Campus administrators at the George Washington University are considering amending a series of policies related to discrimination and governing of student organizations on campus that could soon make it impossible for single-sex student organizations to exist.
According to a new report in the GW Hatchet, campus officials are considering updates to the “protected characteristics” classes, which are a series of qualities among which individuals choose to identify, such as race, to further include “sex, gender and gender identity or expression.”
Based on the proposed guidelines, “failing or refusing to allow an individual to participate in a student organization or activity based on their protected characteristics” would be considered discrimination, which could subject the student organization to penalties on campus that could include fines or shutting down the club.
In their proposal, campus administrators have also drafted an expanded definition of what would be considered harassment on campus. According to the new definition, harassment would be considered “any unwelcome conduct based on a protected characteristic where such conduct creates a hostile environment.” Further more, an expanded definition of hostile environment includes any behavior where “the conduct is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with, limits, or deprives an individual from participating in or benefiting from the university’s educational, employment, and/or campus-residential experience when viewed through both a subjective and objective standard.”
While the goal of eliminating discrimination and harassment is one that all individuals should strive for, regardless of political or religious belief, these new guidelines could have unnecessary consequences in that they may suppress free speech or limit activities by single-sex organizations that have been beneficial for students and the community in the past.
For example, under the proposed addition of gender as a protected characteristic, the new rules could make it impossible for all-female sororities and all-male fraternities to exist. Implementation of such a rule would be extremely unfair to students, as Greek organizations have historically performed lots of service projects in their local communities, and also provided a solid ground for developing brotherhood and sisterhood among their members. Furthermore, many of the events hosted by these organizations are not gender exclusive and open to members of the community, making the new gender ban pointless.
The expanded definition of harassment is also problematic, as students will gain further power to make a case against certain types of speech on campus that they may say makes them uncomfortable, such as a lecture by Ben Shapiro or David Horowitz. While we may have differing opinions of political and religious thought, no one should protest the right to expression of that thought in the university setting.
John Patrick (@john_pat_rick) is a graduate of Canisius College and Georgia Southern University. He interned for Red Alert Politics during the summer of 2012 and has continued to contribute regularly.
