Bill Maher, comedian and television host of “Real Time,” called for something radical on his show Friday night.

“New rule, before he leaves office, President Obama must send in the National Guard to desegregate American’s last bastion of societal-approved racism: college fraternities,” said Maher to an audibly uncomfortable audience.

Maher urged frat members to “gather up your big red plastic drinking cups and get the [expletive] out.”

Maher’s comments are not coming out of the blue. Recently there have been dozens of scandals involving fraternities.

The scandals are getting so bad that one of them even involves the death of a student. When lives start becoming endangered by an institution, maybe it is time that institution disbands.

Pi Kappa Alpha of the University of South Carolina has been suspended by its national chapter after an 18-year-old member was found dead in the chapter’s house about one mile from campus.

Whether or not the death had anything to do with typical hazing or drinking routines practiced by many fraternities is still unknown; however, it is telling that the national chapter would jump to suspension without having firm evidence.

Earlier in the year I wrote about the rape culture that has become accepted in our nation’s fraternities. This still has yet to be addressed by many fraternities and appears to be getting worse.

The Kappa Delta Rho fraternity from Penn State has been suspended after Facebook posts of nude women had been posted by fraternity members.

Now, Penn State’s President Eric Barron is calling for a total re-evaluation of the entire fraternity system, which is exactly what needs to be done.

Now it seems that racism is also a glaring problem that fraternities are going to have to deal with if they want to stick around.

Two fraternities in North Carolina have now been suspended, adding to the wave of fraternity busts across the country.

One such suspension is taking hold because of a derogatory and offensive pledge book that was found at a local diner. Of the comments that made the book so offensive, only two are publically known. One comment said: “If she’s hot enough, she doesn’t need a pulse.” The second said: “Man, that tree is so perfect for lynching.”

The school has possession of the book and said that it is investigating.

It is tragic that the majority of headlines involving colleges are about fraternities behaving poorly and making life-altering and life-ending decisions. There comes a point when we have to ask ourselves how far is too far.

Right now it looks like the slap on the wrist method of punishment is the only method being used by universities. Sure, suspend the fraternity and make its members leave the house, but when some universities are letting these students stay in school, it is disgraceful.

Everyone is responsible for his or her actions, but it appears as if universities across the nation are only starting to realize this now.

Share