Campus, Long Beach, News

CSULB relies on Kappa Sigma nationals to conduct sexual assault investigation

Cal State Long Beach officials are “yielding” to Kappa Sigma’s national organization’s investigation into a reported sexual assault at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house, director of Student Life and Development Brett Waterfield said.

The decision not to conduct an independent investigation came when Kappa Sigma nationals contacted Waterfield shortly after local news reported on the sexual assault investigation by Long Beach police, Waterfield said.

“First of all, you don’t want to get in the way of a police investigation, so that’s one of the reasons why the organization’s going to investigate, the police are going to investigate, and then if the university got in, it’s like everyone would be tripping over themselves,” Waterfield said. “In this case, whenever there’s an active police investigation going, we tend to kind of step back and let that guide its way … because we don’t want anything we do impede the legal process there.”

The police are investigating a report of sexual assault from the early morning of Feb. 14 when a female student reported she was sexually assaulted by an unknown male at a party hosted at the fraternity’s house.

The investigation by Kappa Sigma’s national organization is being headed by its own legal counsel and will try to determine if the chapter at CSULB has a culture that fosters incidents of sexual assault. Waterfield said that this does not constitute a conflict of interest.

“[Kappa Sigma] has bigger liability than we do because, you see the news and all the things going on. The university is somewhat responsible, but the organization has often a bigger liability, so there’s often no conflict of interest,” Waterfield said.

If the school found that the investigation by Kappa Sigma nationals was not sufficient, they would do their own, Waterfield said. An investigation would be conducted by the Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development.

“Anytime it is of any significance, the national [organization] is usually involved in it … because of the potential liability, the national gets on it sooner rather than later, and the more they do, the less we may have to do,” said Thomas Malizia, director of the OSCED.

Interfraternity Council bylaws state that if the president or vice president’s fraternity is suspended from the school, that person must vacate their position. The IFC is the executive board overseeing fraternities at CSULB. Because Kappa Sigma was suspended by its own nationals and not the school, IFC president Omid Shamoil does not need to step down, Waterfield said.

Within an hour of the timely warning emails, Shamoil met with Waterfield to discuss what the fraternity should do next to best handle the report, Waterfield said.

The investigation was completed Friday and will be sent to Waterfield and the OSCED once the report is finished. In the meantime, Kappa Sigma remains suspended by nationals, meaning they cannot conduct any organized activity.

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