Penn State frat’s sordid secret Facebook page
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Within the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity at Pennsylvania State University, the Facebook page and its photographs — of drug deals, hazing and nude, unconscious women — were supposed to be among its brotherhood’s secrets. But the clandestine website, known as 2.0 after a previous manifestation was discovered and shut down, has, since mid-January, been the subject of a police inquiry that this month led to the suspension of the fraternity’s Penn State chapter and could result in criminal charges.
“The evidence offered by the Facebook postings is appalling, offensive and inconsistent with the university community’s values and expectations,” Damon Sims, Penn State’s vice president for student affairs, said Tuesday in a statement. “We are confident that the various investigative and review processes, both internal and external to the university, will determine responsibility in this case. The university will hold accountable any groups and individuals found responsible.”
The Police Department here learned about the website in January when a former member of the fraternity walked into a police station and asked to meet with the authorities about what he thought might be criminal conduct. The man, who has since been declared a “cooperating informant,” eventually showed investigators printed copies of some of the photographs that appeared online.
“Some of the postings were of nude females that appeared to be passed out and nude or in other sexual or embarrassing positions,” a detective wrote in a January search warrant. “It appears from the photos provided that the individuals in the photos are not aware that the photos had been taken.” The police said the images provided by the man, whom The New York Times is not naming, “only showcase a small fraction of the posts on the page.”
The man told the police that although 2.0 was relatively new, the conduct that was its foundation was not. A similar website, called “Covert Business Transactions” and connected to Kappa Delta Rho, had been a clearinghouse for similar images until last year, when a woman who appeared topless in a photograph learned about the page and hastened its end. “The new page, 2.0, was created shortly after” and grew to include 144 members, the search warrant said. Assistant police chief John Gardner said no one had been arrested, but harassment charges could ultimately be filed.
On Tuesday, a national Kappa Delta Rho committee imposed a one-year suspension and a “reorganization” on the chapter for what it described as “most serious misconduct.”