On Sat., September 20, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was trending number one on Facebook throughout the nation. It remained trending for most of the day, unfortunately.
Trending nationwide sounds good, right? As most of you may already know, the reason was not good. It was actually on the complete other end of the spectrum.
UWM’s chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity is being investigated by Milwaukee Police Department for allegedly “date raping” the “hot girls” that arrived at a party hosted at the fraternity’s residence. If you somehow missed the key information, you can access all the facts you need here.
Honestly, where do I start? The most alarming thing, personally, is that the president of the frat, Thomas Kreinbring, is 28-years-old. Kreinbring has since been arrested. After an attempt to be my usual self and creep on him on Facebook, as well as public records, I was unable to find him. Because of this, I couldn’t get access to any of his basic information, like if he was a student or if he’s from the area.
Even without this information, I can make a few reasonable presumptions about him. First of all, I am unaware if he had any affiliation with the get together in which the supposed “date raping” occurred, even though word is out that he claims to have no idea this activity was taking place.
In the possible position in which he actually was involved … how gross. He is 10 years older than many of the people who made the decision to attend this party. That in itself is disturbing. If he was involved in any of this, it is disgusting and irresponsible.
Even if he wasn’t involved, he is a mature adult. He should at least be capable of making sure that his frat is keeping in line and not receiving felonies on the weekends.
Contrary to popular belief, Kreinbring was not arrested for the alleged “date rape” drugs that were possibly being slipped in young women’s drinks, but for possession of marijuana, with intent to sell, and Adderall that was found during a search of the house the following Tuesday.
When the infamous party at TKE got busted by the police, 42 people were found in the basement of the residence, all of which were under 21. It doesn’t surprise me, because I don’t know anyone who would go to a party like that if they could legally drink. But, hey, most freshman don’t know any better, as I went to a party at TKE during my freshman year and got kicked out for undisclosed reasons (thank God).
So, all of the party attendees were underage. Nice. The result is that if Kreinbring was actually involved, he was taking full advantage of these young women who had just moved onto their own adventure, with most of them not wanting to start their college careers with a “date rape” drug being involuntarily infused in their systems.
And it is almost guaranteed that this act can be pointed to other members of TKE. I highly doubt that this resulted from the intentions of a single individual. It was undoubtedly a group endeavor.
Even if he was not involved in that party himself, he should have had a better idea and closer insight to the activities that other heads of the fraternity were condoning.
Let me get one last thing straight: these victims are NOT the ones to blame. If you are anything like me, you like to look for the good in people. If someone at a party offered me a free drink my first few weeks in college, I probably would have regarded the act as a kind gesture.
Now I know that, unfortunately, you have to look for the awful in people as well, which is a terrible realization.