Yale Fraternity Pledges Chant "No Means Yes" Outside First-Year Dorms

"No means yes. Yes means anal!" What is this alarming pro-rape statement? Why, it the little ditty that Yale Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity pledges chanted on Wednesday as they marched around Old Campus, where most first-years are housed. That means lots of 18-year-old women embarking on their first term of university life.

Other chants reported from DKE, the fraternity of both Bush presidents, included the simple misogyny of "Fucking sluts" and the more creative, "My name is Jack, I'm a necrophiliac, I fuck dead women, and fill them with my semen." If you remember, Yale fraternites snagged headlines in 2008 when Zeta Psi pledges held "We Love Yale Sluts" signs in front of the campus Women's Center, which supports rape and sexual assault victims, among other actions. And senior Kathryn Olivarius, who previously served on the Women’s Center board, said that this isn't the first time the "no means yes" chant has graced their ivy campus either. Olivarius blames a lack of institutional memory and education about sexism for the fact that such incidents occur regularly every couple years.

After campus outrage and pressure from the Women's Center, DKE's president, senior Jordan Forney, apologized for the "serious lapse in judgment" and "poor taste," saying that students get "carried away in revelry or tradition." The Women's Center eschewed the fluffy language and termed it "hate speech" and "an active call for sexual violence." Oh, but despite the frat-organized pledge initiation ritual with its rape advocacy message, Forney says DKE does not condone rape. Maybe then they should have been chanted, "No means no."

Oh, and while you can't see much, you can hear the chant for yourself on this Youtube video:

DKE is seeking to placate campus women and get away without consequences by holding a discussion with the Women's Center about sexual violence and creating a safe environment. But rape on college campuses is too serious an issue to let the fraternity get away with its rape apologism with just a slap on the wrist. One in four college women will be victims of rape or attempted assault during their time on campus, and more and more, colleges and universities are being attacked for policies that protect rapists and rape culture. Administrators prefer to hand down lenient punishments to rapists, seeing it a "teachable moment."

But students aren't learning the right message about violence against women if rapes and pro-rape incidents are treated so lightly. Remember: this kind of incident occurs regularly. Also disturbing, in an online poll by the Yale Daily News, one-third of respondents said they didn't even see the pro-rape chant as offensive.

Broad Recognition, a feminist magazine at Yale, is calling for "real administrative action" to be taken against the fraternity and its leadership, who required impressionable pledges to voice pro-rape chants, in an article headlined "The Last Straw." They request, "Please join us in ask­ing that, this time around, Yale take action on behalf of its female stu­dents. Yale’s women have endured enough in this vein -- it must cease now." You can add your support and tell Yale Dean Mary Miller and President Richard Levin to take action against DKE fraternity and improve sexual assault prevention on campus by signing the petition here.

Photo credit: Marc_Smith