In February 2024, an apology notice was sent out to every sorority and fraternity member who was required to come to a discussion on sexual health for a Paws For A Cause program. The discussion was led by an undergraduate peer educator who worked with the Office of Health Promotion.
Paws For A Cause is meant to deepen students’ education and personal development through discussions of discrimination, hazing, mental health, sexual assault awareness and many more topics impacting students in Greek life.
Christianne Medrano Graham, the director of Sorority & Fraternity Life said each council, including the Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council, gets a turn to select a topic and speaker.
Sorority and fraternity members are required to meet an attendance quota for these monthly programs. The required percentage of each chapter in attendance varies depending on the venue size and purpose of the event. If a specific chapter doesn’t meet the attendance quota, the chapter is given a fine to be dispersed to anyone who didn’t attend the program.
For the sexual health program in February 2024, a PC member suggested inviting an Office of Health Promotion peer mentor. This was the first year an undergraduate student was allowed to give a talk for P4C.
“I do not think they handled the topic properly,” said Isabelle Ritzie, a senior studying marketing and business analytics in Delta Gamma.
The peer mentor from the February panel was trained to give similar talks, but their ability to speak sensibly to an audience of 850 was overestimated.
Ritzie said the speaker graphically described acts like anal sex.
“Half the room left,” Medrano Graham said.
Graham said she didn’t have a record of who attended or not because there was a glitch with the attendance system. She sent out an email to all sorority and fraternity members apologizing for the speaker's handling of the topic because she knew it had offended people.
For the first P4C this semester Bonny Shade was invited to discuss sexual assault awareness by members of the PC who had heard Shade speak at the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values conference. Shade is a professional speaker who aims to end campus-based sexual violence.
In October, for mental health awareness month, the IFC invited the “Without Rhyme Nor Reason” comedy tour to lead the P4C about mental health awareness after hearing their talks at the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values conference. Courtney Bee was the main comedian of the P4C which took place at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. The tour’s creator, Stephanie Foster, also discussed the main topic of mental health, showing students how to talk about it comfortably. The tour speaks at sororities across the U.S. to raise mental health awareness.
“IFC saw these speakers and (thought), ‘this would be awesome to have on campus,’ to be able to talk freely and comfortably about a topic that is very sensitive,” she said.
However, not everyone uses comedy to cope. Ritzie didn’t think it was tasteful for a comedian to be making jokes about mental health when there has been a continuous fight to destigmatize mental health on campus.
“I found that inappropriate because I think that we should hire mental health experts and not make everything a joke, especially when these topics are so heavy,” Ritzie said.
Medrano Graham also said she only received three feedback emails about the program from students.
Mae Hu, a senior studying political science and finance in Alpha Omicron Pi, shared her feelings about the sexual assault awareness presentation in August.
“The actual content that they discussed was so helpful, especially since we need more awareness about sexual assault on this campus,” Hu said.
However, the delivery of the talk didn’t always land well, according to Hu.
“Sometimes the jokes make it feel like they’re taking away from the actual subject matter,” she said.
Not all P4C programs are delivered this way, though. Kathleen Perry, a sophomore studying mechanical engineering in Alpha Omicron Pi, attended P4C educational presentations about the inclusion of diverse sexual orientations given by Micah McCarey, and the dangers of fentanyl by the Birdie Light Foundation.
“I thought the talks themselves were very engaging,” Perry said.
Some students were critical of the attendance requirement.
“I also do not think that you should require someone to go to something that will make them upset,” Ritzie said.
Students have to come for attendance, but during the presentation, they are free to leave.
“People are never forced to stay,” Medrano Graham said.
“I’m never sure how deeply they’re going to go into a topic,” Hu said.
She had been caught off guard by the details Shade went into during the sexual assault awareness program.
“(The attendance requirement) gets people out to the talk,” Perry said. “It can also become a point of stress when a chapter can’t make it because of other obligations.”
Speakers cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000, Medrano Graham said. That’s why SFL uses its resources from the university when it can because it doesn’t cost anything.
“For me, an ideal educational component of it would be to have constant workshops with little groups of 10 to 20 people in it,” Medrano Graham said.
The next P4C event planned for November will be a presentation on how to use EpiPens given by Chief Michael Suhy, the co-founder of the Allison Rose Foundation.
P4Cs are open to all students, not just sorority and fraternity members.
P4C and SFL are meant to provide students with safe, educational and positive experiences. The events can be a hit or a miss with students, but as long as the program continues to evolve and strive toward its main goal, it can be a positive influence on students.
