When I first arrived at BGSU, one of the first things told to me was simple: “Don’t go to PIKE (Pi Kappa Alpha) parties. They’re called “Spike Pike”.
I do not need to tell you about the tragedy that has occurred here on Bowling Green State University’s campus. Stone Foltz, who was attending a Pike event, was likely hazed to the point of drinking far too much. Stone Foltz died as a result of this hazing. I will not include hearsay about his death: there is enough of that going around.
BGSU’s response to this tragedy has not been surprising. Not to me at least, and not to any student who looked at their previous track record. BGSU sent out an email, at 9 PM on a Saturday (when nobody is reading their email but folks who have their notifications on like me!) that they were looking into the situation, that not all the facts had been found yet. They re-stated their “commitment” to a safe and friendly campus environment. They talked about how hazing is a national problem, how BGSU is committed to better education, better training, better recruitment structures. And it was all book ended with President Rodney K. Rogers’ signature. It was a quaint email, one that treats the students, the professors, the staff, the entire apparatus of BGSU as barely coherent morons. It only mentions Pike once, at the very beginning. It tries to hide why it was sent, and of course, it was sent in the middle of the night.
It was an egregious email, so deeply arrogant and dismissive that one might think a robot wrote it.
But what makes me angry, what baffles me, is that BGSU thinks they can just keep getting away with blood on their hands. That, at some point, the students, the professors, the staff won’t stand up and ask why BGSU allows “Spike Pike” to exist on campus.
BGSU’s leadership have a long track record of burying their head in the sand when these sorts of things come up. Of sweeping under the rug what the university’s leaders would rather you not know. What did the university do when Black students raised concerns about police at BGSU, in the dorms, about repeated abuses? BGSU did nothing but ignore it until it went away. What did BGSU do when a white student said a slur in his Ethnic Studies class? They sent a teacher in to stump for him, to try and “calm the situation”. BGSU has always been all talk and no game, all bluff, and no bullet.
Pike is no exception. After all, when me and my friend would walk around campus, we would steer clear of the Greek Village. She had good reason to be afraid after all, with the apparent rampant sexual assault that occurs at Pike and the Greek Village in general. Women have good reason to be afraid when they are on our campus, when they are going to their classes and to their dorms. The fact that fear of sexual assault is not only rampant, but justified, is heinous enough alone. I have heard the stories. I do not speak in parables, or possibilities, but in realities. When I first came out as a woman, and began dressing more feminine, I was told to stop walking Campus at night. I was told that I was at danger. And I believed it.
And what does this university do to all of this? Nothing. No matter how many people complain, no matter how many drinks are spiked, no matter how many people are made victims, BGSU does nothing. This isn’t just with Pike. This is a systemic issue in BGSU, one that rears its head in all aspects.
And let’s be frank: BGSU is doing something about this because a white male student is dead. We do not need to mince words on this. How many women were sexually assaulted by Pike? How many Black students complained about problems with the police on campus and in dorms? How many groups of people made complaints that the university didn’t listen to because there weren’t enough people on campus who cared to do anything about it? BGSU did not need to listen to the plights of Black students. They did not need to listen to the plight of women. But now that a white man is dead, BGSU must act. It’s disgraceful. And it is not Stone Foltz’s fault. So, do not misconstrue what I say here. Stone Foltz is a tragedy. But his tragedy is a layered one, with each peel revealing another stain upon this university.
What angers me personally is that BGSU chooses to do nothing. This is not an accident. And it is not the fault of the entire apparatus of BGSU. I have peers I like; I have professors I enjoy. I have classes I like to learn in. There are people I like in the USG. This is the fault of the leaders inside the administration of Bowling Green State University and Pi Kappa Alpha. It is a consequence they chose, over and over and over again, and one that us students cannot allow to continue. BGSU does this when it allows the old art building to go without air conditioning. It does this when it allows students to end up homeless. It does this when it allows students to become victims.
We must, as a group, come together and stand against Pike and BGSU. We must make our voice heard, so that we can truly make this a university where students are not just safe, but know they are safe. Enough empty platitudes and words, enough broken promises. I want action. I know the students of BGSU want action as well.
BGSU must expel “Spike Pike”, Pi Kappa Alpha, from campus. This is not negotiable. The people of this campus are not safe with them on it. BGSU must also investigate the Greek Village, and not allow other frats that participate in these heinous actions to get by with a slap on the wrist. BGSU must create an effective, powerful task force capable of investigating this death, and all the other heinous acts of Greek Village. And BGSU must allow the students of this campus, all of the students, to have a say, a real say, at our university. We are the students of BGSU. We must not allow BGSU to get away with allowing us to be harmed again.
Artemis Cheeseman
Lima
