No charges in rape case
Adam MacInnis
Issue date: 2/14/07 Section: News
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"There was not enough evidence to support a charge at this time," said Rock Hill Lt. Jerry Waldrop.
The accusations were made Monday, Feb. 5 by a Winthrop student who said that she was sexually assaulted at the Pike house on Saturday, Feb. 3.
She said she had woken up in the night with someone assaulting her, but couldn't do anything about it because she was drunk.
"I feel bad for both parties that had to go through it, but I hope they learned a lot from it too," James McGee, Pike president, said.
While the rape investigation has been dropped, an investigation into how the woman, who was under the legal drinking age, obtained the alcohol and why people stayed at the Pike house instead of going to a scheduled party elsewhere.
"We did not have a party or any sanctioned event at the house," McGee said. "It was a meeting place for people to go from point A to point B. That's it."
Bethany Marlowe, dean of students, said it appeared that people ended up staying at the Pike house longer than expected.
"They had plans for a party [elsewhere]," Marlowe said. "What they didn't plan for was the eventuality that people would wait around."
Marlowe will be working with Pike advisors, their national headquarters and the fraternities leadership on campus to look into the matter more, she said.
"They are getting back to me with an action plan to address a number of the issues and we have not seen it yet," Marlowe said. "I anticipate meeting with them by the end of the week."
The Pike fraternity voluntarily suspended activities after the allegations to prevent further negative publicity.
For now McGee said the fraternity will just keep doing the community service that they have in the past and hope people realize that drinking isn't what the fraternity does for all social events.
"I don't think many fraternities deserve the stereotypes that we get," McGee said. "No charges were made, just a report and allegations which anyone on the street could have said, and we have News Channel 4 in our front yard. It's just kind of sad."
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