In print | Published April 10, 2008

To the Editor:

As a fraternity, we are deeply concerned by the issues brought up in last week’s letters to The Phoenix. We were proud to host part of the Genderfuck party, but we’re furious and ashamed about the violations of the queer safe space, the basic groundwork without which the queer friendly environment that the party engenders becomes unachievable.

We do feel it prudent to mention a brief account of the night before going further: specifically, that Haverford and Villanova students showed up at the party, acting hostilely at our house and making inappropriate advances at women, and that we removed them from the house after we were approached about their actions.

This is not to say that the comments overheard at the Genderfuck party were solely attributable to visiting students — regrettably, we’re aware that they could’ve come from Swarthmore students and DU brothers, and we welcome any information that could clarify for us who was responsible, so that we can act accordingly. In retrospect, we should have acted more quickly and we should have prepared more thoroughly.

We had made public the names of several brothers designated to handle issues of sexual harassment for the night of the Genderfuck party, but it was understandably difficult to patrol a house full of more than 300 people, and we should have put in place better mechanisms to ensure the queer safe space was exactly what it was intended to be. Delta Upsilon holds the Sager symposium and the Genderfuck party both in high esteem, hoping to co-host both in years to come, and we want to continue doing our part to keep our house tolerant and safe.

If you have any relevant information, please contact either me, Luke Rampersad ’10, or Alex Ginsberg ’08. Again, we sincerely apologize and look forward to a more positive Sager experience in the future.

Brendan Work ’10
DU Public Relations

« RETURN TO OPINIONS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »