Leaked ‘welcome’ email exposes Virginia fraternity pushing bros to be drunken sexual predators
A University of Richmond fraternity was suspended after an email surfaced encouraging sexual aggression from its members, Attn.com reported.
“If you haven’t already started drinking, catch up,” the email from leaders in the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity reads in part. “Tonight’s the type of night that makes fathers afraid to send their daughters away to school. Let’s get it.”
The email was sent to 95 students late last week, when fraternities — or “lodges” as they’re known within the school community — opened for the school year.
“We’re looking forward to watching that lodge virginity be gobbled up for all y’all. See you boys tonight,” it read.
The letter was republished in its entirety in the university’s student newspaper, the Collegian. University officials responded with a statement confirming that the school’s Kappa Alpha chapter had been suspended.
“The e-mail contained grossly offensive language and suggestions of behavior inconsistent with our policies concerning Greek life and with the caring nature of our campus community,” it read. The national Kappa Alpha offices also issued its own suspension of the Richmond chapter, saying, “Gentlemanly conduct is at the core of Kappa Alpha Order’s values.”
The Kappa Alpha email came to light less than a month after another Richmond student, Cecilia Carreras, slammed school officials in a Huffington Post op-ed for only placing the student who assaulted her — a school athlete — on “restricted access” instead of barring him from participating in athletics altogether, which she said “lets him live his life at Richmond the way he’s always lived it, except now he can’t go to the dining hall, library, or gym.”
“I hope that by speaking out Richmond realizes it MUST be better,” she wrote. “It must fully commit to ending sexual violence. Campaigns such as ‘It Ends Now,’ which is going on this week, mean nothing when women are told it ends when the accused reaches orgasm and not when they withdraw consent.”
Another student, Kakie Pate, told WTVR-TV that the furor over Carreras’ account spurred the school into action. However, she said that she went to a party at the Kappa Alpha house last weekend without incident.
“I felt safe,” Pate said. “I always feel safe at KA.”
WTVR’s report can be seen below.