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."

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