Woman shares account of sexual assault at SigEp chapter in North Texas

Article by Jelani Gibson (@JelaniGibson1)- Illustration by Austin Banzon

EDITOR'S NOTE:

This article is a rewritten and extended version of an article that appeared in the print version of the University of North Texas' student newspaper the North Texas Daily  Sept. 26, 2019. That article was not posted online, due to administrative demands. Once a second article was written and submitted for publication, the option to publish was declined and a recommendation was made it be taken elsewhere. As a result it is publishing here instead.

Sincerely

-Jelani Gibson

-Andrew Wright  

The North Texas Daily had been conducting an investigation spanning multiple months into sexual assault at the University of North Texas, when Kaylee Campbell, a digital retail junior, reached out over social media in September and said she had compelling info to share.

She said she was raped by a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon, Texas Beta chapter in Spring 2019 as a pledge for Zeta Tau Alpha, Gammi Phi chapter at the fraternity’s house on 1025 Maple St.

Months prior, the Daily had gained access to a UNT police record where a Dean of Students survivor advocate described a Feb. 20, 2019 alleged sexual assault involving the same fraternity.

The Dean of Students office confirmed the fraternity had been released from probation Feb. 15, 2019, for a 2017 incident involving distribution of alcohol that had put them on social probation.

The fraternity is currently on probation again for hazing activities within the same time period, with an April 2020 expiration, according to the most recent info from the DOS website.

In 2016, there was a UNT police report that had referenced a rape that was allegedly committed by Sigma Phi Epsilon members who were also accused of posting the act on Snapchat.

The University of North Texas’ spokesperson Leigh Anne Gullet confirmed in another email the fraternity had gotten off an extended probation for hazing while they were on a previous probation in 2015.

After Campbell described her sexual assault at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house, she was handed the 2019 police report the Daily had gained access to.

“Yep, that’s it,” she said.

The fraternity had spent less than a week off its February 2019 probation before Campbell’s alleged rape.

THE DEAN OF STUDENTS INVESTIGATION

In September, a Dean of Students (DOS) investigation found that there was insufficient info to determine a rape took place due to there being no witnesses to the act itself and claimed it was unable to resolve and disprove dual narratives from Campbell and the alleged assailant.

“Because there is a significant conflict in the evidence and DOS is unable to resolve that conflict due to the lack of corroborating witness statements or additional evidence, DOS concludes that there is insufficient evidence to establish a violation of University (sic) policy. As such, DOS has determined that the Respondent is not responsible for sexually assaulting the Complainant in violation of UNT Policy 12.005,” the DOS documents state.

Despite that conclusion, within those DOS documents were conflicting statements made by the alleged assailant.

In the documents the member claimed the encounter was consensual, but also acknowledged that Campbell was sober while he was drinking during the encounter and admitted to messaging an apology to what Campbell “thought” happened to her.

“… he wanted to apologize to the Complainant for what she ‘thought’ may have happened,” the documents stated. “But, according to the Respondent, he was not apologizing for allegedly sexually assaulting the Complainant because he stated that never happened.”

After multiple phone calls, an email and a visit to the Greek Life Center and the front door of the fraternity house, Daily reporters were unable to locate the accused member.

The text message the member sent to Campbell blamed much of the encounter on excess alcohol consumption.

“Hey I’m really sorry about last night, clearly things got out of hand and I shouldn’t have been drinking that much,” the message stated.

The apology was insulting, Campbell said.

“How are you going to apologize to somebody on behalf of what they thought, that’s a backhanded apology,” she said. “I’m not going to go up to somebody and say ‘Oh I’m sorry you think I raped you,’ That doesn’t make any sense, that is not a sincere apology at all whatsoever.”

The member acted as if nothing had taken place, Campbell said.

“He was asking me if I wanted my jacket back and asked me to go get coffee like nothing had happened,” she said.

In another DOS investigation statement however, the member claimed he was not drunk.

"The Respondent confirmed the Complainant's allegation that he had been drinking that night but stated he was not drunk," the DOS documents state.  

Former Zeta Tau Alpha, Gammi Phi chapter member and current UNT student Alyssa Iglesias, who is known as “Witness 1” in the DOS documents, said she confronted the member about the alleged rape when Campbell told her what happened.

