PKT closes CU frat house after drinking investigation

hoosier · #1 10-12-2005, 06:15 PM

National fraternity closes CU frat house after drinking investigation

By By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News
October 10, 2005

BOULDER — Phi Kappa Tau National Fraternity has suspended its University of Colorado chapter following the hospitalization of several female students who attended drinking parties last month.

All operations and activities of the CU chapter, 1150 College Ave., will be suspended for an indefinite period, but at least through this academic year, the national body announced.

None of the fraternity’s members currently face individual sanctions from the national organization. The 35 fraternity members living in the house have until Friday to find alternative housing, members said.

CU officials said they applaud the move by the national organization and will work with it to try to keep the members in school and progressing toward their degrees.

"Our investigation indicated a culture within our chapter that is not representative of the values and principles of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity nor those of the Greek community in Boulder," Chief Executive Officer Steve Hartman said in a statement.

Nine women, ages 18 and 19, needed medical attention after attending drinking parties Sept. 24. Seven said they'd been drinking alcohol at Sigma Pi and/or Phi Kappa Tau fraternities, which are across College Avenue from one another.

Boulder police said that toxicology reports revealed at least two of the women tested positive for the "date rape" drug GHB, a powerful depressant that is undetectable when added to a drink. One of the women had enough of it to be fatal, considering how much she’d also been drinking, according to toxicologists. The results on the other women were not known.

Following the death last year of CU freshman Gordy Bailey from alcohol poisoining, the CU administration tried to get fraternities and sororities to delay recruitment of freshmen until the spring. Sororities agreed, but fraternities did not.

The fraternities lost access to the CU database that helps them recruit new members, but CU still plays a limited role in overseeing fraternity behavior.