H 32°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°The president of a University of Wisconsin fraternity Wednesday responded to allegations of a sexual assault at a party in his fraternity's house last December.
According to Sergio Romero, president of the Madison chapter of Zeta Psi, the woman who filed a complaint with the Madison Police Department was a friend of the fraternity house.
In addition to investigations by the MPD and UW, Romero said the local chapter itself is also investigating the events of the night the alleged incident occurred.
"The girl in question has our full support — she is a friend of the house," Romero said. "We're taking this very seriously. We're trying to get to the bottom of this."
David Hunter, executive director of Zeta Psi's national headquarters in New York, said headquarters would not be taking any actions until the investigation has been completed.
Hunter added it is not Zeta Psi policy to inform universities of any alleged incidents.
"Obviously, this being a police matter, we leave it to the police," Hunter said. "We don't turn around and talk to the school unless it [involves a particular fraternity member]."
UW administrators were not informed of the allegations until Tuesday via television news reports.
The 20-year-old woman filed a police report in December with the MPD, which is currently conducting an investigation. The MPD has not identified any suspects, but did receive evidence from the state Crime Lab on Monday, according to Mike Hanson, MPD's public information officer.
"This is something when you start from ground zero without any named suspects, you really have to do the groundwork," Hanson said. "That's what's being done now."
According to Elton Crim, UW interim associate dean of students, the university is still gathering information about the incident, adding the student has since dropped out of school.
Hanson said since the incident allegedly occurred at the fraternity on Breese Terrace, it falls in the control of the south district of the MPD. The south district works less often with UW, which Hanson said might account for the lack of communication.
"We have an excellent working relationship with the UW and dean of students' office," Hanson said. "That relationship is mostly formed around the central police district."
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a neighbor who said he attended the party in question told The Badger Herald alcohol was involved, but the woman was in sight the entire night.
"People were drunk, but absolutely nothing happened," the neighbor said. "The other neighbors were there, too, and she was never alone for more than two minutes. If anything did happen, more than likely, it wasn't anyone in the fraternity itself."
Hunter added there is an unsubstantiated assumption that the alleged incident occurred at the fraternity, saying all that has been proven was the occurrence of the party itself.
Since the fraternity is still small and adding members, Romero said the alleged incident would have an effect on their membership.
"This is a huge bump in the road because we're trying to start up all over again," Romero said. "I know all the brothers very personally. I couldn't imagine one of them doing this — it's a complete shocker."
According to Romero, the fraternity was first chartered at UW in 1910, went inactive and was brought back to Madison in 1995.
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You know what would make everyone feel better about this unfortunate incident?
TOGA PARTY!!!
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Aw gosh, some frat boys had to bust out and rape some poor little freshman. Not that I’m sympathetic, since she ought to know better than to hang out with Greeks. They’re ALL rapists. But hopefully the frats, most of whom are a-hole Republican rich kids, will get kicked off the campus and the rest of us won’t have to put up with their we-provide-invaluable-service-to-the-community-therefore-we-don’t-deserve-all-this-negative-attention BS!
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You don’t know Zeta Psi.
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That comment was a joke… right?
God help us all if someone seriously thinks that way.
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i hope that comment about greeks was a joke…. otherwise you have a lot of learning to do about the greek community
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It’s amazing how much letters over the door at a party make it so much more wrong than if they weren’t there. This campus is full of parties… people under 21 are drinking every weekend. Sad that this group had to have something happen to bring attention to them.
And about the second comment…. did you have some personal experience with a greek group? you seem to take this whole thing pretty personally. Overreaction? You obviously care enough to get all worked up about it…. sad
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“God help us all if someone seriously thinks that way.”
No, God help us all if the whole world is still stupid enough to listen to your BS about how good you are for the community. You’re all just a bunch of upper-middle-class rich kids who think you should get your way every time. Screw ya!
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10:08, wow…
i’m a greek member from minnesota. democrat all my life.
only in a greek organization because i had extra cash due to going to school with reciprocity and wanted to get involved in a bigger system than the failed student government.
i’m basically lower-middle class, and can ONLY afford it since i work summer jobs like everybody else (and i pay my own tuition for the record).
sorry to put the thumbscrews to your ideas, but i havent raped a girl in my life, dont even attend half the parties i know about, and would rather drink pepsi and chill than get passed-out drunk anywhere.
bet you’re much of a piece of work than the many like myself. if you’re so spiteful, go take care of yourself permanently and leave the rest of us alone.
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Well now, look at that, the president’s name is Sergio Romero??? Does that at all sound as if it’s a caucasian name? Ya’ll need to take another look at the fraternity image on campuses, it has changed. They are no longer all republican, all white, all upper-middle class organizations. Fraternities are for everyone, hey!, look at this case, there’s a Hispanic fraternity president at an almost all white school, get the message?
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Wow, you guys haven’t been around the Internet very long, have you?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29
“In Internet terminology, a troll is a person who enters an established community such as an online discussion forum and intentionally tries to cause disruption, often in the form of posting messages that are inflammatory, insulting, incorrect, inaccurate, absurd, or off-topic, with the intent of provoking a reaction from others.”
10:08 is a troll of the highest order. Pay no attention to him and don’t encourage him.
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“They are no longer all republican, all white…”
The 10:08 poster didn’t mention race. And yes, fraternities do have a questionable reputation. Hazing is still a favorite activity among frats that more often than necessary results in serious injury and even death. And when it happens, the frats always complain that they’re being singled out. Well, you screw up and you’ll get that kind of negative attention! You are adults, learn something about maturity and responsibility!
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hazing is illegal. and it just doesn’t happen anymore. but continue to reinforce the negative aspects of fraternity tradition, because you know…do some research before you write something. you come across as stupid
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I am actually from Minnesota and I know someone who was recently raped at a frat party. NO- Frat guys are not all rich white boys…but rapes happen way too much at parties on college campuses. Some frats encourage taking advantage of drunk girls. Some only invite in girls from the outside and no males. They provide them with free booze and let their members go to work on drunk freshmen. This is an undeniable event that happens in many frats. It only takes one stupid frat guy to violate someone, but the rest pay the price because there is something they could have done.