Adam Sparks, and Stacey Barchenger

The Tennessean

Western Kentucky fraternities hung homemade signs on their houses this week mocking Vanderbilt with apparent references to a rape case against four of the Commodores' former football players, according to pictures that circulated on social media.

​Most were made with sheets and black paint and were posted ahead of the universities' game on Saturday. One read, "Vandy catches more charges than passes." Another that appears to hang on the Lambda Chi Alpha house reads, "Vandy Anchors Down lifetime sentences."

One sign hanging at the peak of the roof at an unidentified building said, "Vandy goes to court. WKU goes to bowl games."

Another sign sitting on the ground in a Twitter photo said, "Vandy posted Brock Turner's bail." Turner was an All-American swimmer at Stanford University who was convicted of sexual assault and received a six-month sentence that many believed was too lenient.

Western Kentucky media relations director Bob Skipper said the university told Lambda Chi Alpha that the signs were "inappropriate" and they were taken down Wednesday night. He said he was not sure whether the fraternity would be punished.

Skipper said he was only aware of signs at the Lambda Chi Alpha house. But Lambda Chi Alpha president Alex Hawkins said via a direct message on Twitter that other organizations also hung signs for the games, though he did not specify the content of those signs.

Hawkins confirmed that the signs were taken down Wednesday night. He said the signs were "not in any way meant to make fun of women or sexual assault allegations associated with the Vanderbilt football team, this was simply an immature joke. ... We are avid WKU football fans and meant no harm by any signs at all. We apologize to anyone we have offended."

Hawkins added that Lambda Chi Alpha hosts events to raise money for Hope Harbor Sexual Trauma Recovery Center, a shelter for battered women in Bowling Green, Ky. "We are philanthropists, gentlemen and scholars," Hawkins added.

On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the signs were promoted on Twitter by students and @WKU_GreekHumor. Some of those tweets and photos have since been deleted.

Those who shared the images were quickly chastised for the signs, which some saw as inappropriate references to sexual assault. Four Vanderbilt football players were charged in 2013 in the rape of an unconscious woman in a dorm room, a case that has lingered for more than three years in the court system.

Two players, Cory Batey and Brandon Vandenburg, were found guilty after trials. Batey, 22, is serving a sentence of 15 years. Vandenburg, 23, faces a 15 to 25 year prison term and will be sentenced Sept. 30.

Two other former players, Brandon E. Banks and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie, are charged and have pleaded not guilty in the Vanderbilt case. Their lawyers are working on plea deals in hopes of avoiding further trials in the case.

Vanderbilt will play at Western Kentucky at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Commodores will be the first SEC team to ever play at Western Kentucky's Houchens-Smith Stadium.

Reach Adam Sparks at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @AdamSparks.