In the investigation documents, the Sigma Phi Epsilon member claimed he was texted by Iglesias about an “interaction” but not sexual assault.

“The Respondent admitted to apologizing to the Complainant on the day after the alleged incident, stating “Hey Im really sorry about last night, clearly things got out of hand and I shouldn’t had been drinking that much”, but he explained that he was apologizing because Witness 1 (Alyssa Iglesias) informed him that the Complainant was upset about their interaction, not because he had sexually assaulted her,” the DOS documents stated.

The “interaction” Iglesias was upset about was Campbell getting sexually assaulted, she said.

“The night that Kaylee got back to West [Hall] after he had raped her, I texted him and I said ‘what the f*** is wrong with you?’ and he said ‘What are you talking about?’” Iglesias said.

Iglesias said she waited until the member was sober to confront him about it again through Snapchat, a social media app that deletes texts after they have been opened by the recipient.

“I said ‘do you remember what happened last night?’ and he said ‘no, I was really drunk,’ I said ‘you and Kaylee had sex,’ he said ‘no, we didn’t,’ I said ‘yes you did, you went into the room together, you were making out, she told you she didn’t want to have sex, you said that was fine and you still had sex with her anyways when she didn’t want to have sex with you’ and he said ‘well I guess things just got out of hand then, I was drunk’ and I said ‘that’s still not okay.’”

The DOS documents also showed that in a previous statement with a fraternity witness, the member claimed he didn’t have sex with Campbell at all.

“According to Witness 8, the Respondent stated he did not do anything with the Complainant,” the report stated.

For her assailant to claim his heavy drinking is what impaired his memory and later go to the Dean of Students office with a detailed account while she was sober during the entire encounter is a glaring inconsistency, Campbell said.

“It’s hypocritical for women who are intoxicated while being raped to be judged and asked about their memory and then for the rapist to be the drunk one, where there is all of a sudden a feasible recollection of memory that should be believed,” she said.

The local chapter leadership redirected questions about the alleged assault to its national headquarters.

Sigma Phi Epsilon national headquarters officials declined to directly comment on the matter and used a general public relations statement it had used in response to other questions the Daily had asked about the fraternity’s conduct over the past seven years.

Once Sigma Phi Epsilon national headquarters gained knowledge that the Daily was reaching out to multiple undergraduate and staff members, spokesperson Heather Kirk said headquarters statements on the matter represented all of the members contacted.

“I believe you have contacted multiple staff and undergraduate members for comment, so please know that this statement can be attributed to me and serves as a response to your multiple inquiries on this matter,” Kirk emailed to a Daily reporter.

“SigEp does not tolerate hazing, and for any allegation we receive, we partner with the university to investigate the concern,” Kirk said in the emailed statement. “If hazing behaviors are identified, we work with the university to take appropriate action toward accountability and development. We are working closely with our chapter at North Texas to focus on its implementation of the Balanced Man Program, designed to prevent hazing and promote continuous member development.

There is no place in our fraternity experience for sexual violence, and SigEp takes any allegation of sexual assault very seriously,” Kirk continued. “Because of the sensitive nature of such reports of individual behavior, if we receive an allegation of sexual violence, we immediately provide that information to the University (sic) to investigate.”

When asked if the headquarters’ representation extended to the alleged rapist, Kirk said the statement was separate from comment or representation on any Title IX finding.

“No, I do not speak on behalf of any individual related to his/her individual university conduct or Title IX process,” she emailed.

The Daily was asking undergraduate and staff members about Title IX sexual assault.

Zeta Tau Alpha national headquarters declined to specifically address Campbell’s comments as well and re-directed further questions back to UNT’s Division of Student Affairs.

“We cannot comment on any Title IX investigation,” said Zeta Tau Alpha Senior Communications Director Ashley Sherman in an emailed statement. “Any violations of ZTA policy were promptly handled in the spring using ZTA’s formal judicial process.”

The local chapter was also asked to comment and redirected inquiries to Sherman.

The DOS investigative documents obtained by the Daily show consistency with Campbell’s reported narrative, but the documents also show a list of witnesses who indicated they were unable or unwilling to provide additional proof and statements on the matter.

Dean of Students investigators can’t force witnesses to produce proof even if they withhold it, said Dean of Students Moe McGuiness.

