Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania has decided it will no longer accept fraternities and sororities after documents penned by one of the organizations, allegedly containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community, has surfaced.
According to an announcement by school President Valerie Smith, posted on the college’s official website earlier today (May 10), the institution’s sororities and frats will desist in the coming years. “Fraternities and sororities will no longer exist at the College,” writes Pres. Smith.
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“The voluntary disbanding of Phi Psi and Delta Upsilon reflects a broader change in student needs and desires. Exclusive, dues-paying social organizations no longer effectively meet the needs of our residential liberal arts environment,” Smith wrote in her statement.
As reported by U.S. News, Swarthmore’s statement comes shortly after the only two fraternities at the private “liberal arts college” decided to disband following the internal documents’ release. While the authenticity of the documents have yet to be verified, last month, various campus publications released the Phi Psi docs from 2012 to 2016, which were cited to be from an anonymous source.
A campus-wide outcry took place over over the frat’s explicit “meeting minutes,” which were detailed in the school publications. Allegedly, members of the Phi Psi fraternity had often referred to rooms in the neighboring frat as a “rape attic” and a “rape tunnel,” amongst other horrific surnames.
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In light of the paperwork going public, students of Swarthmore occupied the Phi Psi house via a sit-in, demanding for both fraternities to be shut down, as well as, for members to relinquish the rights to the college-owned frat houses, back to the institution.
The college has since suspended the fraternity’s activity while it is under investigation.
Kappa Alpha Theta, the school’s sole sorority can continue with its current members through Spring 2022, but can no longer recruit new members.