Penn State Fraternity Sexual Assault Ignored By Police, Report Says

A grand jury report released recently highlighted Pennsylvania State University's alleged mishandling of incidents involving fraternities on campus. While alcohol-fueled sexual assault crimes were mentioned in the grand jury's report, such incidents appear to be absent from a separate report unveiled by the college's Greek Chapter Scorecard, which details violations reported to each council.

Penn State has made headlines for its seemingly problematic Greek culture, with the most high profile incident to date being the death of Timothy Piazza, a 19-year-old freshman who died in February after an alleged hazing incident at Beta Theta Pi fraternity. The university's scorecard was created after Piazza's death to alert students and parents of fraternity misconduct on campus.

The Greek Scorecard showed in October that zero sexual assault crimes were reported by the college's fraternities from the spring 2017 semester. Penn State's scorecard evaluates "total members, cumulative GPA, alcohol and hazing violations, as well as any chapter suspensions," according to the university's website.

"The Greek Chapter Score Card is an important step toward engaging students in these significant changes," Penn State president Eric Barron said October in a statement. "Other impactful actions include shifting the oversight of disciplinary cases from the Greek organizations to the University and the drop-in monitoring of Greek-letter houses by University personnel. We are being aggressive and we are being persistent."

Issues related to alcohol and hazing within Penn State's fraternities appear to be prioritized over sexual assault incidents because the State College Police Department isn't required to report incidents of this caliber that occur on private fraternity property, according to Penn Live. Local law enforcement often waits until substantial is evidence gathered before making convictions, which tends to result in a delayed process.

It was confirmed in February, however, that police investigated seven alcohol-fueled sexual assaults within the university's Greek culture this year.

Fewer sexual assaults have been reported on Penn State's campus, with only one related case reported within the first four weeks of the fall 2017 semester, according to Penn State's newspaper The Daily Collegian. This time last year, five sexual assaults were reported between Aug. 30 and Sept. 10.

Incidents of sexual assault are more prevalent on college campuses compared to other committed crimes, with more than 50 percent of college sexual assault cases occurring between August to November.

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