazine last month alleging “profoundly troubling behavior in our fraternity system,” according to officials.
The article was written by Ben Kesslen, a gay sophomore at the university. During his freshmen year, while he was still figuring out his place in campus culture, Kesslen decided to join a fraternity.
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“I was seeking validation in all the wrong places,” he writes in hindsight. “I wanted to be included in an organization and a system that I had previously thought would never accept me. I wanted approval from the men who had rejected me all my life.”
He hooked up with what he believed to be one of the “good” fraternities. He would soon learn this wasn’t the case.
His very first night of rush week proved to be deeply upsetting.
Related: What It’s Like To Be A Gay, Insultingly Handsome Fraternity Brother
“They brought two women—neither of whom were Tufts students—into the basement, who proceeded to disrobe and have sex with each other on a mattress on the basement floor while we were all told to watch,” Kesslen writes. “When I asked to leave, I was told I could step towards the back but couldn’t exit the basement. I was pressured to stay, and too afraid to defend myself.”
Kesslen stood there uncomfortably as the other pledges were forced to perform oral sex on the women to see who could bring them to orgasm first.
“I watched on the outside, often turning my eyes away, horrified and disgusted,” he continues, “standing next to seniors in the fraternity enraptured by the scene, standing next to Tufts alumni who had returned to this off-campus basement to watch this “tradition.'”
Other offenses he witnessed that night included pledges “being fed shots or forced to do homoerotic and homophobic tasks or made to eat other pledges’ vomit.”
Kesslen chose to drop the fraternity the next day and was warned by the brothers not to tell anyone about what had gone down.
Related: Penn State Fraternity Pledge Sues After Being Raped During Rush Party
School administrators called the behavior described in Kesslen’s article “deeply disturbing” and said it went against the university’s values and “a variety of laws including those against hazing and sexual misconduct.”
Additionally, the university’s InterFraternity Council suspended all recruitment efforts at all of the school’s 13 fraternities and sororities through spring 2017. Eight fraternities have been required to attend a mandatory sexual misconduct prevention class, an alcohol education session, and training with a hazing prevention expert.
“These preliminary steps do not preclude further appropriate action being taken by the University, but have been implemented as interim measures pending the outcome of the current investigations,” school officials said.
Related: Frat Boy Dishes On What It’s Like To Be Gay And Greek
As for Kesslen, he would like to see fraternities banned from the school altogether.
“My narrative alone warrants the abolition of fraternities, and so many other things happen that are just as terrible or even worse,” he writes. “This should scare us.”
He concludes: “We are beyond a point where these institutions can be reformed. Next time you find yourself in the basement of a fraternity on a Saturday night, I ask you think to about what happens there when you aren’t invited.”
Brian
From the article:
“They brought two women—neither of whom were Tufts students—into the basement, who proceeded to disrobe and have sex with each other on a mattress.”
I had to LOL at this as it’s not uncommon for straight-identifying men to seek validation for their heterosexuality by gawping at fake homosexuality between women, most of whom are prostitutes.
You have to wonder about the sordid mentality of any woman who would perform homosexual acts in a fake-lesbian display for the benefit of male pervs. These women are bona-fide trash.
MacAdvisor
First, the suggestion all Greek organizations should be banned because one person alleged something bad happened at one fraternity is lubricious. The charges, should the writer actual file some, rather than just gain fame by writing about it, should be investigated, at least, before punishment. Some places even given offenders a chance to defend themselves after an investigation before imposing a punishment.
Second, the student refused to name the fraternity, nor give specifics about the date this all allegedly took place. Given the truthfulness of “Jackie” in the Rolling Stones article, I think the school jumped the gun by doing anything whatsoever.
Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
He obviously had an agenda and is probably lying. Either way he could have just left. If not where are the kidnapping charges?
The Tower of Power
@MacAdvisor: Innocent until proven guilty is a standard that exists in courts for criminal cases. We are talking about a private organization such as Tufts Univ which can investigate and punish conduct however it wants as long as it doesn’t engage in crime itself.
My employer has expelled people from the company for much less. And they didn’t even prove the employee had misbehaved, they just concluded from his personality he wouldn’t be a good fit.
SnorlaxationKH
Some of the biggest or most prestigious universities have the scummiest frats.
Whether this particular story is true though, who knows. But with everything that’s been legitimized over the years regarding bizarre or dangerous hazing rituals, it’s not hard to believe it is.
stanhope
I wonder about the veracity of the claims. Let’s just assume the story is true as presented. All fraternities are not guilty. Those who committed the offenses should suffer. The particular fraternity where this was allowed to happen should be punished. I was in a fraternity at a prestigious university populated with wealthy students for the most part. There were 2 “rah rah” frats that were always rowdy. I would hate my fraternity to to endure ramifications of their behavior. We considered them barbarians and their actives would never be welcome in our house and we wouldn’t want to be in their’s. Fair is fair.
dwes09
@MacAdvisor: The display of faux lesbianism and subsequent forced sexual contact might have been lubricious, but the notion of banning all recruitment was (perhaps) ludicrous.
Danny279
That guy is a loser. I hope that he suffers social consequences for this. Nobody forced anyone to do anything. Everyone was there voluntarily, including the women. He thinks that whatever makes him uncomfortable must be destroyed. They guys in that frat were hetero, so they enjoy seeing 2 women get it on. He didn’t like it. Big deal. This kind of person is a menace to anyone whose path he crosses.
iluzionist54
I can recall fraternity “events” that ended in death of pledges due to binge drinking being reported for Ivy League universities. So, what this report brings is really mild compared to what goes on in fraternities …
MacAdvisor
@The Tower of Power:
Tower, in an “at will” employment state, an employee can fire employees without cause, but even a private university has a due process duty to treat a student fairly and according to their own rules. While you are correct, the presumption of innocence is a criminal justice standard, it is also a bedrock of due process. Students are consumers, not employees, and public benefit corporations, which Tufts, have a duty to them. Once a duty is established, Tufts can’t just act without cause, as it did. Moreover, Tufts actions impugn the reputations of the students and Greek organizations. They would have a good defamation case against Tufts.
While corporations can act almost with impunity against employees, they have much more of a responsibility to their consumers and universities and college have even greater duties to their students.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
@Danny279: I agree 100%.