Boulder – A national fraternity suspended its Boulder chapter today amid a police investigation into the hospitalization of several women who attended drinking parties there and at another fraternity house.
The national Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity said in a written statement it was investigating alleged violations of its “risk management policy” at the chapter. The statement did not offer specifics, and fraternity officials did not immediately return a phone call.
Seven women were hospitalized on Sept. 24 after attending parties at Phi Kappa Tau and Sigma Pi, police said.
Investigators have said two of the women may have ingested a “date-rape” drug that night, but it was not clear whether police think it happened at the parties.
Andrew Shulman, judicial chairman of the Interfraternity Council at CU, said the suspension was unrelated to the allegations about the drug, gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB.
“The national decision to suspend the charter was not based upon the allegations of GHB. It was for other incidents, for repeated incidents in the past and not following national policy but it was not due to the GHB,” he said.
Phi Kappa Tau, based in Oxford, Ohio, said the Boulder chapter was suspended indefinitely and that the house would be closed for at least the remainder of the school year.
“Our investigation indicated a culture within our chapter (in Boulder) that is not representative of the values and principles of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity nor those of the Greek community in Boulder,” fraternity CEO Steve Hartman said in the statement.
