More than 400 Yale students have indicated on Facebook that they are participating or interested in an event on Sunday to boycott Tang, a party held annually by the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. And 80 students have marked on Facebook that they will attend or are interested in attending a daytime party advertised as an alternative to Tang, called “Darty for a Cause.”
The Boycott DKE Facebook event was organized by members of Engender, a student group that advocates for greater gender inclusion in fraternities. DKE did not provide a comment in time for publication of this story.
“We all know post-Fling Sunday is a day to darty! And in the wake of campus conversations about supporting survivors and denouncing sexual misconduct, partying is political,” reads the event’s description. “Come to Box 63 at 11 tomorrow for bottomless mimosas, bloody marys, and draft beer. $14 cash cover, and a portion of the proceeds will go to victims’ rights organizations (ATM at the door). Come one come all to get lit and get woke #boycottTang #boycottDKE.”
Efforts to organize the boycott and alternative party began on Friday after the News published an op-ed authored anonymously by the woman whose sexual assault complaint against former DKE president Luke Persichetti led Yale to suspend him for “penetration without consent” from March 2017 until this summer. The op-ed called on activists at Yale not to stay “hauntingly silent” on the issue of sexual misconduct at DKE and charged attendees of this year’s Tang party with being “complicit in a toxic sexual climate.”
Multiple Yale students shared the op-ed on social media with the caption “#boycottDKE,” and Engender posted it to its Facebook page on Friday, along with a note to “expect action from us in the day ahead.” Soon after, the Facebook event to boycott Tang appeared, in addition to the “Darty for a Cause,” which will take place at Box 63 American Bar & Grill at the same time as Tang. According to the Friday op-ed, at least 200 students RSVP’d on Facebook that they would be going to Tang.
Natalie Schultz-Henry ’20, a co-director of Engender, said that the Facebook event is still “intentionally vague” and that students should expect more information on Sunday morning. She added, though, that Engender plans on handing out flyers in front of DKE to provide information about “what you should be aware of in terms of how this space can be dangerous for you.”
“I don’t think it’s from the perspective of trying to shame people, but in general it is a very active way to bring awareness to this in a way we haven’t been doing before,” Schultz-Henry told the News.
DKE has hosted Tang since the 1970s.
Correction, May 1: This article has been updated to more precisely reflect the allegations against Luke Persichetti.