This isn’t just a Penn State issue, this is an issue with groups that have a sense of entitlement or where the ‘group think’ is that whatever they want to do goes, it is true for fraternities, it is true for fraternal groups of varying sorts (anyone ever read about what went on at the Tailhook convention in the 80’s, of Navy personnel and veterans of the navy, grown men, including high ranking brass…)
Sax hit the nail on the head “It is interesting that people behave differently when in a group than if they stood and acted alone. The group mentality often makes people feel less accountable for their actions. The same way that mob mentality works.”
That is exactly the problem, groups create a ‘group mentality’ that often can absolve people from individual moral actions, it is much the same thing as people who compartmentalize…it is why mobs are dangerous, and why incitement to riot is a major crime, because it hinges on mobs.
I think because these incidents involve aspects of the mob mentality/group mentality, I think that in some ways there needs to be collective punishment. While I think that the ultimate penalties under the law or in terms of being expelled should be on an individual basis, group punishment in this case should be warranted as well. In the military, if a member or members of a unit do something wrong, they will punish the unit, and the idea is sound, it tells the members of the group they are responsible for each other, and as a result they know to self police because if a buddy does something wrong, they will pay, too. I don’t know what an appropriate group penalty would be, could be anything from a semester to year long ban on having parties, not being able to be involved in intergreek events (sports, etc), or perhaps other sanctions if the incident is aggregious enough. The idea is to make the frats and other groups understand that they won’t be able to hide behind “I didn’t do it”, it makes them literally their brothers keepers; if the problem is group think, the answer is making the group responsible for what happenes.
That said, I don’t agree that the kids involved didn’t know what they were doing was wrong. I don’t argue that kids are sexualized, but in this day and age along with all the sexual images, kids are also awash in issues like date rape, they see and hear alot more then we did when I was growing up, and the basic issue here isn’t about sex per se, it is the issue of non consensuality, of doing something to someone against their will.
And let me add something else, the kind of thing we see here is not new, this is not something because of the internet or porn, this kind of crap was going on in frat houses way, way back, Animal House was a lighthearted version of the “Animal Frat”, and back then if you think the Neidermeyer frat wasn’t doing stuff like this, I have a bridge to sell you. I have read accounts of what happened to girls at frats at places like Harvard going back into the 20’s, where the girls were shamed by what happened to them then, the misbehavior back then wasn’t all putting fizzies in a swim meet swimming pool…the fact that they have the internet and such only makes what they are doing more easy to do, but you can bet back in the day that some of the ‘brothers’ shared pictures of women passed out and nude, or relished things like having their way with a girl out of it,probably as a group…the only difference today is that when these incidents happen, they aren’t covered up, in the old days many frat members were privileged kids where money made the problem go away, and schools would cover it up as ‘boys will be boys’.
For the poster who said they wouldn’t go to PSU because of this, I would rethink that. It doesn’t mean I think the administration of PSU has necessarily done enough to reign in the animals, but it would be kind of idiotic to asssume the whole school is this, lot of good kids go there, they have some great programs, and believe me, having dealt with the administration of my own school, they are all political, they all would rather problems went away, so don’t think this is anything different than other schools…