On Friday, seven sororities joined whistleblower Alpha Phi in protesting the “Safe Campus Act,” a nonsense campus sexual assault bill that would make things measurably worse for victims. This bad PR blitz forced the National Panhellenic Conference, the sororities’ umbrella organization, to drop its support of the bill.

The Huffington Post reports that the national offices of Phi Mu, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Phi Epsilon, Gamma Phi Beta, Sigma Delta Tau and Delta Gamma all announced Friday that they would not support the Safe Campus Act—a bill that would, at its core, prevent colleges from punishing rapists unless victims agree to go to the police. The Safe Campus Act is a redundant piece of legislation concerned entirely with the rights of the accused, and it is universally opposed by victims’ advocacy groups.

The National Panhellenic Conference and the North American Interfraternity Conference have spent $200,000 lobbying for the Safe Campus Act since July (with the help of former Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott). Now, both groups say they have dropped their support of the bill due to a “groundswell of concern” from the organizations they represent.

But the NPC and NIC still have a legislative agenda when it comes to campus sexual assault. In statements released late Friday, both groups announced that they would maintain support of the Fair Campus Act, a similar bill to the Safe Campus Act with one exception: The Fair Campus Act does not require victims to go to the police in order for colleges to investigate sexual assault allegations.

The Fair Campus Act, however, is still curiously and conservatively concerned with the rights of the accused. Per the Huffington Post, it “would allow colleges to use a stricter standard of proof than is currently required to decide whether a student committed sexual misconduct.”

Several sororities have already stated that they do not support the Fair Campus Act, so it’s not clear how long the NPC will be able to get away with lobbying for it. In its statement Friday, the NPC closed by insisting, “We stand ready to work with all to ensure all students feel safe and supported on their college and university campuses.”


Photo via Delta Gamma. Contact the author at allie@gawker.com.