Dear Brown community,
On Friday, the Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi, along with the rest of the Brown community, received an email from Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, and Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy. The email stated that “the Office of Student Life and the Department of Public Safety have received reports from two students that on Friday, October 17, 2014 they suspect that they were given alcoholic punch containing a date rape drug at a party at a fraternity in Sears House.” As we all quickly grasped, Phi Kappa Psi is the only fraternity in Sears House.
This news took us by complete surprise, triggering a variety of emotions. First and foremost, we were all shocked by the circumstances of the allegations. Sexual assault and the use of illegal date-rape drugs number among the most heinous of crimes. We are confident that in no way did any member of Phi Kappa Psi engage in or perpetrate such atrocious and criminal behavior. There have been no accusations or charges of sexual assault brought against any member of the fraternity, and no information has been shared regarding an investigation. To the extent of our understanding, Phi Kappa Psi has been suspended for hosting an unregistered event with alcohol present.
We, the Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi, would like to state that we in no way condone, allow or affiliate with the use of any manifestation of violence, especially gender-based and sexual violence, but rather universally and unequivocally condemn them and their use in anything related to our fraternity. As a Brotherhood, we are committed to ending these specific forms of violence in our communities, particularly the Greek community.
We would like to express our utmost sympathy and respect for the survivors of this reprehensible series of events, and our solidarity in combating these forms of violence on our campus. As distressing as these allegations are to us, we recognize that the personal stress and anxiety experienced by those survivors of assault dwarfs our own, and we hope to do as much as we can to ameliorate the difficulties of all parties moving forward.
We respect the University’s commitment to protecting our community and pledge to give our complete cooperation to the ongoing investigation. Additionally, we are working within the Greek community and with relevant administrators to develop more comprehensive policy regarding the prevention and handling of these crises. We desire to see justice done and do our best to ensure no other member of our community suffers in this way again.
Once again, if you were at the event or anyone you know of may have any clarifying information that would help expedite the investigation of this serious offense, please be sure to contact the Department of Public Safety, specifically Sgt. John Carvalho, at 401-863-3322.
Respectfully yours,
The Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi
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