The Kappa Sigma fraternity house at Kansas University, 1045 Emery Road.

Over homecoming weekend 2014, an informal party thrown by freshmen at Kansas University’s Kappa Sigma fraternity house got out of control.

There was “excessive” underage drinking by fraternity pledges as well as by female guests, the fraternity has acknowledged. Within days, allegations surfaced that one or more women had been sexually assaulted in the midst of it, maybe even drugged.

A year later, Kappa Sigma is paying as an organization.

It’s still unclear whether anyone is paying as an individual — at least to the public and fraternity leaders.

Confidentiality abounds in this case involving separate investigations by no fewer than four entities with jurisdiction over the fraternity: the police, KU, Kappa Sigma’s national office and the board that oversees the local chapter.

While KU has made public the consequences for the fraternity as a whole, details about the alleged sexual assault or assaults that led to those consequences are secret and may stay that way unless the case goes to court.

No one has been criminally charged at this time, and neither KU nor police have given Kappa Sigma leadership the names of any man or men they’ve identified as possible suspects.

“The university can’t comment on individual investigations,” said KU spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, explaining that it would violate federal privacy laws.

Four separate investigations

The Kappa Sigma fraternity house at Kansas University, 1045 Emery Road.

The Kappa Sigma freshmen’s party, a social gathering not formally organized by the fraternity, happened the weekend of Sept. 26, 2014.

In the days that followed, rumors swirled, including YikYak and Twitter posts that said things like Kappa Sigma “likes to drug and rape women.”

On that Wednesday, KU announced it had placed the fraternity on interim suspension and launched an investigation following accusations of multiple instances of sexual misconduct that, in a press release, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little called “serious and disturbing.”

In December, KU handed Kappa Sigma a two-year probation for violating the university’s sexual harassment policy, making it the first organization KU has disciplined for sexual misconduct.

Kappa Sigma agreed to the terms of the probation, though the fraternity maintains that any such misconduct, if true, was not organizational in nature.

The week after the party, local Kappa Sigma alumni called an emergency meeting, chapter Housing Corporation Board president David Steen said, “and it didn’t take but five minutes to realize that out of control drinking was a problem.” He said that included the freshmen’s guests.

KU and police gave Kappa Sigma only “vague” information about accusations of sexual assault, citing the confidentiality of their respective investigations, Steen said.

The board worked with attorney Chuck Schimmel to conduct an internal investigation, which included interviews with members and some female partygoers — presumably people police and KU also questioned, though Steen said he doesn’t know for sure. He said Kappa Sigma’s internal investigation did not conclude that any member had sexually assaulted anyone.

The investigation also didn’t find that any women were drugged, Steen said, though Kappa Sigma did not have access to evidence police or KU might have found — which could include test results from liquor bottles he said police confiscated during a nighttime raid at the house a few days after the party.

“We knew that rumor and were concerned about it,” Steen said. “But to this day I don’t know any validity to it.”

Kappa Sigma Fraternity’s national office, based in Virginia, also sent an attorney to investigate the chapter, Steen said. He said their investigation didn’t conclude anything about sexual assault, either, but did conclude there was an event with “excessive drinking” by underage members.

Besides requiring members to abide by the law, Kappa Sigma code requires a licensed company with bartenders and insurance to serve alcohol at organized fraternity functions, so the freshmen’s unsanctioned party violated both, Steen said.

Nationals fined the chapter $10,000, prohibited alcohol at any parties or events — even in public locations — through the end of this calendar year and ordered a review of the chapter’s new member alcohol training with a representative from the national office, Steen said.

Mitchell Wilson, executive director of the national Kappa Sigma Fraternity, declined to confirm those sanctions, saying that as a matter of policy his organization doesn’t discuss individual or chapter discipline. He did say the Gamma-Omicron chapter continues to progress on an action plan the fraternity put in place last year.

“The leadership of the chapter is focused on the four key values of the fraternity, which are fellowship, leadership, scholarship and service,” Wilson said, “and the leadership of the chapter is committed to reflecting those values every day.”

The Lawrence Police Department also has been investigating since the beginning.

No criminal charges

The criminal investigation remains “ongoing,” said Sgt. Trent McKinley, police department spokesman.

