Three women and a man were hospitalized after being drugged in a Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity party at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, raising concerns about the safety of these parties and the possibility of becoming unconsciously drugged. It’s absolutely disgusting to drug someone at a party. Just because date rape drugs make the victim forget what happens, doesn’t mean that the victim won’t realize that something is wrong. However, a party-goer’s main concern at a party should not be avoiding being drugged, it should be that host’s responsibility to keep drugs out of their guest’s drinks.
This TKE chapter is being investigated after being accused of color coding females at their house party based on whether or not they were going to be given Rohypnol, according to The Huffington Post. The drug is more commonly called “roofies” or “the date rape drug.” A red x on a female student’s hand symbolized that she was going to be roofied. Three women and a man were hospitalized because of the incident. All three women had a red x on their hands and the man claimed to have drank out of a cup that belonged to one of the females, according to The Huffington Post. All of the mixed vodka drinks seemed cloudy and were mixed behind the bar out of sight, claimed party-goers. One woman that was given the date rape drugs at the party claimed that she had a “weird feeling” before blacking out just over 30 minutes after being given the drink, according to The Daily Mail. Unsurprisingly, the fraternity investigated for sexual assault three times last year as well, according to nymag.com.
Drugging multiple women is a despicable thing to do because several people are affected by a horrible, possibly life altering, act. On top of being dreadful enough people to drug women, the fraternity members of TKE were also stupid enough to think that they could get away with it. However, the president of this chapter, Thomas Kreinbring, has been arrested on charges of possession of a prescription drug without a perscription and keeping a drug house, according to The Huffington Post.
This example isn’t just an isolated incident. Getting drugged at a party is a serious issue, even here at UT. When asked about the possibility of being drugged at a party, Jake Racaniella, a senior sociology major at UT responded, “Yes, at house parties they’ll throw in all sorts of drugs.” Racaniella said, “I’ve stopped going to house parties altogether to avoid getting drugged.”
However, the President of UT’s chapter of TKE would like to point out, “The title “TKE” will always be attached to this incident and no amount of begging will ever remove my letters from it. The fact that I’m asked what happened at UW-M makes me realize that I will need to work overtime to ensure the UT community sees the positive aspects of TKE through grades, leadership, brotherhood, and community involvement. I can’t change what happened, but I will ensure that no such incident is ever committed by TKE here. We are currently looking to educate other organizations on the effects of one poor decision on local, national, and international communities.” His statement proves that although bad things have happened in another chapter of TKE, not every chapter would do such horrible things.
A few tips to prevent being drugged are to pour your own drinks or watch your drinks as they’re poured and don’t leave your drink unattended. Always have a buddy, don’t drink anything if you don’t know what it is and watch to see if the frat boys are drinking the jungle juice. If they’re avoiding it, you probably should too.
A new idea for a nail polish called Undercover Colors that can allegedly prevent date-rape has been developed by four students from North Carolina State University. This new product is supposed to change colors in the presence of Rohypnol, Xanax and GHB, according to The Washington Post. A woman will be able to stir her drink with her finger to tell whether or not the drink has been tampered with. It seems like a decent idea to avoid getting drugged at parties. But it’s important to point out that this nail polish has not been created yet. The product is only a prototype right now, and the creators are not sure when it will be available to the public, according to Newsweek. There are also concerns about the implications that it’s a woman’s subjection to ward off potential rapists.
This anti-date rape nail polish places the burden of avoiding drugs on women. Undercover Colors is just another “precaution” that can be used against women on a review board that will ask questions, such as “What were you wearing?” “How drunk were you?” “Were you ‘asking for it’?”
Giving women more options to avoid being date raped just gives them more reasons to be blamed for being sexually assaulted. It’s unfair that the responsibility to avoid rape has been placed on women and potential victims rather than on possible perpetrators. It’s also unfair that anti-rape nail polish is going to be marketed strictly for women. Men can be drugged unknowingly as well. Making a product that is undeniably geared towards women insinuates that only women are vulnerable enough to be drugged.
Getting drugged is a terrifying possibility. The incident regarding color-coding and drugging women at the UW-Milwaukee TKE fraternity is a disgusting example of how relevant getting drugged really is. There are precautions that can be taken such as watching your drink, or considering future products like Undercover Colors. However, it should not be a woman’s responsibility to avoid getting drugged. It should be a host’s responsibility not to drug their guests.
Olivia Reeb can be reached at olivia.reeb@spartans.ut.edu