“DOS investigations are not legal proceedings,” she said. “As such, DOS does not have subpoena power to compel the production of proof. DOS investigators cannot force anyone to provide evidence that they cannot or do not wish to provide.”

REASONS FOR CONCLUSION

One of the conclusions the report came to was that since Campbell removed her tampon, she created access for sexual intercourse and that the member had reason to believe she consented.

“Additionally, the fact that the Complainant removed her tampon while in his room (creating access for the Respondent to penetrate her vagina) and then returned to Respondents' bed (sic), tends to indicate that the Respondent had reason to believe she did, in fact, consent,” the report stated.

Campbell stated in DOS documents and in an interview with the Daily that she went to the trash to throw her tampon away as a ruse to get away from her assailant, text her friend and look for her clothes.

In the process of doing that she was pulled back down by her assailant, Campbell said.

While the Dean of Students used the part of Campbell’s account about how she threw the tampon away to say she more than likely consented, it did not resolve the aspect of disproving that she was forced down onto the bed.

“I’m sitting here and I’m like ‘if I’m about to get sexually assaulted I don’t want to have a tampon inside of me because that’s going to hurt and that’s going to harm me,’” Campbell said. “So, I unlatch from his grip and I get off and I take my tampon out and then as I walk over back to the desk where my phone is sitting , he pushes me down onto the bed with his hand on my chest [and] neck, inhibiting my breathing.”

Campbell said she originally bought her allegation to the fraternity and believed they were going to address the issue.

Going to another Sigma Phi Epsilon party when she and Iglesias were under the belief that the rape allegation was already being responsibly addressed by the fraternity shouldn’t have been used against her as proof that she didn’t exhibit reasonable fear, Campbell said.

“At this time it was before we reported it to the Dean [of Students] and we still had friends [at the fraternity],” she said.

“We didn’t think he would be there,” Campbell said. “When we got there, walked around and made our way through the house, we didn’t see him until about five to ten minutes into us being there and not only was he there at the party, he was behind the counter serving alcohol to others when we were told he was on So Pro (social probation).”

Prior to the party, Campbell and Iglesias had informed Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Standards Board of the alleged rape, according to DOS documents and Campbell’s interview.

While Campbell and Iglesias were under the impression the fraternity’s Standards Board would levy disciplinary measures on the member revolving around social probation, DOS documents show that the board took no such measures and instead recommended that the member cut down on his consumption of alcohol.

“There were no disciplinary actions taken against him, but the fraternity suggested he not drink as much,” the report stated.

The DOS investigation witnesses in the documents state that Iglesias was the one who brought the allegations to the fraternity.

"Witness 8 stated the complaint presented to the fraternity against the Respondent came from Witness 1 and not the Complainant," the documents state.

The impression that Iglesias and not Campbell brought the complaint to the fraternity is false, Iglesias said.

“Somebody said that I was the one telling all of it, but I was sitting back, I only went with Kaylee because she didn’t want to go by herself,” Iglesias said.

Dean of Students documents also annotate the event in Campbell's statement.

"The Complainant and Witness 1 reported the incident to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity in an attempt to hold the Respondent accountable," the documents state.

Campbell was initially hesitant on going to the Dean of Students and coming forward to the Daily with her account because of backlash, she said.

“I read articles all the time about how girls will come forward about things these guys have done to them and then the guys will fire back, harass them, make their lives a living hell,” Campbell said. “The parents could do something, the parents could sue. There’s so many things that could have happened.”

Speaking to her friends and wanting a sense of closure pushed Campbell to go to the Dean of Students office, she said.

“It was me talking to my friends and realizing how wrong the situation was and I think at first I was trying to push it out in my memory like ‘No, it didn’t happen, that never happened,’” Campbell said. “The more I started thinking about it and the more I was like, ‘this is messed up, this can’t go on.’ If I think about it, at the end of the day, he’s just going to get away with it If I sit around and don’t say anything.”

THE BEGINNING

The encounter started at a night time intramural basketball game that Campbell was attending.

“He was drunk, he wasn’t supposed to be drunk at an intramural basketball game, but he was drunk and he’s being really touchy and my friends are egging me on to go and make out with him,” she said. “I was willing to make out with him, I’ve told everyone that.”