Police have identified at least one suspect and have been in contact with victims as recently as two weeks ago, McKinley said. Police have not sent a case to the district attorney.

Reasons for lack of charges in sexual assault cases vary, ranging from investigations without sufficient evidence to prove guilt to victims choosing not to proceed through the court system.

McKinley would not say why police have not forwarded a probable cause affidavit to the district attorney, how many suspects had been identified or whether they are KU students.

He also would not say whether police found evidence of drugs.

“That has been one aspect of what detectives have worked to determine,” McKinley said. “At this time, I can’t release the results of evidentiary testing, details about investigative techniques used during this investigation or other preliminary findings made thus far. Should victims in this matter wish to pursue charges, and if supporting probable cause can be established, detectives will forward affidavits to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office for charging review.”

As far as what happened, police have said only that the reported wrongdoing involved possible sexual contact with an impaired person and that they believe there were multiple victims and multiple suspects.

Suspects out of the house?

If any Kappa Sigma member did victimize a woman that night, the chapter is reasonably confident he’s out of their ranks now, Steen said.

Last year KU did tell Kappa Sigma that it was investigating two individuals for sexual misconduct, Steen said. As part of the fraternity’s probation KU ordered the chapter to kick out any member the university found responsible for sexual violence.

Kappa Sigma has been given no names, by police or KU, Steen said.

He guesses that means one of two things: KU did not find an individual guilty, or any person the university found guilty is no longer a member of the house.

That could be thanks to some self-weeding early on.

A few weeks after the party, Kappa Sigma told members that anyone unwilling to abide by the rules of a dry house could leave and get out of his housing contract with no financial penalty.

“And 12 guys did,” Steen said.

“We think it’s likely that those two might have been amongst the people who left, just because they’re likely to be people who want to drink, but we don’t know,” he said.

Complying with probation, including ‘explicit’ education

KU’s probation includes 11 conditions. Kappa Sigma has completed the one-time activities KU has required so far and is expected to comply with ongoing conditions until, barring any violations, probation ends in December 2016, Barcomb-Peterson said.

“To the best of our knowledge, they are continuing to comply,” she said.

The chapter’s president did not respond to messages from the Journal-World. Steen described what Kappa Sigma has been doing:

• A group of KU employees including a nurse and a police officer visited the house to conduct sexual harassment training in January and again in August, focusing on behaviors that could get men in trouble — some obvious and some in a more gray area.

The presenters were “credible and effective” and the lessons “very explicit,” Steen said. “But it’s good. It makes 19-year-old guys pay attention.”

• Members attended a presentation by a sexual assault speaker on campus in April.

• Several members participated in a KU focus group about sexual harassment training last spring and remain available should KU request them again.

• Kappa Sigma did not participate in Rock Chalk Revue in the spring and won’t participate in homecoming next month.

• Representatives from nationals conducted a “member review,” which involved interviewing each member about why he is there, Steen said, “essentially just kind of challenging them, are they worthy to be members of the fraternity?” After the review, last fall after the dozen members left on their own, no one was recommended for removal but a few men were put on grade watch.

• To enforce the drinking ban, alumni periodically “show up” at the house to look around — including in the trash — and have asked the house director to alert them of any violations. Steen said to his knowledge the members are abiding.

• Kappa Sigma shared its internal investigation with KU, with individuals’ names redacted.

Lessons learned

Spending almost the entire fall 2014 semester on interim suspension by KU meant Kappa Sigma could not engage in any chapter activities — including requiring study hall for freshmen.

Steen cited that as the one disciplinary action that harmed the chapter.

“Our freshmen had the worst new member GPA we’ve had in six years,” Steen said. While a number of factors could be in play, the fraternity thinks they would have done better with study hall to help establish good habits their first semester.

Some activities were simply delayed, including initiation from the usual November to March and, ironically, a sexual harassment training session that had been scheduled for a few weeks after homecoming.

The probation made recruitment harder and required some explaining, Steen said. However Kappa Sigma pledged 21 new members this semester, just a couple under its goal.

Education has helped members better understand sexual harassment risks, Steen said.

The men of Kappa Sigma also have learned a lesson about being part of a greek organization.

“You can complain all day that it’s not fair,” Steen said. “Like it or not, your behavior reflects on your fraternity brothers, so there’s an important message there, and I think our guys are acutely aware of it.”