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ASUC Sexual Violence Commission discusses Phi Gamma Delta incident

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DANIELA CERVANTES | STAFF

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OCTOBER 21, 2018

The ASUC Sexual Violence Commission convened Thursday to discuss how members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, or Fiji, jokingly posed with students protesting sexual assault.

The commission plans to meet with the presidents and lead advisers of the UC Berkeley Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council next week to discuss future action.

The student protestors gathered outside Fiji, holding signs that said “boycott frats” and describing statistics of sexual violence. They were interrupted by members of the fraternity who took a photo posing behind the protesters and holding up peace signs in what many alleged a mockery of the protest.

“We are in a state of shock about the fact that we are still living in this perpetual culture of sexual violence and sexual harassment even though we have so many programs, so much education and so much money being thrown at these kind of things,” said Ezra Alanis, chair of the commission.

According to Erika Casey, assistant chair of the commission, a key difficulty is that Fiji remains an unaffiliated fraternity. They do not have to abide by the same rules as affiliated fraternities, such as having clearly marked exits, providing water or taking part in sexual assault trainings, Casey said.

The picture was privately distributed among the Fiji group chat and posted on Instagram.

“They are unaffiliated, which is supposed to be a punishment, but instead, they just get to work outside of the rules and regulations,” Natalie Fulton, a commission member, said during the meeting.

The goal of the future meeting with Greek life leadership is to discuss the commission’s frustrations and grievances and see if the councils are taking any action that the commission can support, Casey said.

“I don’t think the conversation stops at Fiji,” Alanis said during the meeting.

Contact Katherine Kemp at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @katherinekemp.
LAST UPDATED

OCTOBER 22, 2018


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