Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Statement from Joseph Rosenberg, National Executive Director of Kappa Delta Rho

We have received and reviewed the attached Report from Penn State officials regarding recent matters

involving some members of our Penn State chapter. As always, we have reviewed this Report in the

context of our values, which promote and respect the rights of every individual.

The Report concludes that while some members of the chapter engaged in inappropriate conduct, our

Penn State chapter will continue to be part of the university community. As we have stated previously,

our internal Membership Review and Reorganization is continuing. Any member of the fraternity found

to have committed acts of improper conduct will be appropriately disciplined, up to and including

expulsion from the fraternity. While we note that the Report does not allege that any member of the

chapter committed sexual assault, we will thoroughly review the other incidents of alleged improper

conduct.

With respect to our members who have neither been accused of nor committed any improper behavior,

our Brotherhood and support will continue.

We will reaffirm our efforts to assure that our chapter makes positive and constructive contributions to

the university. As we have stated, our national leadership has conducted a full review of our existing

program to support our undergraduates and host institutions in educating our undergraduate Brothers

on issues of sexual assault, sexual harassment and the abuse of alcohol and drugs. In order to

strengthen this program, we recently entered into an agreement with Campus Clarity to provide

training for our membership that will facilitate a broad educational program that is not solely

a prevention effort, offers skills based training for our members, is intentional in our language, engages

our student leaders to evaluate the larger issues associated with these topics.. The Think About It

program will be fully implemented in this upcoming academic year as part of our Legion Program, which

is a total member education program designed to provide leadership skills and knowledge to our

Brothers that will allow them to lead successfully in their communities.

As we stated previously, with respect to the problem of hazing, our national leadership will not tolerate

inappropriate conduct. When we first became aware of allegations of misconduct related to hazing in

the Penn State matter, we immediately began our investigation and cooperated with the authorities and

the Penn State Administration. We conducted our own investigation and shared pertinent information

with the appropriate administrators. Now that the investigation is complete we will hold accountable

those who are responsible through our judicial process. In our review we found one of the barriers was

having a vehicle or method of reporting of possible incidents of hazing. Toward this end, we made

arrangements to join a consortium of national organizations that maintain a hazing hotline, which any

Brother, Parent or member of the community may use at any time around the clock. This hotline was

instituted on March 27, 2015.

Kappa Delta Rho is an organization characterized by devotion to respect for others. As our Penn State

chapter proceeds as part of the university community, we will continue to require that each of our

members honors that principle in all respects and at all times.