A top US university has suspended a fraternity for three years amid allegations of sexual harassment and a secret Facebook page where photos of nude women were posted.
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) said its investigation found some Kappa Delta Rho members had engaged in harassment and a “persistent climate of humiliation for several females”.
The university’s vice president for student affairs, Damon Sims, said not all the fraternity’s members were equally culpable, but added: “Even so, the sum of the organisational misbehaviours is far more than the university can tolerate from a student organization that seeks its imprimatur.”
The university cancelled the fraternity’s recognition as a campus organisation until May 2018.
Penn State said it found members had forced pledges (would-be members) to run errands, clean the house, participate in boxing matches and maintain a painful plank posture with bottle caps under their elbows.
Pledges also produced stories with pornographic images and what was described as a sex position of the day. The university said underage drinking and drug sales and use were also problems, and two women were subjected to persistent harassment.
Mr Sims said: “The investigative report makes clear that some members of the KDR chapter promoted a culture of harassing behaviour and degradation of women.”
Mr Sims told the Interfraternity Council’s standards vice presidents that the university was overriding its recommendation Kappa Delta Rho remain active but engage in a process of change and heightened accountability.
In a May 13 letter to Kappa Delta Rho’s chapter president, two Interfraternity Council standards vice presidents said Penn State’s investigative report, which the university declined to make public, said members of the chapter were aware of and used two private Facebook pages “where highly inappropriate photographs and messages were posted.”
The letter also said members “collectively” knew of hazing, drug use and students being “degraded in flyers left in public view throughout the chapter house.”
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The fraternity’s national executive director said the university’s report did not allege any member of the chapter had committed sexual assault. The executive director, Joseph Rosenberg, did not respond to messages seeking comment.
