Long-time State College resident Richard Becker lives one block down from the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity house, which has been swamped with news crews over the past two days.
State College police are currently investigating allegations that fraternity members posted illicit photos of drug deals and nude, unconscious women to a private Facebook page. When Becker learned of the allegations – and when he saw the eye of the national media turning toward State College – he says it somehow felt familiar.
“It was like, ‘oh crap, here we go again,’” Becker says.
To a certain extent, Becker is reminded of the media storm that came with the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. He says the scandal should’ve been about Sandusky and his crimes, not Penn State, and he feels the same way about the Kappa Delta Rho situation.
“This is not a Penn State problem,” he says. “This is a fraternity problem.”
He strongly condemns the alleged crimes, calling them “ridiculous, and degrading to women,” but says the crimes are separate from the town or university where they took place. He points out that many other fraternities have been making national news lately, which he believes indicates a larger, more systemic problem.
NBC news correspondent Gabe Gutierrez was in State College on Wednesday, reporting from in front of the Kappa Delta Rho house on East Prospect Avenue. He says this story is the latest in a series of incidents involving fraternities all over the country.
Late last year, Rolling Stone wrote a now-discredited story about an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity, sparking a firestorm of debate and media coverage. More recently, a University of Oaklahoma fraternity hit the news for singing blatantly racist songs. A University of Michigan fraternity has also sparked outrage by causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of property damage to a ski lodge.
Gutierrez says stories like this have pushed fraternities into the public eye, but he realizes that many frats perform vital charity work and fundraising. That’s part of what makes it so “distressing” to learn about the kinds of allegations facing Kappa Delta Rho.
“It’s tough to compare one incident to another,” Gutierrez says. “For anyone who’s been victimized, their story is very significant in their life.”
Ben Larson, an independent satellite tuck operator who works with multiple news outlets, says the Kappa Delta Rho story is likely getting so much attention because of Penn State’s recent past with the Sandusky scandal. If the same story came out of a small school with no history of major media coverage, then Larson doubts it would’ve hit the national news circuit.
Penn State junior Adam Martin shares Larson’s opinion. He says the Kappa Delta Rho allegations are causing such a stir “because of the past that Penn State has in the public eye.” He adds that the alleged crimes are “clearly wrong” and warrant an investigation, but he thinks its unfortunate that Penn State is once again the subject of so much negative attention.
Sophomore Quincy Gildea hasn’t closely followed the national media coverage, but says she was “disappointed” when she learned of the allegations facing the Penn State frat. The reports of photos of nude, passed out women are especially “terrible and disgusting” to her.
“I feel bad for anyone that happened to,” Gildea says. “No one should have to worry about that.”
Attempts to contact members of the Penn State chapter of Kappa Delta Rho have been unsuccessful.
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