'Close the rape attic': College students protest fraternity after vulgar documents surface

Authorities at a Swarthmore College, a private liberal arts college in Philadelphia, Penn., have suspended all fraternity activity pending an investigation into newly surfaced documents containing racist, homophobic dialogue and rape jokes that have been linked to former members of one fraternity. The suspension was announced on Saturday amid anti-fraternity protests by student acitivists.

The scandal began on April 18 when an anonymous email account leaked private documents containing the violent hate speech to campus publications Voices and the Phoenix, which in turn published them. According to Voices, the undercover informant sent an email with the subject line “Phi Psi,” referring to the name of the fraternity.

Inside was a Google Drive folder entitled “Phi Psi Historical Archives”; it contained videos, photos and documents from 2013 through 2016, detailing sexual misconduct at fraternity parties, derogatory remarks about minorities and the LGBTQ community, and even evidence of hazing, a practice the fraternity denies engaging in.

The Phoenix published a separate document in the Google Drive folder labeled “meeting minutes,” which documented vulgar agenda items, like securing date rape drugs, and included graphic images and videos of sexual encounters at the Phi Psi fraternity house. On a foreshadowing note, the document threatens retaliation against anyone who leaks the information. “For all you newcomers out there,” it reads, “if you show these to anyone outside the frat you are dead to me.”

On Saturday, student activists from Organizing for Survivors and Swarthmore Coalition Against Fraternity Violence began to stage an ongoing sit-in to protest Phi Psi, demanding that Swarthmore close down all fraternities permanently instead of just suspending them, according to NBC 10 in Philadelphia. The activists are rallying against “rape jokes, descriptions of sexual assault naming specific women and being generally ableist, racist, homophobic,” according to student Olivia Smith.

That same day, Swarthmore President Valerie Smith shared a letter with the community confirming that school authorities had received the “unredacted materials” and announced that it would shut down all fraternity activities pending an investigation into the documents by “external investigators” hired by the school.

The letter also acknowledged the presence of the protesters, who have been occupying the Phi Psi fraternity house, where one student currently lives, for three days as of Monday night. The school thanked law enforcement for overseeing the peaceful resistance.

“During this situation, which is still ongoing, Public Safety requested Swarthmore Borough Police to provide support and ensure a calm resolution. We are grateful for their presence,” the letter reads. “We respect the rights of students at Swarthmore to express their views and beliefs. As Dean Terhune mentioned in his message earlier this week, we will continue to hold students accountable to our community standards. At Swarthmore, civility and dissent must co-exist.”

Current members of Phi Psi say they shouldn’t be held accountable for the derogatory documents, though, because they were created by former members. “We wholeheartedly condemn the language of the 2013 and 2014 notes, as they are not representative of who we are today,” the fraternity wrote in a public Facebook post on April 18, when the scandal broke.

“All our current brothers were in high school and middle school at the time of these unofficial minutes, and none of us would have joined the organization had this been the standard when we arrived at Swarthmore,” the note continued.

It went on to reference the fraternity’s commitment to speaking out against sexual assault and ensuring public safety: “Today, Phi Psi is proud to be an open and safe social space for anyone in the community … We are a group of 59 diverse brothers who are active members of the Swarthmore community and wish to be agents of meaningful change like everyone else.”

The fraternity’s statement did little to strike sympathy in the hearts of the student protesters. “Nothing about these documents reflect that these minutes or hazing practices were done in isolation,” said Olivia Smith to NBC 10. “Hazing rituals continue in cycles. Senior members teach freshman brothers the same toxic ideologies. Essentially the practices that were taught in the 80’s and today through this ingrained structure of exclusive and self-isolating continuity.”

But Phi Psi isn’t the only Swarthmore fraternity that activists have in their crosshairs. The minutes referenced another on-campus fraternity, Delta Upsilon, which was said to have a “rape attic” and a “rape tunnel,” according to Teen Vogue. An anonymous user set up a Tumblr page to expose these and other nefarious activities, like physical and verbal assault.

The students have vowed to stage the sit-in until their demands to have fraternities shuttered are met. They’ve even brought along signs referencing the horrifying minutes revelation; one reads, “Close the rape attic.” Swarthmore student Maya Henry told NBC 10, “The school is going to be pushed into change based on the sheer amount of support that we have.”

No arrests or citations have been made as the students continue to protest.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Fraternity brother dies after being hit by friend with a pellet gun during party

• ‘Beautiful’ and ‘well-known’ college student dies at South Carolina fraternity party

• University of Georgia fraternity suspended after racist video shared on social media

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