U.S. university shortens ban on rogue fraternity

Date-rape drug results inconclusive, Brown finds

WASHINGTON— Brown University reduced its penalty against a fraternity accused of plying women with liquor and date-rape drugs, saying a laboratory test was inconclusive, while criticizing what it called the group’s substantial history of misconduct.

Phi Kappa Psi’s ban from campus was cut to two-and-a-half years from four years, according to a statement Saturday from the Ivy League college in Providence, R.I.

An external lab test that had shown evidence one student ingested the date-rape drug GHB was invalidated after an independent review, Brown said.

“The single unreliable laboratory test does not alter the overall disciplinary record of this organization,” Russell Carey, Brown’s executive vice-president for planning and policy, said in the statement. The fraternity has a “substantial prior record of rules violations, serving alcohol to minors and poor conduct of members in party situations.”

Colleges across the U.S. are stepping up efforts to curb excesses in campus alcohol culture, cracking down on drinking and sexual misconduct amid scrutiny by federal authorities.

More than 90 colleges, including Brown, are under government investigation for their handling of alleged campus assaults.

Each year, more than 97,000 students ages 18 to 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape, while 1,825 college students die from alcohol or related injuries, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates.

Four out of five college students drink alcohol, and half of those who do consume it through binge drinking, HHS data show.