Judge Mitch Crane compared drinking alcohol to eating chocolate cake — both may be okay in moderation, but overconsumption of either one is likely to make a person sick.
But while eating too much chocolate cake will result in only a stomachache, drinking too much alcohol often leads to sexual assault, said Crane, who spoke Monday night before an audience of more than 200 people in the EMU Ballroom.
Crane’s presentation was sponsored by the Greek Life Department, Oregon Club Sports, Sigma Nu fraternity and Peer Health Education as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
Too often, Crane said, students come to college with the idea that because they are no longer living with their parents, they are free to do anything they want.
For many students, this means drinking and partying as much as possible — and that, Crane said, is when tragedies can occur.
“Most of time nothing bad happens,” he said. “But sometimes it does.”
As an example of how drinking can play a role in sexual assault, Crane told a story about one college student he referred to only as “Suzy.”
Suzy, he said, was a naive college freshman — she was a virgin, and she had little experience with drinking. One night, she met an attractive man who seemed to be a nice guy.
He invited her to a party, encouraged her to drink, and once she was drunk, he invited her to come home with him. Once they were at his house, he pressured her to have sex with him. She said no, but he thought she didn’t mean it. He raped her, and to this day, Crane said, Suzy still bears the emotional scars of that night.
Although the incident he described took place in Florida, Crane said sexual assault is a problem that needs to be addressed at college campuses across the nation.
A member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Crane said it is especially important that this issue be addressed in the greek system because of the negative perceptions that many people have about fraternities and sororities.
He urged audience members, most of whom are involved in the greek system, to change the way their houses are perceived. They can do this, he said, by looking out for their friends if they seem to be in a potentially dangerous situation. This might mean stopping a drunk woman from going home with a man she doesn’t know, or taking the keys away from a friend too intoxicated to drive, he said.
“Do what you think is necessary to prevent a tragedy,” Crane said.
Panhellenic Council spokeswoman Hannah Unkefer said the Greek Life Department sponsored the event not as a response to problems within the University’s greek system, but as a proactive measure to prevent future problems.
Michael Kubas, spokesman for the Interfraternity Council, added, “We’d rather stop it before it happens.”
Ben Fuchs, vice president of Sigma Nu Fraternity, said the group became involved with the event in an effort to educate people on how to party safely.
“We want to promote awareness in the community about safe drinking habits,” Fuchs said.
Former Sigma Nu president Nick Tomasulo said he hoped the speech would change negative perceptions about the greek system.
“We want to get fraternities back to the fundamental ideals they were founded on,” Tomasulo said.