Penn State University has suspended the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity for a minimum of three years, according to an official university statement on May 26.
Penn State's Intrafraternity Council suggested a milder punishment for the fraternity, which allegedly posted albums of unconscious naked and half-naked women on a secret Facebook page. The council's recommendation is for the Kappa Delta Rho to remain active but engaged in a process of change and intensified accountability.
Based on Penn State's investigation, they had discovered some Kappa Delta Rho fraternity members were engaged in hazing activities, which include boxing matches, and also in the harassment and humiliation of several females. The university had to override the ruling of the Intrafraternity Council and cancel the Kappa Delta Rho's recognition as a campus organization until May 2018.
Damon Sims, the university's vice president for student affairs, reported that two women were victims of persistent harassment by some members of the Kappa Delta Rho chapter. Sims clarified that not all members were equally responsible, but the misbehavior of the organization as a whole will not be tolerated based on the rules of the university.
Penn State investigators also discovered that fraternity members forced recruits to maintain a push-up position, known as planking, with bottle lids under their elbows. The members also obliged the recruits to clean the fraternity house and run errands.
Recruits were also forced to produce stories with pornographic pictures, with members designating the sex position of the day. Illegal substance sales and usage, as well as underage drinking, were also problems cited in the investigation.
The Penn State's investigative report, which the university has firmly decided to keep as a private document, stated that chapter members were aware and used two private Facebook pages with extremely inappropriate messages and pictures.
The fraternity members also had knowledge of the ongoing substance abuse and hazing, and that students were being "degraded in flyers left in public view throughout the chapter house," according to the May 13 letter sent to Kappa Delta Rho's chapter president and the Intrafraternity Council.
No members of the chapter committed sexual assault, according to Kappa Delta Rho executive director Joseph Rosenberg's statement early Tuesday. He did not give any response to messages seeking comment.
This matter only became public after State College police stated in a search warrant that they were checking a Facebook page where members shared photos of hazing, drug sales and unknowing victims in "extremely compromising positions" (some appeared to be passed out or asleep), a former member gave the information. However, the department has not published the outcome of the investigation.
