I graduated from Stanford in 2013, where I was an active leader in Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity and Stanford Greek life more broadly. As such, I’m intimately familiar with the cycle of recklessness and impunity that characterizes Stanford frat life. It is a cultural world that through various institutional and interpersonal means frequently signals to impressionable young men that they can do anything they want. Year after year, I watched these young men test what their privileges can allow them to get away with. And I’ve seen how these testing of limits are often carried out to the detriment of women, with reliably meager consequences.
When we vote to recall the judge in the Stanford swimmer case this June, we will do what Judge Persky has repeatedly failed to do, but is so desperately needed: signal to elite men that there are consequences for their actions.
