The “American Brotherhood” on rights? The student association solves Feri’s sexual assaults

It is clear from the name that the “Feri” association subscribes to the legacy of American university “fraternities”. The most famous of such groups is the Skull and Bones Association, which was secretly founded at Yale University in the United States as early as 1832, and its members also included American presidents, including George Bush.

According to some sources, similar associations are criticized at this time for values ​​close to the so-called “rape culture”, which is said to be spreading “toxic masculinity”. As in the joint material that started Feri’s case, Deník N a Alarm, it was at events under the Kappa Omega brand that Feri’s sexual assaults allegedly took place. The personality of an influential politician attracted new members – the primary goal was to get to know the new team, but most of all it was to have fun with life.

Web News he wrote about introductory courses for law students, where as part of the “fight” the participants received (regardless of gender) plus points for undressing and “demonstration of the activity”. It should be mentioned that similar events take place at other (not only) Prague universities, university life is varied and there are many different experiences from parties at dormitories or adaptation courses across the company. The editor of Pražský deník also heard several stories about Ferim, but with the exception of the popular cultural event Žižkov Night, he did not witness parties with politicians, which may occasionally turn into sexual orgies.

Unfair comparison

In any case, the perception of men’s behavior towards women has changed significantly recently, and the testimonies against Ferim look very serious. The issue of sexual violence is very complex and it is a traumatic experience for the actors. Various suspicions and fragments of stories on social networks have now merged the two mentioned media into one whole, containing statements of specific victims. That is also why Feri is being investigated by the police and he himself (so far temporarily) has left public life.

“Dominik Feri has not been a member of the association for a long time and does not participate in any social, educational or cultural events we organize. At the same time, as the current leadership of the association, we must emphasize that there were no sexual assaults at any of the events we organized, “said the Kappa Omega association on the official Facebook page, where you can still find photos of the resigning deputy.

The first part of the statement is confirmed by data from the register, where it was deleted from the Board of Directors at the beginning of 2018. The second part was clarified by representatives of the association after an objection in the discussion: “We are not aware that during our work in the management of the association at the same time, we have no information about any such attack from representatives of the association in recent years. ”Students also distanced themselves from comparisons to associations from American films associated with scandalous behavior because they consider it” unfair. “

The management of PF UK will have the activities of Kappy Omega, one of the eight student associations operating at the faculty, checked. In an official statement, Dean Jan Kuklík writes that he also never received “any formal or informal initiative” and that he “did not know of any such suspicion”. According to Kuklík, however, the Faculty of Law perceives the accusations in Feri’s case as “very serious” and considers the conduct attributed to the recent holder of the JUDr. To be “completely unacceptable”.

The dean supported the victims

“Personally, for myself, but also on behalf of the faculty, I would like to express my support for all victims of such conduct, because it is clear to me that it is not easy to speak in similar cases,” said the dean in his opinion on the faculty website.

In September, Kuklík also wants to propose to the Academic Senate that it approve the establishment of the position of a faculty ombudsman precisely in order to address inappropriate behavior related to sex. The Code of Ethics of Charles University stipulates that every member of the academic community “rejects any form of sexual harassment.” Feri’s name was already mentioned at Thursday’s meeting of faculty senators.

One of them, PhD student Martin Samek, tweeted about Ferim before the “detonator” was issued in the form of the mentioned article: “The whole faculty knows this. Personally, behind me as a student representative, there were several girls to whom the unnamed, let’s say, offered sex in a rather indiscriminate way. But that’s nothing you put in the police for. ”Samek later locked his Twitter account for other users.

On the other hand, his colleague Michal Říha, who is also a member of the university academic senate or the dean’s college, has been working for Ferim in the Chamber of Deputies since 2017. In assessing his behavior, he would thus be in a conflict of interest, against which one of the readers of Pražský deník also protests through the editorial office.

In conclusion, however, it is necessary to quote Dean Kuklík again, because the Faculty of Law cannot conduct an investigation and has no disciplinary authority against Dominik Feri as a graduate: “However, we firmly believe that the competent authorities will deal with it and all cases will be carefully investigated.”

Although many people have long condemned Feri, the verdict has not yet been handed down…

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