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CNN Sunday Morning
Dartmouth Fraternity Under Fire for Threats Against Women
Aired May 06, 2001 - 08:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Princeton University has a new president and she is the first woman to hold that august title. Shirley Tilghman has been a member of the faculty there for the past 15 years and a professor of molecular biology. Tillman is the 19th president of the 255-year-old Ivy League school. The current president, Harold Shapiro, is retiring.
On another Ivy League campus, the news not nearly as positive today. At Dartmouth, the problem is sexual threats against women.
CNN's Bill Delaney with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A newsletter created at a fraternity at elite Dartmouth College, including photos of campus women considered sexually available and a promise that advice on committing date rape would be in an upcoming issue. Dartmouth condemns Zeta Psi and placed the fraternity on probation.
At another prestigious college, though, all female Wellesley outside Boston, outrage.
CORA SAYERS, SOPHOMORE: It's pretty absurd and pretty awful and scary for, you know, women.
THERESA DIDONATO, SENIOR: That just makes me ill. That kind of, oh, that's just perpetuating this culture of violence and this, that just makes me ill. It's disgusting.
DELANEY: Theresa Di Donato is a senior at Wellesley, a trained counselor in rape and sexual assault who says the newsletter reflects a persistent attitude among some young men downplaying the seriousness of the sexual pressure that can lead to date rape.
DIDONATO: The term date rape is often separated from rape. It's the same thing. It doesn't matter where the rape takes place, it is a rape, and it's a terrible crime.
DELANEY: And common.
(on camera): The National Center for Victims of Crime estimates one in four women will experience date rape or some kind of sexual assault while in college. (voice-over): Still a dangerous world for the daughters of the generation of women who 30 years ago ignited the modern women's movement.
PROFESSOR SUSAN REVERBY, WOMEN'S STUDIES: Same old same old. My reaction was we know that it's often fraternities and sports groups of men in particular that are involved in date rape situations. I think if you asked them, they wouldn't think it was about rape. I mean I think it's about scoring and I think it was always about scoring.
DELANEY: Some young women at Wellesley, though, say some young men are just acting on the degrading images of women that surround them.
DANA WILLIAMS, JUNIOR: On all fronts, you know, in the media, these are fictionalized images of women and therefore it's not their fault that they don't get it. It's, these are the only messages that they're receiving so...
DELANEY: The same fraternity at Dartmouth reportedly was put on probation in the 1980s for a similar newsletter.
Bill Delaney, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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