Wednesday, June 10, 2020

To the community members of Gallaudet University:

Introduction

In light of the recent events, Gallaudet University made multiple statements and conducted performative virtual events, promising to work on their institutional racism. Institutional racism is one of the biggest contributors to the overall systemic violence on campus. These events include town halls, speeches, and posts with inspirational text. None of it includes any information on legitimate approaches where full accountability has to be conducted. Gallaudet University did not once identify, recognize, or acknowledge where institutional racism presents itself in their university, until as of yesterday on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, where they recognized the systemic racism intertwined with the core existence of Kappa Gamma Fraternity and suspended the organization. 

This petition identifies and recognizes one of the largest key players promoting institutional violence in the daily lives of students, faculty, staff, and administrators at Gallaudet University: the very existence of Greek organizations. Due to Gallaudet’s overdramatized value of the Greek organizations, so many -isms are horrifyingly rampant. Because of this action taken by Gallaudet University on a daily basis, the lack of accountability taken towards the Greek organizations is inherently racist itself and the neglect - either purposeful or not purposeful - is also embedded in their actions of sexism, ableism, heterosexism, ageism, and classism. One primary reason there are hundreds of reported and unreported incidents caused by Greek life activities is how a percentage of Gallaudet administrators is associated with these very same Greek organizations when they were students. 

Because of how deeply the power and status the Greek organizations harvest, it has brought numerous limitations to the Gallaudet administration to perform their duties with full authenticity and integrity, this petition declares an approach that many members of the Gallaudet community have been saying for years - some even for decades - and it would result in actual accountability for institutional violence: the act of dismantling and abolishing Greek organizations. 

How Institutional Violence Manifests through Greek Organizations

The existence, history, and legacy within Greek organizations are submerged in institutional violence. The exaggerated power, status, and intimidation begin right away, even as soon as the first day a student becomes a pledge. The largest component of violence in Greek organizations lies in the duration of pledging, deluding students into participating in activities that provoke a spectrum of discomfort, oppression, victimization, and secrecy, just to earn their sense of belonging. The cycle then continues when these very same students become responsible in continuing their organization’s history, either through projection or deluded beliefs of responsibility of maintaining the system. Traditions are not very sensitive to the true meaning of their beliefs or practices, often presented as a justification to impede — rather than enhance — experiences, subordinating nonviolent approaches. Even without active participation in these practices that are either directly or indirectly violent, one’s basic membership signals their complicity.

Each -ism is a system of oppression and it sets off a chain of reactions throughout the university’s student body. The presence of Greek organizations promotes institutional racism heavily through several means. White and white-presenting individuals have more opportunities throughout their lives, enhancing their chances of getting into the fraternity or sorority they desire, and their backgrounds contribute significantly to the organization’s whiteness, resulting in white supremacy, either implicit or explicit. The ideologies, traditions, and symbols have racist origins. The process of filtering and selecting “ideal” students is aligned with the concept of gatekeeping; each member of predominantly white organizations has their bias, which was developed by societal expectations, on what makes an ideal candidate. Due to the whiteness and gatekeeping of Greek organizations, the networking opportunities and resources are limited further, even being more limited amongst members of color and members with other marginalized identities. There are multiple statements accounted for by members of color feeling that they were tokenized. Because of the marginalization of students of color in Greek life, the opportunities to diversify and equalize students’ experiences are not as numerous and meaningful. The overall institutional racism results in and reinforces other institutional types of violence, one being mental health systemic violence. 

The impact of racism heightens racial trauma for the student body of color, resulting in feeling disconnected, increased risk of depression and anxiety, decreased hope and trust, feelings of powerlessness, and existential questioning. The Greek experience has similar impacts on the overall student body population’s mental health, with more vulnerability of experiencing more mental health crises, especially during the pledging process. Gallaudet and its administration have made zero efforts of aligning their mental health services and resources to address specific Greek-provoked mental health crises due to the expectations of secrecy, which is disempowering for these students who needed help. Furthermore, the harm of brotherhood or sisterhood is perpetuated by the oxymoronic practices of challenging, dismissing, and dwindling their members’ mental health and have it disguised by terms of empowerment, leadership, and growth. These damaging practices include but are not limited to: mental preservation challenges, psychological abuse, verbal abuse (short and prolonged periods of time), mental delusions, anxiety and/or paranoia-inducing exercises, numbing emotions, suppression of voicing mental and emotional pain, and enhanced negative perceptions of self and reality. The distress within this core prompts internal trauma, where many suppress and harvest into the need of maintaining power and status to preserve their denial for years to come. 