Once the two kissed in the basement area of the Physical Education Building on campus, nothing else happened, until she was invited to a party at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on 1025 Maple St., Campbell said.

Once inside Campbell asked to use a phone charger.

“I go into his room and I plug my phone in, and then I go back out and I sit back down with everybody,” she said. “There is at least 10 of us and them, just watching TV, he’s drinking still, he’s more drunk than he was at the basketball game and he’s basically out of it. If you were to ask him something he wouldn’t remember it the next day.”

“He carried around a [container] that had different alcoholic beverages in it, so you never knew what he was drinking,” Campbell said. “I never had any alcohol at the house.”

The member also admitted to Campbell being sober in the DOS documents.

"The Respondent stated that the Complainant also consumed alcohol before the game, but while at the Fraternity house she maintained her normal mobility and mental capacities," the report states.

As the night went on, Campbell was ‘Gamma Phi’d’ to give the Sigma Phi Epsilon member a hickey, she said.

“Gamma Phi is the term the sorority girls use for hazing,” she said. “If you Gamma Phi somebody, you’re basically forcing them to do it.”

Zeta Tau Alpha pledges who are given a ‘Gamma Phi’ task are expected to do it for successful entry into the sorority, Campbell said.

While Campbell agreed to kissing the Sigma Phi Epsilon member, she indicated she didn’t want to have sex, she said.

“We went in there and we started making out and the first words out of my mouth were ‘we’re not having sex,’” Campbell said. “If I had a dollar for every time I said it, that would be a lot of dollars.”

Those multiple protests fell on deaf ears, Campbell said.

“I was able to leave the room, but I couldn’t, because I didn’t have any clothes on,” Campbell said. “I clarified 100 percent that I didn’t want to have sex.”

That clarification was ignored, Campbell said.

“He tries to get on top of me, so I physically remember laying back, putting my leg up so he can’t get near me,” she said.

“He’s saying things like ‘oh you’re just messing with me, you’re leading me on,’ she said. “He gets up and pushes me back down on the bed.”

When she tried to leave the bed she was pulled back down, Campbell said.

“He had his hand on my chest slash neck and he was trying to, again, force himself inside of me,” she said.

Saying no multiple times in a different manner was frustrating, Campbell said.

“‘Stop doing that,’‘I want to go back in the other room, let’s go back in the other room.’ ‘No, stop it.’ I’m pretty sure those mean I’m not consenting,” she said.

The Sigma Phi Epsilon member was dissatisfied with being told no, Campbell said.

There was a second attempt to get away before she was pushed back down, Campbell said.

“He had grabbed me and flipped me on top of him when I was trying to get away,” she said. “This was after he had pushed me down.”

While there was a brief moment of sexual contact, she was able to prevent the fraternity member from going any further by maneuvering herself out of the bed, Campbell said.

When he left the room angry, Campbell started looking for her clothes so she could leave.

“I literally started ransacking the room and found my leggings in the corner behind the bed, so I put them on, and I put my shirt back on and then got out of the room,” she said.

THE FALLOUT

Once word of the incident reached Zeta Tau Alpha leadership, the focus became less about the assault and more about the reputation of the sorority, Campbell said.

“The sorority finds out first and the sorority does everything they can to cover it up,” she said. “Zeta Tau Alpha wants to make sure that they don’t get the fall for this basically.”

The sorority wasn’t interested in the details of the incident, Campbell said.

“They didn’t bother asking me anything,” she said. “I never got to tell anyone in that chapter the true story on what happened.”

The focus was on maintaining an appearance and avoiding culpability, Campbell said.

“At the end of the day, Zeta was just concerned about Zeta,” she said.

In ZTA’s response to the Daily’s questions about the incident it mentioned a judicial hearing in Spring 2019.

Iglesias said she went to a judicial hearing in the same time period and was kicked out of ZTA.

Iglesias said she was put under the initial impression that she was being kicked out of ZTA for socializing and partying with Campbell since active members were forbidden to do such activities with pledges.

It wasn’t until Iglesias got to the hearing that she learned it was actually about Campbell’s rape allegation, she said.

“I didn’t do anything but in the judicial they did use me going to parties with Kaylee against me,” Iglesias said.

Iglesias said she admitted to hazing Campbell, but Iglesias said she did so because she no longer cared about being in ZTA and was covering for Campbell’s other ZTA friend who was actually at the party, she said.

