Rowan students face disciplinary action for posting sex video

Two male students at Rowan University are temporarily suspended and could face further disciplinary action by the school for their involvement in a sex video posted online that included a female student who was not aware the act was being recorded.

The students, both members of the school's Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity chapter, were before university officials Friday, but the school refused to reveal the outcome reached at the administrative hearing.

University spokesman Joe Cardona said the students are able to appeal the decision before any action is final. That process, Cardona said, could extend into next week.

Posted under a caption that began with "Rush TKE," the video depicted one of the male students having sex with the female student inside the garage of the fraternity house near the Glassboro campus. Rowan learned of the video last week after it was posted to the websites PornHub and Yik Yak and caught the attention of students.

The woman told authorities the sex was consensual, but indicated she did not know it was being recorded on a cellphone. She declined to file a criminal complaint.

All three students are adults and, according to interviews described in a Rowan police report, the recording occurred after the three and another student played "strip beer pong."

Two students separately reported the incident to the school after they saw the video and talk of it on social media. The female student was named on one of the websites.

"The students were concerned," Cardona said. "By the time we learned of it and it came to our attention, it was" off-line.

"Certainly we don't take this lightly," he said, adding that the school immediately investigated the incident as if it were a sexual assault.

The school offered the female student counseling services, which she declined, Cardona said, and immediately placed the fraternity brothers on temporary suspension.

"We are not addressing this through criminal actions," Cardona said, citing that the woman did not sign a complaint. "We are addressing this administratively."

Cardona said the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office has been kept informed of the investigation. Bernie Weisenfeld, spokesman for the office, said he would not discuss "prospective charges" and referred questions to the university.

The police report states that the male in the video told police he knew the act was being recorded and that he later posted it online but believed it did not upload properly.

In her interview with police, the report relays, the female student "said she was mad at first but she did not wish to sign complaints and ruin anyone's lives."

"No charges were drafted and this case is closed," the report said. The man who recorded the video told police he deleted it at the female student's request.

Rowan has not issued any sanctions against TKE because administrators are viewing the recording as the act of individuals, Cardona said. He said the university "reserves the right" to later impose penalties.

But the international TKE organization said in a statement Friday that the school's chapter was temporarily suspended as the matter is investigated. The chapter began in 1974.

TKE, a fraternity founded in 1899 that has nearly 270 chapters, recently announced mandated "interactive training" for all members that deals with sexual assault, hazing, and other issues, the statement said. "The organization has emphasized that such behavior goes against our values and will not be tolerated," it says

Rachel Storch, 21, a senior sociology major, said: "There should be some sort of ramifications."

"Most people I've spoken to about it," she said, are mad and "disgusted."