There are numerous inequalities throughout the university and the student experience. These are further enhanced by the expectations of Greek life, setting off struggles in other areas for Greek members. The usage of alcoholism and drugs can be a starting or triggering point for numerous students. One example of the chain of events would be alcoholism and rape culture. Rape culture is elevated through the perceived acceptance and pressure of alcohol, making fraternities become a place of toxic masculinity. One’s sexuality does not parallel with their growth or leadership, yet it is one of the most common aspects explored in Gallaudet’s Greek life, misleading to the belief of association between sexuality and power and status. Lastly, the financial aspect of Greek life can be a negative encounter for aspiring and current members to face as the opportunity to join and maintain one’s membership is through dues and other classist means. The price to pay for such opportunities is on the top of student tuition towards Gallaudet’s promises of networking, resources, and job/experience opportunities. What Greek life had to offer is a smaller circle of exclusive materials that should’ve been covered by Gallaudet’s services to start with. The overall nature in the Greek organizational structure is not inclusive in many ways; it causes strong influence and division of the overall climate on campus and beyond, where the dominance continues into professional careers and opportunities. Its structure naturally attracts individuals with similar aspirations of achieving what each Greek organization offers, where true diversification in that setting is not as possible as a climate with no Greek organizations.

The Vision of Dismantling Greek Organizations

This petition emphasizes that the issue of institutional violence lies within the responsibility of institutional leaders, who are Gallaudet administrators, due to their roles and duties to enhance the opportunities for belonging, thriving, and growth for students. Furthermore, some of these leaders are the very same people who participated in the cycle of violence in Greek life so the lack of knowledge, understanding, and activism about this system does not exist. The action of dismantling weighs heavily on your endorsement, which can be given as a signature on this petition; however, the decision of dismantling truly weighs heavily on the administrators. The Gallaudet administration must give up their power and status of Greek association within their professional careers. By letting go of these associations, the administrators will get the opportunity to unpack their need and focus on protecting Greek organizations or members, especially when the population of existing members and affiliations ceases. Without this conscious and subconscious power in preserving Greek organizations, the administrators will be able to realign their focus on performing more specific duties that will enhance the overall student experience and diminish institutional violence. 

This petition recognizes the need for accountability within each Greek organization and its members. Therefore, this petition also calls for the dismantling to take place immediately with a six-month period of time, the first day being the day of dismantling, given to each organization to process and decide on how they wish to hold themselves accountable for the Gallaudet communities, which can include but is not limited to: apologies and plans of action for their history, archives, resources, and journeys. This call is to specifically honor the space each marginalized group of members in all Greek organizations are to have for reflection, introspection, and dialogue, especially to have members to hold themselves accountable for their privileges, actions, and complicity. 

This petition acknowledges some community members’ pondering of reform opportunities. As long as Greek organizations continue to exist, its roots will remain within the cultivation of institutional violence throughout Kendall Green. Its ties to racism, sexism, rape culture, ableism, and classism will continue to prevail through reactive actions made by members that are still predominant in whiteness, wealth, abled-minded, able-bodied, heterosexism, and other privileges. Daily work towards equity must be conducted internally and externally, which can impose a challenge when there is already inequity and oppression within the daily work itself an that itself is yet to be unpacked. The system itself is not broken but rather designed in a way where it is not fully inclusive by nature. In the June 9th video released by Bobbi Cordano, the President of Gallaudet University, it was stated that Gallaudet University aims to engage in a plan developed in accordance with the principles of Multicultural Organizational Development (MOD). Its model includes making the actions to make systemic changes required to value and integrate the perspectives of diverse identities, cultures, and styles, into the institution's system. It is said with confidence that this petition serves as a significant step in accomplishing a part of making systemic changes. 

This petition was developed in collaboration with individuals of various identities, backgrounds, and Greek affiliations. It was also developed in correspondence with Kappa Theta Phi Sorority, including dialogue where all parties came to conclusion where Kappa Theta Phi Sorority wishes to cease their status affiliation as a Greek organization and realign their goals to be a student service organization primarily for Black women and women of color. The new name change is to be announced once it is determined. They also will focus on reviving and intensifying the success of the Keeping the Promise (KTP) program at Gallaudet. This petition also wants to honor Black Student Union’s petition through its alignment of advocating for equity and diversity for the Black and Brown student population. The petition’s call of dismantling and accountability for the administrators and Greek organizations of Gallaudet University will make the overall community take a step towards becoming a better place.

This petition envisions Gallaudet in taking the step of evolving its climate towards a place where the concept of cultivating power and status through Greek associations will cease to exist and carry no meaning. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members will thrive directly through their connections that are not built off institutional violence. Individuals will be seen for their uniqueness, presence, aspirations, and drive towards making Gallaudet the place to connect, discover, and influence. 

By signing this petition, you believe in:

• Holding Gallaudet University and their administrators accountable for their reinforcement of institutional violence, including racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and many more, within Greek organizations
• Dismantling Greek organizations in order to remove the roots of their histories, actions, and dominances from institutional violence
• Establishing a six-month period to begin immediately on the day of the dismantling to grant each Greek organization opportunities to hold their organizations and themselves fully accountable through various means
• Endorsing Gallaudet University that they have the ability to take the action necessary to reduce institutional violence by a significant percentage and to redirect their resources, funds, and time towards enhancing positive opportunities for a better student experience and connection