The Cost of Staying Silent: Safety Concerns in Greek Social Life at the College
In 1776, the College of William and Mary established an American tradition with the nation’s first fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, originally consisting of five students. Since then, Greek social life has dramatically expanded, not only at the College but across the country. Join Managing Editor Bailey Langhans ’26 as she explores hazing and drugging concerns at the College.
SYEDA SAFDAR // FLAT HAT MAGAZINE
Greek life provides the opportunity for students to participate in traditions, community, charity, and scholarship; however, these social circles also have a long and complicated history of hazing and other incidents.
In 2022, the College of William and Mary participated in the National College Student Bystander Intervention Survey — 26% of the students who participated in the study reported witnessing acts of hazing in the last year. Of these incidents, 92% involved fraternities, and 26% involved sororities.
On July 1, 2022, Virginia enacted Adam’s Law to address hazing in the Commonwealth. The law directly impacted universities, requiring hazing prevention training for students joining certain types of organizations, including Greek life. Anne Arseneau, Director of the College’s Student Leadership Development, works with a team to organize this “Home Without Hazing” training and expressed hope that these workshops and peer-to-peer conversations will have a noticeable impact.
“I think we’ll have about 3,500 people who have been trained by the end of this academic year — more people having an understanding of what hazing behavior looks like, what to do if you see it anywhere on campus, and what William and Mary’s expectations are about that.”
Despite these efforts, tangible results remain unclear.
“If you’d asked me in August what I anticipated would happen this year, I would have anticipated higher reporting happening in our anonymous report form,” Arseneau said. “That has not been the case. So I don’t have a real rationale for that, though I do like to believe people are shifting the point of how they’re paying attention to new member opportunities and are changing the dynamics of what it means to bring a new member into their organization.”
While the College continues to develop methods to prevent future incidents and establish repercussions for fraternities and sororities, many students still suffer from hazing and other safety issues at social events.
“I’ve loved being a part of Greek life, but there are aspects that everybody needs to watch out for,” one student who asked to remain anonymous said. “There are definitely party incidents.”
She experienced one of those incidents firsthand last spring, when multiple students — herself included — were drugged at a party hosted by a fraternity at the College.
“I’ve never felt like that in my life before, and it was terrifying because I couldn’t even tell anyone something was wrong,” she said. “I was so out of it, and it didn’t hit me until the next morning. Thankfully, I woke up unharmed, and my friends were unharmed, except for the fact that we knew something had gone very wrong.”
Unfortunately, despite the various anonymous report forms on the College’s website, many of these incidents remain unreported, with victims often feeling ashamed or unsure of how to proceed following the incident.
“I felt like I couldn’t even say anything about it because it was the next morning. I wasn’t in immediate danger. I should be fine. Nothing happened to me. Which is really messed up, that I felt like I couldn’t even go get tested to make sure I knew what had happened to me. I still don’t know what was in my drink [or] what happened to this day,” the student said.
Many organizations historically have stigmatized and discouraged victims from reporting incidents to prevent student-organized social events from being shut down.
“I know several of my friends and I tried to get together to raise awareness about it,” the student said. “We started an Instagram page. We had a little rally, but not a lot of people showed up. It’s not something that people want to discuss or confront because it is one of those ugly sides of Greek life.”
“A Home Without Hazing” is increasing the conversation and awareness surrounding safety issues, but the College still has room for progress.
“The school could do a lot more to clarify the Good Griffin Policy because I woke up that next morning and was like, ‘I don’t know what I can do. I’m not in immediate danger. But something has happened to me, very clearly something has happened,’” the student continued. “And to have those resources available would be very good. I think a lot of it does have to come from within, like holding people accountable.”
These incidents not only affect those directly involved in Greek life but also students who attend various social events and parties hosted by fraternities and sororities. A second student shared her story anonymously.
“We got to the party, and I took a cup and filled it probably halfway with boxed wine. I don’t remember anything after having maybe a few sips,” she said. “My friends found me later that night upstairs in a bedroom with one of the brothers and had to drag me out of the house. They already had to put another one of my friends in an Uber who, like me, had only had maybe a glass of wine and was falling on the floor and incoherent. I do not remember any of this at all. Thankfully, according to my friends, it seemed like nothing too bad had happened, but I wonder how bad it could’ve been if they hadn’t come to get me.”
In both instances, the support gained from trusted friends — sorority sisters or otherwise — helped the students avoid further harm, but this incident too was unreported. Social culture amongst students prevents some of these events from being brought to the College’s attention.
“I’m pretty positive my friend and I were both spiked [or] drugged at that frat party,” the second anonymous student said. “Neither of us reported it to the school due to fear of being blackballed from parties and social engagements — something that had happened to one of my other friends earlier in the year. For me, as an unaffiliated student, I was doubly worried about being barred from social events.”
The student also expressed the need for certain changes to Greek life to address ongoing hazing and safety issues.
“I believe that Greek life began as something good and has morphed so drastically into a harmful entity. It should not be something required for a fun social life, but it seems that has become the case,” she said. “I have watched rape, racism, and other cruelties committed by members of Greek life be completely swept under the rug by the College, to the detriment of the sorority/fraternity, its members, and the College at large. I think the College needs to be more proactive by bringing disciplinary action against these people and the organizations that condone these things.”
To address student concerns, the College provides what it calls “Student Organization Conduct History” on its website to increase transparency about Greek life incidents, some of which have resulted in the probation of certain fraternities and sororities. Nevertheless, many incidents still go unreported.
Arseneau expanded on the future endeavors that the College has planned to continue addressing hazing.
“One of the things we know for certain in working with staff is that our prospective member training will take place as part of new student orientation, which will be really helpful because we started the month of September [by] putting 1,500 people through the training. We did 15 sessions in a 30 day period,” Arseneau said. “It was a lot of energy trying to capture people outside of orientation, and I think it will be helpful to us to have every incoming student have met the requirement, whether they know they want to join or not.”
While progress remains unknown, these accounts from various students on campus reveal that concerns do still exist. Many students value active social lives during their time in college, and Greek life provides the main outlet for that support and connection at the College. Despite being well-intentioned, social gatherings held by fraternities and sororities continue to place students’ safety at risk, raising the question of what changes still need to be made for Greek life to be the safe community the College desires it to be.
