By Joshua Robison The Jambar
Ever since I joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity in spring 2025 at Youngstown State University, I had a strong sense of pride to be part of an organization bigger than myself. Before being initiated, I was skeptical but was willing to give it a chance.
However, with recent events involving members of Chi Phi fraternity allegedly sexually assaulting a former Cornell University student and brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hazing about 30 men — including minors — I see more clearly as to why fraternities have accumulated such a negative reputation.
I am not oblivious to the infamous stigma that fraternities are associated with — I wouldn’t be writing this column if I was.
I write not to dissuade men from joining fraternities, but rather to ask questions and to demand that we as fraternity men must do better, not only for our chapters, but people we affect in our lives and communities.
My questions to fraternities are why must we prove the negative opinions people have true time and time again? How many more traumatic experiences must potential new members endure before something gives?
Every time there is an incident with hazing, all that does is make people more and more scared of fraternities. It upsets me knowing this because I love being in a fraternity. I feel that it has changed my life for the better as I have met some of my closest friends through SAE and have had many countless fun memories in my fraternity. It has given me experiences that I would never have had if it wasn’t for SAE.
A fraternity is a brotherhood, a shared collection of values and place that a brother in need can rely on, not a free opportunity to commit a crime. With fraternities being a brotherhood, there must be healthy relationships amongst brothers for it to thrive.
With the acts committed by Chi Phi and AEPi, those men are failures of fraternity men and should be ashamed. They are not the only failures in this equation. All fraternity men have failed as we have allowed this culture to survive for far too long.
Too many people have suffered at the hands of hazing and, now there is just no room for it. We need to better suit ourselves with the values our fraternities hold and not abandon or betray our brothers by doing so.
The crimes committed at Cornell and UW Madison set an effective reminder as what not to do as a fraternity. I, for one, have had enough with vile fraternity chapters misrepresenting what a fraternity does on a normal basis with philanthropy for nonprofit organizations and fundraising efforts.
We fraternity members must all remind ourselves of the values our organizations teach and strive every day to uphold to the best of our abilities. We all joined a fraternity for a reason, so let’s set good examples not only for the brothers in the future, but to make amends for the sins of the past.