Yale President, Dean Respond To Sexist Chants

Yale President Richard Levin and Dean Mary Miller have released a statement condemning the sexist chants yelled by a fraternity on campus last week but offering no resolute punishment for those involved.

The Yale Daily News has the full text, excerpted below:

We write to express our dismay at the appalling language loudly chanted by Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity initiates last Wednesday outside of student residences and elsewhere on campus. Yale has policies that broadly protect freedom of expression, but we also value decency and civility, and we are committed to maintaining an environment that fosters a learning community of men and women founded upon mutual respect. We will confront hateful speech when it has been uttered, and we take this opportunity do so in no uncertain terms: No member of our community should engage in such demeaning behavior.

Levin and Miller called upon those involved "to reflect deeply, and to embark on a course that will heal the hurt they have caused."

Meanwhile, the Yale Daily News has come under a fire of its own for an editorial stating that Yale's Women's Center initially overreacted to the chanting and responded with "histrionics."

In a letter to its readers yesterday, the YDN said their "intent was not to offend. Nor was it to attack ... We sought to comment not on whether rape still exists at Yale, but on the most productive way to discuss it."

What do you think? Weigh in below.

Comments

[Momklok]

05:48 PM on 10/25/2010

Yale is disgusting and is a direct result of the attitudes of the men in power. Every woman at Yale should press charges immediately against any male who harrasses her. Let the school be drowned in scandal and lawsuits. That is the only way to change things. Have a direct affect on their wallets.

[Woobie Tuesday]

07:00 PM on 10/24/2010

Lip service; insufficient at that.

[stuffmatters]

06:08 AM on 10/23/2010

George W.Bush was president of this same fraternity chapter (DKE at Yale) in 1968. Just saying.

[Dmitiry Gorbenko]

04:34 AM on 10/24/2010

right

[robwriter]

05:25 PM on 10/22/2010

The administration of The University of Phoenix at New Haven, aka "Yale," obviously has no control over what happens on campus. No one should be surprised when the next woman is raped there and I would hope that when the university is sued her lawyer finds a way to get the "rape chant," Yale's new school song, admitted as evidence of the university's negligent disregard. Once the school has lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit, maybe a more responsible group of administrators will be hired. Why any woman would attend Yale or any alumnus continue to donate money is a mystery.

[loki]

11:46 PM on 10/21/2010

lets see. dead female stuffed in the wall of Yale, no big deal. Sexist chants, no big deal..

Just what is a big deal to these elitist ivy greeders?
I know after that poor woman was found in the walls dead, they did whatever they could to get it out of the press as fast as they could. More worried about their precious image than finding the poor womans murderer. Last I heard they suspected the boy friend, but that seemed like the easiest way to make it all go away in the public eye. Haven't heard much of it since. These high and mighty I'm better than you types just slay me.

[loki]

11:19 PM on 10/21/2010

basically, publicly they condemn it. But privately, they feel they are above question from the plebeians, and being they are an Ivy Greed Educator, they should not be bothered with such trivial questions. They are the elitist, they can do what they want, when they want, and to whom they wish.

[WeCanDoMore]

11:13 PM on 10/20/2010

Shut Yale down. They produce the likes of Bushes, and foster r@pists. What a disgusting group of holier than thou high IQ dumb people.

[nononsensetypeofguy]

01:44 AM on 10/21/2010

Sour grapes.

[loki]

11:19 PM on 10/21/2010

maybe, but he is an honest sour grapes.

[Linda Williams]

11:13 AM on 10/21/2010

Am an Ivy L. grad but have to agree. Emotional maturity (or lack) can trump intellectual maturity. This is a perfect example. These kids were not ready for "the big time". They needed to go into the work force a while before entering ANY college.

[loki]

11:27 PM on 10/21/2010

I had the displeasure of going to Harvard. Id agree that for the most part, Ivy greed school produce ego driven narcissistic , even sadistic greedy elitist who have done more to damage our country and world than to help it. WIth almost ever politician, every CEO and almost every person of influential power in this country who was at the helm leading up to and during our most devastating economical times, were all Ivy Greeders. These schools have gone from producing the best and smartest, to the most privileged and most selfish and most destructive to others. I think a lot has to do with catering to the wishes of the elitist who donate with terms. So to get the money the school conform, even though it hurts everyone. They produce more of what is wrong with in capitalism and government. They create the Them and US aura that many of their students carry with them into their careers. My money and how much can I get is the most important to them, and who they step on is just part of getting to their money that they feel they deserve. Sad, but very true.

[kalital]

05:58 PM on 10/20/2010

Sexism is built so deep into the fiber of Yale University that the school is hardly imaginable without it. I remember when I was a grad student there, sexual harassment of female students by professors was such an institution that women teaching assistants formed support groups to cope with it. More than one "too famous to purge" male professor picked a female undergrad to seduce each semester. A famous literary critic used to use the line, "You're the most brilliant student I've ever had" to persuade female undergrads to bed him, and then delighted in giving them a "B" in the class. Another famous history prof was known for chasing female grad students around the desk, and all knew that they should never close the door while in his office. Those who attempted to file harassment complaints were either driven out of school or threatened with the destruction of their careers. We used to call the appointments of young female faculty members "Folding Chairs" since they virtually never received tenure. I remember being counseled, in all seriousness by a dinosaur of a male administrator, that if I continued to voice feminist sentiments in my courses, I'd get a reputation for being "willful." So this is in keeping with the Yale tradition, as is the mealy-mouthed response of administrators. I earned my Ph.D. there, and every minute of it was unpleasant.

[alexandracabot]

10:55 PM on 10/20/2010

Maybe the grad schools, but as an undergrad, I've never felt anything close to what you describe...

[CateManhattan]

12:48 AM on 10/21/2010

The little known trashy secret of higher education -- yes, what kalital talks about happens -- many, many times.

The trick is that you do not complain if you want your degree. Two grad profs proposition me, I refused -- and laughed at them. I never complained to anyone, until the day I graduated. Then I told on them -- they left soon afterward. That's the way to do it -- get done, then get justice.

Faculty joke that of course they had a right to date/seduce their grad students: how else would they find their second wives.

[Linda Williams]

11:15 AM on 10/21/2010

I chose Columbia over Yale for this reason. Back then, Columbia was not a whole lot better but its position in a city forced it to deal with these issues. Bless your brave soul; I would have gone bat crazy. F&F

[GUT BUSTER]

04:35 PM on 10/20/2010

So what did they say???

And if you're a woman and you loudy protest something, especially if it has to do with woman's rights, they'll use adjectives to describe it like, 'ranting' 'histrionics' or 'hysterical'. Just more sexism.

[CruiseCraft]

06:35 PM on 10/20/2010

I think they chanted ''No means yes, yes means anal''.