[twosheep]

As a former employee of a fraternity I read this whole thing, and am confused about its point. I guess the author was trying for "Fraternities are bad because bad things happen to people that visit them" but all of the cited cases have nothing to do with the fraternity and have everything to do with a bunch of 18-year-olds being drunk and in a house together. Am I missing something?

[calibraxis]

I think one could also tell a biologist or psychologist that their objects of study are just a bunch of atoms stuck together.

Systems (like human institutions) have organizing principles, which are at least a level above the members which comprise them. Two different institutions can have the exact same people in them, but show vastly different outcomes.

[twosheep]

Ok I understand even less now -- the drunk kid that shoves a bottle rocket up his butt while partying with friends is at fault unless he is in a building owned by a fraternity due to the organizing principles of the fraternity? As the article notes, he wasn't a member of the fraternity, he was just on their property.

[mattlutze]

What I'm missing is how this article is HM-relevant.

The fraternity house is generally scapegoated in the article as the locust of bad deeds because they tend indeed to be a locust for collegiate social interaction. Some bad things really do happen in fraternities.

I'll say though, the ~"60 people died in incidents related to fraternities over 10 years" stat is almost laughable if the author wasn't apparently serious. From a risk management perspective, focusing on 6 people a year out of 10's of millions that interact within a fraternity environment doesn't seem like the right prioritization.

Sexual assault happens more frequently and concern there is well-placed. But I do wonder if its incident rate wouldn't simply transfer to the general school population should, for example, fraternities be close on a campus.

It just seems to make sense to me that, if folks are going to come together and socialize with inhibition-inhibiting substances, some people with bad intentions are going to act on them, whether at a fraternity house party or a non-fraternity house party.

[peteretep]

    > What I'm missing is how this article is HN-relevant

How much did you read? It describes the inner workings of a fascinating bureaucratic system. Flag it if you don't like it.