More than a month before the University of Missouri and Delta Upsilon�s national headquarters temporarily suspended the fraternity after a report of racial slurs toward black students, MU�s Office for Civil Rights and Title IX received reports alleging fraternity members gave pledges drugs to be used to incapacitate and sexually assault women.

The allegation is one of many over the past 15 months leveled against Delta Upsilon, according to documents the University of Missouri provided to the Tribune on Thursday.

�Active members of Delta Upsilon fraternity allegedly provided each new member with three pills and instructed them to drug women for the purpose of incapacitating them prior to engaging in sexual activity,� MU Title IX Administrator Ellen Eardley wrote in a letter to Delta Upsilon�s MU chapter. �It has been alleged that new members are required to engage in such conduct in order to complete the initiation process.�

The information was reported by numerous people who contacted the office and was circulated on social media, Eardley wrote. The office received the information Aug. 22.

Delta Upsilon has been sanctioned numerous times since last year after reports of underage drinking, at least one assault, physical abuse and other violations of MU�s student conduct policies and regulations. The fraternity is on temporary suspension after a Sept. 27 incident in which members reportedly shouted racist and sexist insults at two black female students outside Delta Upsilon�s house on Tiger Avenue at Rollins Road. MU suspended the fraternity Sept. 28. Delta Upsilon International also temporarily suspended the MU chapter.

Both MU�s Office of Student Conduct and the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX are investigating Delta Upsilon, MU spokesman Christian Basi said. He said he could not disclose which reports each office is investigating. When asked about how the long list of sanctions might affect the chapter�s standing as a recognized campus organization, Basi said punishment for infractions is determined on a case-by-case basis based on evidence found during an investigation.

A member who came to the door at Delta Upsilon�s house Thursday referred a Tribune reporter to the national office for comment. When asked how the national office could respond to allegations of potential criminal conduct locally, he said, �All comments go through them.�

Ashley Martin, Delta Upsilon International�s director of communications, emailed the Tribune a statement from fraternity Executive Director Justin Kirk, saying the national office has placed sanctions on the MU chapter dating to 2014.

�Delta Upsilon International Fraternity continues to work closely with the University of Missouri to investigate recent issues, some of which we have just learned of within the last few days,� Kirk said. �We will not condone or tolerate the type of behavior alleged in these incidents, and the chapter remains on a temporary suspension as our investigation continues.�

History of sanctions

Since August 2015, Delta Upsilon has faced at least 18 sanctions from MU, including being placed on disciplinary probation the day before the racial slur reports, according to the documents. The sanctions were in response to an assault, a theft, inappropriate behavior toward police and at least four incidents of providing alcohol to minors.

Jordan Goldberg, residence hall coordinator for Wolpers Hall at the time, in August 2015 emailed several people in the offices of Student Life and Residential Life about two women who were found extremely intoxicated in the dorm. One was taken to a hospital, and another recovered in her room with her roommate�s help.

Delta Upsilon was sanctioned Sept. 25, 2015, for providing alcohol to each of the women, who were underage at the time. The fraternity would be sanctioned again June 29 for the theft of a stop sign by a man who then ran into the Delta Upsilon house and then again on Sept. 1 for violating university policy and providing and distributing alcohol. The fraternity was placed on probation Sept. 26 for supplying alcohol to a minor.

MU police Chief Doug Schwandt emailed Janna Basler, associate director of student life, early on Sept. 10 to let her know of a list of issues at the fraternity the night before. A woman had drunk too much and then slipped and hit her head when she returned to her dorm that night, resulting in a trip to a hospital. At 12:34 a.m. Sept. 10, Columbia police were called to the Delta Upsilon house for a report that a 20-year-old woman drank too much. Officers were called again 43 minutes later when a man was pushed down a flight of stairs. At 2:31 a.m., an MU police officer made a traffic stop in which a passenger jumped out of a car and ran into the fraternity house, Schwandt wrote. Columbia police did not file any reports about the underage drinking and assault calls.

Julie Drury, senior coordinator for the Office of Student Life, sent a letter to Delta Upsilon on Sept. 13 requesting that fraternity leadership set up a hearing on three violations from Sept. 9 and 10. She had sent a similar letter to the fraternity on Sept. 1 for two violations.

MU police and EMS personnel responded to a medical emergency in Brooks Hall shortly after 8 p.m. Sept. 19. There, a woman was pantsless, drunk and had smeared feces on the wall. Her friends told police they had gone to their sorority house for about a half hour and Delta Upsilon for about 90 minutes. Two of her friends told police they believed she had been drugged. She was taken to a hospital, and a urine sample was sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory for testing.

MUPD Maj. Scott Richardson said test results will not be available for six months.

Hazing reports

Delta Upsilon also has been accused of hazing. According to a Residential Life report dated Aug. 22, 2015, two staffers found a drunken man with a bloody hand wrapped in tissue sitting in the lobby of the fourth floor of Lathrop Hall. The man said he was a Delta Upsilon pledge and told leadership Adviser Kelsey Schaffrin, �I can�t talk about it. They made us fight each other.�

The report also said members of Delta Upsilon recorded pledges being hazed and posted the video to the social media app Snapchat.

Basi, MU�s spokesman, said university investigators in both the Office of Student Conduct and the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX are aware of all the allegations against Delta Upsilon. The fraternity will remain on temporary suspension while both investigations are underway. Under suspension, a fraternity cannot use campus facilities or participate in campus activities.

When the investigations are done, individual students could face discipline ranging from a verbal warning to expulsion. The fraternity could be punished by no longer being recognized as a student organization.

Any person or group that is disciplined by either office can request a formal or informal appeal hearing. Basi said, if necessary, the offices share information with police during their investigations.

Fraternities and sororities own their houses and the land on which they sit. Columbia police have jurisdiction over Greek houses and in the last year, officers have been sent to Delta Upsilon 21 times for various reasons, according to online dispatch logs. Columbia police Officer Latisha Stroer, a department spokeswoman, said there are no active investigations into assaults or sexual assaults at Delta Upsilon�s house.

MU police sometimes assist Columbia police in calls at Greek Houses. In an email written by MU police Officer Steven Verble to Schwandt about the events of Sept. 9 and 10, which he forwarded to Basler, Verble expressed familiarity with the trouble at the fraternity.

�I don�t know what good it will do, but DU seems to have returned in full force as the usual problem it is,� Verble wrote, �and I wonder if you could pass that along to your contacts in Greek Life or Student Conduct.�

This article was first published online on Thursday, October 13, 2016 at 7:15 p.m.