July 6, 2020
In the past 30 days, our fraternity has stopped to reflect on our role of promoting and condoning an environment of toxic masculinity. As an organization that prides itself on professional development and academic achievement, we have fallen short with our own definition of Caballero. Our fraternity was built on the tenets of brotherhood, equality, leadership, and love, and sadly, that same self-respect has not always been reciprocated to the women and men in our lives. La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc., Stands Against Sexual Assault.
Our national leadership has invested considerable time making sure we go beyond words and focus on addressing cultural issues impacting our communities. We have been actively working to ensure steps we implement are focused on systemic change and ongoing training.
As an organization, La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda has committed to the following action plan:
- Suspension of members receiving allegations until inquiries have been completed and member outcomes determined.
- Reviewing and strengthening the Sexual Abuse and Harassment sections of our current Risk Management Policy. This work includes expanding an already existing contract and scope of work with Limberlost Consulting (https://www.limberlostconsulting.com/). Limberlost has extensive experience in governance, risk and crisis prevention/management and interventions.
- Incorporating mental health, sexual harassment and consent training with subject matter experts as part of our July 2020 Virtual National Convention.
- Implementing required annual sexual harassment certification training for all members as part of being recognized as an active member.
- Integrating a sexual misconduct workshop as part of the expectations for interested students prior to applying to become members.
- Incorporating sexual misconduct training into New Member On-Boarding Training for neophytes.
- Guidance on a chapter-led virtual workshop with subject matter experts/organizations to increase campus and community awareness. Chapters will be required to conduct a minimum of one (1) workshop each year.
Our fraternity will continue to believe the individuals reporting sexual misconduct and support their courage to speak their truth. We will continue inquiries amongst our members and with complainants, as appropriate. Based on findings, will hold members accountable accordingly. We are working on additional action items that will be shared as they are finalized.
As a member of NALFO, we are co-leading the Sexual Assault Awareness Campaign & Action Committee (SA3C). SA3C was organized to revisit long-standing concerns within and among our respective organizations around sexual assault. Our collaborative work is intended to identify best practices and strategies focused on: 1) actionable steps we can take now; 2) preventative measures in training, policies, programming, and collaborations; 3) evaluating reporting practices, investigations and adjudication; and 4) establishing a process for escalating these issues across impacted organizations.
As Hermanos, we will continue to live up to the meaning of Caballero.
Please contact president@launidadlatina.org should you have any questions.