Frat brothers at Yale are adding water stations and bouncers to parties after multiple women say members sexually assaulted them
- Yale's Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity released proposed reforms to improve an environment some students describe as sexually unsafe.
- The proposed reforms were created by fraternity members.
- Yale University has indicated that it doesn't plan to sanction DKE related to allegations of misconduct within the organization.
Following allegations of sexual misconduct at Yale's Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity, chapter leaders have released a first draft of recommendations to create a "safer and more welcoming environment."
The reforms, first reported in the student-run Yale Daily News, include adding sober monitors at parties, co-ed bouncers and bartenders at joint parties with sororities, and an accessible water station.
"In the interest of transparency, we are releasing a draft of our working group's report in an effort to encourage as many students and groups as possible to engage in helping us improve as an organization," a DKE spokesman told The News.
The recommendations follow reporting from Business Insider in January that the fraternity has a reputation among some women at Yale for being sexually unsafe.
Two women on Yale's campus told Business Insider they were the victims of rapes by brothers in Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE, pronounced "Deke") during the 2016-17 school year. More than a dozen other students told Business Insider they've witnessed or experienced separate instances of nonconsensual sexual contact by DKE brothers since 2014, including unwanted kissing, groping, and sexual assault.
Some of the proposed reforms address issues raised by women to Business Insider. For example, students, and a neighbor who lived on the same street as the DKE frat house, told Business Insider that the brothers often sit on the veranda ogling women and making sexual gestures, and that it can feel as if you're on display at a meat market when you arrive at the house.
The suggested reforms would prohibit groups of brothers from congregating on the veranda in the future. "At any given time, only bouncers, sober monitors, and DKE executive board members will be permitted on the front porch," the recommendations read. "There will be no loitering on the porch or in front of the house, with the exception of those waiting to enter the event."
The recommendations were drafted by DKE chapter members with no outside direction from the university.
DKE was barred from campus as recently as 2016 for past vulgar chants about women, rape, and consent. The sanctions prohibited DKE from officially associating with Yale from May 2011 to May 2016.
The university doesn't plan to investigate or sanction DKE related to allegations of misconduct in the organization as a whole, according to The News.
"When an individual violates Yale's standards in a way that cannot be tied fairly to the student's organization, the sanction falls on the individual, not the organization," Yale President Peter Salovey told The News in January.
Yale did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.