Did This Fraternity Go Too Far?

danjoseph | August 25, 2015
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A fraternity at Old Dominion University has been suspended after hanging sexually suggestive banners from their balcony.

The banners encouraged the parents of incoming freshman girls to drop their daughters, as well as the freshman girls' mothers, off at the frat house.

Campus officials and the executive director of the Sigma Nu Fraternity immediately denounced the banners and opened an investigation into the incident.

“Such language has no place in our Fraternity or within any caring community, such as that of ODU. Any Fraternity member found to be responsible for this reprehensible display will be held accountable by the Fraternity,” said Brad Beacham, Sigma Nu Fraternity’s Executive Director in a statement.

With the recent focus on what has been deemed a "rape culture" on American college campuses, one would think that the students would know better than to hang these types of banners in a hyper-charged politically correct atmosphere, such as a college campus.

However, it's important to point out that the banners don't advocate any type of sexual misconduct and in all likelihood were meant as a joke. Despite this, the university's president immediately deemed the stunt as being a promotion of violence against women.

"The moment University staff became aware of these banners, they worked to have them removed. At ODU, we foster a community of respect and dignity and these messages sickened us. They are not representative of our 3,000 faculty and staff, 25,000 students and our 130,000 alumni. Ours is a community that works actively to promote bystander intervention and takes a stand denouncing violence against women."

Whether or not the outrage is justified, the students behind the banners in question probably got the idea from other fraternities who have hung similar banners on their houses in years past. Here are some examples of the daughter drop-off joke that other college students created: 

 

The house was located off campus but was populated by ODU students.  

 

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