CSU frat out to educate on sex assaults

Laura Bailey, Fort Collins Coloradoan

Published May 29, 2007 at midnight

Text size

More Local News

FORT COLLINS - A group of fraternity brothers at Colorado State University has decided to get involved with a problem typically thought of as a women's issue.

The Phi Delta Theta fraternity recently launched a campaign to educate men on campus about sexual assault.

Led by President Rob Pieratt and a live-in graduate adviser, Keith Lopez, the men are trying to raise awareness among fellow Greeks and other college men.

"It's important for guys to know that anyone affected by alcohol cannot legally consent," Pieratt said, adding that he believes some students, especially younger ones, could be stopped from making bad judgments with the help of peer mentoring.

The fraternity received a $5,000 grant last month from university President Larry Penley and the Greek Vision Awards, in which sororities and fraternities competed to win funds for a campus community project.

The Phi Delts are planning a five-day awareness event on campus next spring. As part of it, they will bring in a nationally known public speaker and collect donations for a local rape crisis center.

But next spring's event is not the first involvement the fraternity has had, Lopez said.

Lopez teaches a sexual assault awareness class to fraternity and sorority members that the fraternity helped create with the Office of Women's Programs at CSU.

The class - taught for the first time this spring - is the highlight of the new Greeks Against Sexual Assault program, which the fraternity co-founded.

Lopez said their efforts were inspired by studies that indicate a majority of college rapes are committed by fraternity men against sorority women.

When his fellow Greeks hear that, they're astounded, he said.

"They want to do something about that statistic," he said. "That's not at all who we want our community portrayed as."

Lopez said educating college men on legal definitions of sexual assault, peer-to-peer counseling, specifically man-to-man, has been shown to be effective.

As part of their public awareness event next spring, the men will offer mini-mentoring sessions to fraternities, but the highlight will be an event on the plaza outside Lory Student Center.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News