Each member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority will meet with representatives from the Office of Undergraduate Judicial Affairs as part of a roughly two-week investigation following the alcohol-related arrests of 11 members last Monday, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman told The Dartmouth on Monday. Redman also said that Kappa will undergo "extended probation" until the investigation or potential hearing closes.
Each sorority member will be interviewed regardless of whether or not she was at the Enfield, N.H., roller skating rink when the arrests took place. Redman also stated that questions asked during the interviews would be "totally related to the specific incident," and not Kappa's organization in general.
According to Redman, the next two weeks will be largely about determining whether the responsibility for the alcohol at the event lies with individual members or with the organization as a whole.
"If there's an organizational issue here, is it the individuals within the organization making poor decisions?" Redman said of questions that are being considered in the investigation. He later noted in general terms, "The individuals theoretically have an allegiance to the group and they agree to abide by certain things."
Redman is not personally involved with the investigation. Instead, Undergraduate Judicial Affairs is spearheading the process. Multiple attempts to contact the Director of UJA, April Thompson, were unsuccessful, however.
This process of questioning all members has occurred about six times in Redman's seven-year tenure, he estimated. He noted his first experience was when Phi Delta Alpha fraternity was investigated for an incident that resulted in their "being removed for a couple years."
Kappa President Whitney Dickerson '07 declined an interview again on Monday, but stated in a BlitzMail message to The Dartmouth that, "Kappa Kappa Gamma opposes inappropriate or illegal use of alcohol by its members. We recognize drinking as a problem on many college and university campuses today and we attempt to educate our members regarding the dangers of engaging in such activity."
Dickerson also wrote that the chapter is also conducting its own internal investigation.
The sorority's extended and newly modified probation is a special circumstance in regards to College policy. It stems from the fact that the house was already on probation at the time of the incident for hosting its formal with Chi Heorot fraternity over the summer. The probation was set to end Oct. 22, but the extension will now continue the probationary period until the end of the investigation or potential hearing.
In discussing possible results for Kappa, Redman said the outcomes from the College and Enfield police could be vastly different given that the two entities have no influence upon each other, according to Redman.
Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson '75 was unavailable for comment beyond his op-ed column that appears in this Oct. 17 issue of The Dartmouth, in which he writes that the "abuse of alcohol is not a valid Dartmouth tradition."
Nelson also calls upon members of the Dartmouth community to conduct "our personal and organizational social lives in ways that don't put anyone at senseless risk of harm."
When asked if he thought Kappa's encounter with Enfield police was representative of the Coed, Fraternity and Sorority system as a whole, Redman said it was impossible to know.
"There might be some not-so-good things happening at [other CFS] events as well, but for some reason, no attention was brought to those events, so there's no conversation going on about them," he said.