Even though Iglesias had evidence and text messages that showed she was not at the house, the ZTA judicial board accepted her statement, Iglesias said.

“They knew I wasn’t there,” Iglesias said.

Dean of Students investigation documents backup Iglesias’ account.

“The Complainant and Witness 1 left the PEB and went to West Hall,” the DOS documents state. “The Complainant left West Hall to go to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house and Witness 1 stayed at West Hall with Witness 4.”

Iglesias said she told the board she texted Campbell a ‘Gamma Phi’ task.

“I said that I texted her that and then I think they asked for the text message or something but I didn’t have it because I didn’t do it,” she said.

Campbell confirmed in an interview that Iglesias did not send her a “Gamma Phi” text, and was not at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house the night she was allegedly raped.

The other ZTA member was still kicked out and would go on to refuse to be a witness for Campbell during the DOS investigation, Campbell said in an interview and in the DOS documents.

Attempts to call, email and message the identified individual on social media went unreturned.  

Iglesias would go on to tell DOS investigators of the Sigma Phi Epsilon member’s behavior.

“All Alyssa was trying to do was be a good friend and there’s nothing wrong with trying to be a good friend because she is really protective of her friends and that’s why she lied,” Campbell said. “From day one [to] the day up until now we’ve nonstop been talking [and] she agreed to participate in answering questions from the Dean [of Students], from everyone who has questions and I know it’s not the number one thing she wants to do with her life but I appreciate the fact that she’s been there since day one to back me up no matter what and hasn’t turned her back on me once or blamed me. I haven’t blamed her for anything.”

For Campbell, not being able to tell her side of the story at ZTA’s judicial board hearing was frustrating.

“I wasn’t there, I wasn’t present, I wasn’t able to tell anybody anything,” she said.

Not having a say in how her experience was portrayed was discouraging, Campbell said.

“I felt like things were happening out of my control when it literally was about me,” she said.

BURDEN OF PROOF

During the concluding part of the DOS investigation, Campbell's narrative had to prove she was coerced.

In order for her to prove coercion, Campbell had to prove that clothes were hidden from her and that her fear of going into a hallway naked was exploited.

The DOS investigation found insufficient evidence.

“The Respondent indicated that her clothes were by the bed, and the Complainant did not provide evidence that the Respondent hid them or otherwise attempted to keep her in his room by exploiting her fear of going into the hallway naked,” the report stated.

Campbell also had to prove she had reasonable fear of the alleged rapist.

Once more, the DOS investigation found insufficient evidence.

“Additionally, the fact that the Complainant (sic) felt comfortable drinking an alcoholic beverage the Respondent served her after the date of the alleged incident indicates the Complainant did not harbor the type of fear that a reasonable person would exhibit after being the victim of force or coercion,” the report stated.

In an interview, Iglesias claimed she was the one who directly took the drink. Iglesias and Campbell going to the party under the impression the alleged rape had already been addressed by the fraternity and Campbell not being the one who took the drink directly is not mentioned in the DOS statement.

Campbell contended that some of the findings in the Dean of Students report ignored key evidence and asked for an appeal through the UNT’s Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity.

During the DOS investigation process, Campbell's case took roughly five months to complete.

It took the Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity less than a week to uphold the Dean of Student's decision in the review process.

"I am in receipt of your request for a review of the findings in a recent sexual assault case investigated by the Dean of Students office," states a Sept. 12 letter from Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity Joanne Woodard sent to Campbell. "Your request for review form dated Monday, September, 9, 2019, indicates that you have no new information which is relevant to your case and that your request for review is based on me wanting to "read carefully" the Respondents statement and review the "large amount of evidence." After reviewing the investigative report and other documents in the investigation file, I cannot find cause to change the findings in your case. Consequently, I am upholding the decision of the Dean of Students office in which the investigation did not produce sufficient evidence to find the Respondent responsible for sexual assault."

Regardless of what the Dean of Students finding was, Campbell views telling her story as a critical component for other women who are afraid to speak out about their experiences, she said.

“I have chosen to be the voice for the other people who were too scared to, because I feel like that’s really important in this,” she said.

If you have sensitive info or tips to give, please establish an encrypted ProtonMail account and email any and all investigative tips to jelanigibson@protonmail.com