New Haven, CT, United States (AHN) – Amid a federal probe on sexual misconduct charges, Yale University has decided to sanction the Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter on its campus for pro-rape chants that were videotaped and widely distributed online last year.
In an email to faculty and students, Yale College Dean Mary Miller announced that DKE would be banned from recruiting or undertaking any activities on campus for five years.
The suspension includes restrictions on using university bulletin boards or the Yale email to communicate with students, and using the name of the university in connection with the fraternity as an organization.
Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded in 1844 at the university. It counts among its alumni five former presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford and George W. Bush.
The fraternity came under fire last October when it conducted a pledge ritual that involved shouting, “No means yes, yes means anal,” and,” “My name is Jack, I’m a necrophiliac, I f— dead women.” Footage of the chants was posted online, sparking outcry beyond the New Haven campus.
In the wake of the controversy, DKE met with university officials and apologized to the Yale Women’s Center.
The sanctions were meted following a probe by the university executive committee on a complaint from the dean of student affairs, Marichal Gentry, of “sexual harassment” and “imperiling the integrity and values of the University community.”
The panel’s investigation included interviews of fraternity members involved in the incident.
The committee found that the chapter had threatened and intimidated others, in violation of undergraduate rules on “harassment, coercion or intimidation” and “imperiling the integrity and values of the University community.”
Several fraternity members were also found to have violated the same rules. Their names were not released due to federal privacy laws.
“Every member of our community has a legal and moral right to an educational environment free from harassment and intimidation,” Miller said.
Although the national organization has yet to receive a formal request for suspension from the university, the executive director of Delta Kappa Epsilon International, Douglas Lanpher, told the Yale Daily News that the sanctions were “excessive”and that the organization would appeal.
Yale is currently being investigated by the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Education Department about violations of Title IX.
A group of 16 former and current students is accusing the university of failing to address allegations of sexual assault and harassment.
The law, one of several educational reforms passed in 1972, amends the Civil Rights Act to prohibit the exclusion of anyone on the basis of sex from educational programs directly funded by the federal government.
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