Students in fraternities and sororities at Penn State were asked to avoid reporters’ questions in light of Kappa Delta Rho’s suspension for posting naked photos of mostly unconscious women on Facebook.
Kappa Delta Rho fraternity house.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
Greek life officials are urging fraternity and sorority members at Penn State University to refrain from speaking to media outlets after Kappa Delta Rho fraternity's suspension for posting nude photos of women — while sleeping or unconscious — on private Facebook pages.
Scott Nulty, the vice president for community outreach for the Interfraternity Council at Penn State, confirmed to BuzzFeed News that he sent an email to chapter presidents asking members to not speak with reporters about the situation.
"I sent the email for the sole purpose of preventing the unintentional spread of misinformation or rumors by our members," Nulty said in an e-mail to BuzzFeed News. "The Interfraternity Council's policy to speak with one voice is standard procedure to ensure that rumors are not disseminated as truth."
The council is the local governing body for Penn State fraternities.
Melissa McCleery, a university sorority member, told BuzzFeed News that everyone in Alpha Delta Pi received an email from the chapter's president saying they should not speak publicly about the incident. Instead, the women were advised to direct all media inquiries to Panhellenic Council, the governing body for Penn State sororities.
Other sorority members said their chapters received a similar message. A sorority member who asked not to be identified told Penn State's student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, that the message essentially told members "just walk away from the reporters if they approach you."
Still, Abby Renko, president of the Panhellenic Council, sent a statement Thursday to sororities saying that she never asked them to refrain from commenting, but instead encouraged "members to refer to their National policies when considering whether or not to make a statement about the issue."
The Panhellenic Council and its executive board has yet to comment publicly about the incident. It didn't immediately respond to a request for comment by BuzzFeed News on this article or for previous articles regarding the Facebook page.
"Please understand that our silence this week should in no way be interpreted as complacence with this issue," Renko said in the statement distributed to sororities. "Our focus has been directed towards determining how we should move forward."
LINK: Criminal Charges For Penn State Fraternity’s Facebook Page Could Hinge On Victims Coming Forward
LINK: Penn State Suspends Fraternity For Posting Photos On Facebook Of Unconscious Naked Women
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1bil5je
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