Some Banned From State Universities : SDSU Punishes 29 Fraternity Members

Twenty-nine members of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity have been punished for offenses stemming from a November party at which a sorority pledge claimed she was raped, San Diego State University announced Friday.

Sanctions against the 29 men included letters of censure, probation terms, expulsion from SDSU and permanent banishment from all California State University campuses. But university officials refused to say how many men received each penalty.

“We believe it is not in anyone’s interest to be more specific about individual sanctions,” SDSU President Thomas Day said. “However, we do believe the sanctions fit the misconduct.”

The action concludes the university’s role in the incident, which began Nov. 15 when an 18-year-old Delta Gamma sorority member told campus police that she had been raped in a fraternity bedroom early that morning after a party.

After an investigation, campus police said they believed three men had sexually assaulted the woman while other men watched through a window or from places in the room. Fraternity members maintained that the woman voluntarily had sex after drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana.

On Dec. 5, Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller declined to file criminal charges, saying prosecutors could not “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a rape occurred.”

But in February, SDSU expelled the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity from school for at least five years, after a special disciplinary panel found the 110-member chapter guilty of charges including “physical abuse and lewd, indecent and obscene behavior.”

SDSU spokesman Sue Raney said that all 29 fraternity members sanctioned accepted the penalties, waiving their right to hearings on the punishments. Harshest penalties were given to the men directly involved in the sexual misconduct, she said. Some of those sanctioned were officers of the fraternity.

The university had said that 30 men would be charged, but discovered later that the count was incorrect, Raney said. No Delta Gamma sorority members were charged, but the sorority was placed on disciplinary probation after the panel found it guilty of allowing minors to consume alcohol both before and during the party.

In the wake of the scandal, which brought SDSU national notoriety, the university’s 16 remaining fraternities voted for policies establishing a nonalcoholic recruitment or “rush” week and limiting parties that are open to all students.

Pi Kappa Alpha continues to operate as an outlaw fraternity on the SDSU campus because its national organization turned down the university’s request to revoke its charter. Fraternity officers, who were on a retreat in Indio Friday, could not be reached for comment.