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The University of Mississippi is investigating a fraternity chapter for making sexist comments to sorority members during the fraternity's annual Derby Days charity event on Friday. A video of the event depicts Sigma Chi members asking a contestant in its Derby Days Queen competition if her nickname is "BJ" and what her "fondest memory of the Sigma Chi basement" is.
In a Facebook post, another sorority member, Abby Bruce, said women were also asked which Sigma Chi "they would go down on" and "what type of sausage would [they] prefer: linked or Sigma Chi?"
“I think the question all Panhellenic women at Ole Miss (and women everywhere, Greek or not) should be asking here is ‘why?’” Bruce wrote. “Why do we pay money to participate in these events to be humiliated? Why have we allowed ourselves to be objectified? Women’s fraternities were started as an empowerment movement. What happened?”
In a statement Saturday, the university said it had suspended all other Derby Days activities while the investigation moved forward.
“The university takes the report alleging a hostile environment very seriously,” Rebecca Bressler, director of Equal Opportunity and Regulatory Compliance at the university, stated. “It is important that members of our community feel safe and supported -- actions that undermine that goal will not be tolerated.”
