Three female Yale students filed a lawsuit against the university and nine of its fraternities, seeking to force fraternities to accept women as members.
Feb. 12 (UPI) — Three female Yale students filed a lawsuit against the university and nine of its fraternities Tuesday, seeking to force fraternities to accept women as members.
Students Anna McNeil, Ellie Singer and Ry Walker filed the lawsuit stating that “‘separate but equal’ Greek life” at Yale reinforces gender norms, stereotypes and prejudices. They asked the court to award damages and order changes in policy such as “fully integrating women” in Yale fraternities.
“Simply put, fraternities elevate men to social gatekeepers and relegate women and non-binary students to sexual objects,” the lawsuit states. “Moreover, Yale’s fraternities have alumni and professional connections to the business world, including banking and consulting firms, which often result in coveted job offers and economic opportunities.”
Additionally, they stated men at Yale fraternities “deny female students admission to parties based on their appearance, verbally harass them, grind against them, grab them, and grope them.”
All three women told CBS News they had been sexually harassed at fraternity parties, including being grinded on, groped from behind and an instance in which Walker said someone pulled up her skirt.
Joan Gilbride, a lawyer representing the fraternities named in the lawsuit, said the accusations in the suit are “baseless and unfounded” and the fraternities as well as their larger national organizations would defend against them.
