KU, fraternity leaders at odds over progress of sexual assault investigation

Kansas University officials this week underlined the severity of sexual assault allegations at a fraternity and said that members’ lack of cooperation was drawing out KU’s investigation.

KU and police continue to withhold details — even from fraternity leaders — about what reportedly happened at the Kappa Sigma house over homecoming weekend, with KU describing it only as “allegations of multiple instances of sexual misconduct.”

But Tim Caboni, KU’s vice chancellor of public affairs, reiterated Tuesday that KU considers the allegations both serious and organizational in nature.

“There’s a reason the entire organization was put on suspension, not an individual,” he said. “When these allegations were made and the chapter was suspended, the chancellor said the allegations were both serious and disturbing. And nothing has changed about the allegations.”

KU placed Kappa Sigma on interim suspension Sept. 30 and has said the fraternity should remain suspended because it poses a threat to campus. Members still live at the house but have ceased fraternity operations.

Jack Schwartz, Kappa Sigma chapter president, and Chuck Schimmel, an attorney representing the chapter’s housing corporation, deny that the fraternity poses a threat and say members have cooperated. They’ll argue at a hearing set for Monday that KU should lift the house’s suspension even though the investigation is ongoing.

Schwartz said allegations stemmed from a “spontaneous” event that members of the freshman class had organized at the chapter house over homecoming weekend. That broke the fraternity’s code of conduct because it was unsanctioned, and the house is dealing with the issue of the party, Schwartz said.

As for sexual assault allegations, Schwartz said neither KU nor police have shared more than a vague description of what allegedly happened with him or with the house’s attorney.

No one has been arrested or charged, and Schwartz and Schimmel said house leaders were unaware of any individual pledge or member being implicated. If one were, Schwartz said, he would “obviously” be removed from the house.

Schwartz said at least 20 members have been interviewed by investigators from KU’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, including himself and the rest of the executive board.

As for an internal investigation, Kappa Sigma executive board members did interview freshmen after the party to get a sense of what happened and whether anybody noticed anything that went wrong, Schwartz said. “We couldn’t really find much there.”

KU describes things differently.

KU previously said that because of the “complexity” of the investigation, the university did not expect it to be completed within the usual 60-day window, which would have been by Dec. 1.

Now, KU says members’ lack of cooperation is to blame, particularly the freshmen’s.

Caboni said that of 17 pledges KU contacted at the beginning of November, only four responded — one through an attorney — and none has been interviewed. Caboni said the men have said they are too busy and have scheduling conflicts despite investigators making themselves available after-hours and on weekends.

Caboni added, “Fraternity leadership agreed to provide university investigators with notes from the fraternity’s own internal investigation, then refused to provide those documents. Mr. Schimmel’s claim that no individual member has been notified that he is under investigation is also false.”

It’s unclear when KU will finish its investigation.

“I’m a former fraternity president myself,” Caboni said. “I understand what it means to be a member of a fraternity, and the bonds of brotherhood do not extend to hampering a sexual assault investigation. The sooner the members of Kappa Sigma provide the full cooperation their attorney claims has been provided, the sooner the investigation can be completed.”

The criminal investigation differs from KU’s in that police are investigating the acts of individuals rather than acts of a fraternal organization, said Sgt. Trent McKinley, police department spokesman.

McKinley said he could not disclose whom police have interviewed about the incident.

“I cannot go into detail about the level of cooperation of the fraternity as a whole other than to say some individuals have been more cooperative than others, as is common in investigations,” McKinley said.

With the criminal investigation ongoing, McKinley reiterated that police would still like to talk to anyone with information about the incident who has not yet come forward.

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