Report: 7 students drugged at party
Alleged incident took place during ‘open house’ at Sigma Chi fraternity
STANFORD UNIVERSITY » Two investigations are underway into the alleged drugging of at least seven students at a Stanford University fraternity function last week, an official said Tuesday.
The incident, reported by the Fountain Hopper and the Stanford Daily, took place during an “open house” at Sigma Chi on Friday. According to reports, five members of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and two mem- bers of the Stanford men’s rowing team experienced symptoms of having ingested either Xanax or benzodiazepines, also known as “benzos.” The latter is a type of minor tranquilizer associated with date rape.
The Stanford University Department of Public Safety and the university’s Title IX office are investigating the incident, Stanford spokesman Ernest Miranda said in an email.
Miranda said he did not know anything further about the investigations and a public safety spokesman said a report was still being written when he left the office Tuesday night.
Five members of the sorority could not remember what happened at the event even though they did not consume enough alcohol to cause a blackout, according to an email memo from Pi Beta Phi house staff to sorority members obtained by the Stanford Daily.
The memo also stated that amale rower was taken to the hospital even though his blood alcohol content was not high enough to warrant a transport. A second rower went to the hospital voluntarily and tested positive for benzodiazepines, the Stanford Daily reported.
According to the memo, the person who brought the drugs to the event was “loosely affiliated” with the men’s rowing team but not a student at Stanford and not someone linked to Sigma Chi. The person was invited to the event by rowers, the Stanford Daily reported.
The Fountain Hopper said in its report that the suspect is a member of the Dartmouth College men’s rowing team.
According to the Stanford Daily, staff at both houses waited until late Sunday afternoon to report the alleged drugging to Residential Education, which in turn notified the Title IX office.