Sigma Phi Epsilon - Fraternity Closed Over Rape Survey

The national Sigma Phi Epsilon made the announcement Friday after an internal investigation and lengthy discussions with the university in Burlington.

"Without suggesting that every member had knowledge of this questionnaire, the questions asked in the document are deplorable and absolutely inconsistent with our values," said Brian Warren, executive director of the national fraternity organization based in Richmond, Va.

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The national organization has said there's no indication the questionnaire was sanctioned by the fraternity or distributed to the more than 50 members of the Vermont chapter.

A student reported the questionnaire to university officials over the weekend, which led the school and the national organization to suspend the chapter temporarily, pending the investigation.

The school is investigating how widely the survey was circulated, and campus police are trying to determine if any crimes were committed.

Fraternity members say it was a select few individuals who came up with the question, not an act of the chapter as a whole, former Sigma Phi Epsilon member Wes Lewis says.

"We do not endorse that in any way," Lewis says. "We did not send it out to our members."

Lewis says it was not a survey, but it was a series of questions between a few individuals. The fraternity members still do not know who wrote the question, he says.

"One individual was responsible for coming up with the appalling question. It was never answered because who it was asked to refused to answer it and the told the new member to change the question immediately.

"One brother told him to change the question and that it was unacceptable to ask something like that," Lewis said.

UVM Interim President John Bramley said Friday that national representatives of Sigma Phi Epsilon have been thorough, respectful and serious in its investigation. UVM's investigation will continue.

"We respect and support their decision, and appreciate their interest in maintaining a dialogue going forward to identify lessons learned from all of this, as well as exploring educational strategies and opportunities to address pervasive cultural issues that contributed to this egregious situation," Bramley said.

The national organization said it will work with the university in considering when a fraternity chapter might be revived.

"We may not be able to call ourselves Sig Ep brothers anymore but we will forever have the bonds of friendship that developed here," Lewis said.

For former Sigma Phi Epsilon member K.C. Charles, the fallout from the days' events are still sinking in.

"I feel like this whole entire thing came out of nowhere," Charles says.

"It was a fraternity against the world pretty much during the worst time of the semester. I feel like it's incredibly hard to be a fraternity nowadays with the stigmas of the past attached and we are just judged before people get to know us," he says.

"Our national organization choose to shut us down," Lewis says. "That is something they believed would benefit Sig Ep as a whole so we need to accept that."

Contributing: Associated Press