First UK fraternity ‘chapter’ under investigation

The Edinburgh University branch of the American fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon is under investigation after leaked minutes of their meetings revealed that its members made rape comments and discussed going on a “raping trip”, transphobia and hazing.

The fraternity has been reported to have ‘colonies’, branches that have yet to be officially recognised, at Warwick and Oxford Universities in the UK. It has 54 active chapters in the US and Canada and includes George W. Bush and four other former US presidents among its alumni.

Edinburgh has appointed a senior member of staff to investigate the matter further, according to a spokeswoman for the University.

The revelations came a week after the Edinburgh branch or ‘colony’ was officially chartered as the Alpha Sigma ‘chapter’ of Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE-AS) by the American organisation.

Minutes of DKE-AS meetings held between September 2013 and May 2014 were leaked to Edinburgh’s student newspaper The Student, who reported them on 18 November. According to The Student, the minutes’ authenticity has been confirmed.

How are we going to rape them?
Edinburgh DKE member on the Feminist Society

The minutes show that the all-male fraternity members discussed “Feminists” as a full agenda item in a meeting in March 2014.

After one member’s proposal of a paintball game between DKE-AS and the Edinburgh University Feminist Society to “calm the waters” between the organisations was vetoed, the minutes record him asking: “How are we going to rape them?”

Another member responded by proposing a “raping trip” to Montenegro.

At the same meeting, the members also made rape jokes about a female Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) official and decided that transgender people “agreed to be pedantic”.

Various meetings also discussed the planning of initiation ceremonies for the fraternity. One of these ceremonies would involve forcing initiates to drink “DIY Four-Loko,” a beverage that has been banned in Canada, Europe and three US states after a number of high-profile deaths.

Such a ceremony would constitute hazing, which is an offence under UK and US law and explicitly banned by the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, although several of its American chapters have been disciplined for it.

The Student also claims to have been approached by a source within DKE-AS, who claimed its members had also discussed rolling out a free “service” where women could enlist a member to walk them home after nights out.

The source claimed that the members joked about taking advantage of these women. These alleged conversations are not recorded in the leaked minutes.

Vice-president of EUSA Eve Livingston has condemned the context of the minutes in an official statement.

She said: “We are shocked and appalled by the contents of the leaked minutes and our priority is absolutely the welfare and safety of our students.” Fraternities, she added, “have no place in our student community.”

DKE-AS has no official affiliation with either EUSA or Edinburgh University, although it tried to proclaim its links with the University earlier this year.

As of present, there seems to be no official statement about the Edinburgh branch being recognised as a ‘chapter’ on the DKE website. The official website also does not seem to mention of the branch’s recently condemned activities.

The DKE fraternity organisation hopes to expand to seven more universities in the UK and Ireland: Cambridge, London School of Economics and Political Science, University College London, Imperial College London, King’s College London, University of Glasgow, and Trinity College Dublin.