Brown University Student Tests Positive For Date-Rape Drug After Drinking Punch At Frat Party

Posted by | November 9, 2014 17:30 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Politics Top Stories


In Rhode Island, two students at Brown University who reported memory loss after drinking punch at a fraternity party last month tested positive for a date-rape drug, while tests on the other student are pending, according to officials.

KATU reports:

The students said they became rapidly intoxicated and had memory loss after drinking punch at a fraternity party on Oct. 17. Brown has suspended the fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi. One of the two students also reported being sexually assaulted.

Margaret Klawunn, Brown’s vice president of campus life and student services, says in the email that the student tested positive for gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB.

GHB is also known as “liquid ecstasy.”

The Providence Journal reports:

The students who drank the punch at the Brown chapter of Phi Kappa Psi — the only fraternity at Sears House — reported “a rapid onset of intoxication,” beyond what would be expected for the amount they had to drink, and “memory loss for a significant period of time,” according an earlier campus-wide notice sent by Klawunn.

Brown said that it suspended the fraternity which hosted the Oct. 17th event.

In October, a Conservative group claimed that date rape drugs are a myth. It appears they were wrong, but we already knew that. 

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39 responses to Brown University Student Tests Positive For Date-Rape Drug After Drinking Punch At Frat Party

  1. M D Reese November 9th, 2014 at 18:18

    So frat houses are just rape factories now. Or maybe they always have been.

    • Carla Akins November 9th, 2014 at 18:46

      I dislike painting all of them with the same brush, but certainly far too many of them for far, far too long.

      • M D Reese November 10th, 2014 at 16:43

        I’m pretty old now, and I cannot recall EVER hearing a positive thing about frats and their treatment of women.

  2. M D Reese November 9th, 2014 at 19:18

    So frat houses are just rape factories now. Or maybe they always have been.

    • Carla Akins November 9th, 2014 at 19:46

      I dislike painting all of them with the same brush, but certainly far too many of them for far, far too long.

      • M D Reese November 10th, 2014 at 17:43

        I’m pretty old now, and I cannot recall EVER hearing a positive thing about frats and their treatment of women.

  3. Suzanne McFly November 9th, 2014 at 18:32

    Hopefully charges will follow, something more than just a suspension of a fraternity.

  4. Suzanne McFly November 9th, 2014 at 19:32

    Hopefully charges will follow, something more than just a suspension of a fraternity.

  5. StoneyCurtisll November 9th, 2014 at 19:45

    What does this say about Brown U’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity if they cannot “get” girls through natural means, or with alcohol, and have to spike the punch/booze with GHB..
    What a bunch of losers they must be..(and now criminals), if convicted..

    I’m sure their parents are proud.

    • ChrisVosburg November 9th, 2014 at 19:57

      Objection, assumes facts not in evidence, your honor. Point is, you don’t have to be a frat boy to spike a drink, and I’m thinking that if only a coupla women reported symptoms, this probably isn’t a spiking of the punch bowl itself.

      Me, I’d probably be asking the women if they happen to recall who was that seemingly nice fella who offered to fetch a glass of punch for them…

      • burqa November 9th, 2014 at 20:29

        Objection denied. He didn’t say one had to be a frat boy. He was just referring to those in the case at hand.

        Good point on the number of women so far who reported anything. If there are others, one would hope they would step forward. It can be mighty hard to do so, but if this was something added to the punch and there were numerous victims, having others come forward could help getting the frat shut down, if that is appropriate.

        I hope they catch whoever committed the sexual assault and punish the miscreant severely.

        • ChrisVosburg November 9th, 2014 at 22:56

          It’s worth pointing out that a spiked punchbowl would not in and of itself implicate the fraternity, since access to it was not restricted to the fraternity members alone.

          Anyone at the party that evening is a suspect, period.

          • DaddyO_969 November 10th, 2014 at 12:47

            It was under their control. That’s the legal standard. Along with: ‘they’ either knew or should have known. They are responsible.

      • StoneyCurtisll November 9th, 2014 at 21:37

        I will leave it up to the authorities to decide..:)

        • ChrisVosburg November 9th, 2014 at 22:51

          I imagine your judgment to be as good as any “authority,” Stoney, given further evidence.

      • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 08:30

        Since none of the boys reported being drugged it is clear that they knew ahead of time that the punch was drugged.

        • ChrisVosburg November 10th, 2014 at 09:19

          Whew, Candide, you’re positing a very complex “conspiracy of brothers,” one in which “the punch,” by which I assume we are referring to a communal punch bowl of some sort, was spiked, and that further, all frat members– indeed, all males present, frat or not– were notified of this and warned off, by, I dunno, some sort of “secret bro code” or perhaps that “guys only” telepathy us guys have.

          And under this scenario, all the guys at the party would then merely pretend to drink punch while craftily emptying their cups surreptitiously into the potted plants when no girls were looking.

          As I say, a complex conspiracy, one in which a lot could go wrong, and whew, lotta work. One which, and I’m gonna go out on a limb here, a bunch of frat boys are far too dumb to pull off.

          …Which is why I’d go with the simpler scenario that a couple girls had their drinks spiked, by guy or guys unknown.

          • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 10:05

            Sorry, I guess I should have put the /s at the end.

            I was being factious because of the comment about ‘only a few girls were drugged’ Like that makes it better.

            We have no way of knowing how many people actually drank that punch or the gender of who drank it and since it was a frat party, people can just wander in off the street and help themselves or dump something in the punch since it is a college campus.

            I am pretty sure that when given a choice, most of the people there would have drank beer and not some sketchy punch.

            • ChrisVosburg November 10th, 2014 at 11:30

              My apologies, as well; jeez, I seem to find myself defending a frat here, of all things, something I never imagined I’d ever do. I find fraternities in general to be pathetic anachronisms of old-boy clubbiness, and perhaps it’s the stupid and sadistic hazing “pranks” which pop up in the news from time to time that leads some folks here to lay blame for this at the frat’s doorstep (and that’s not entirely unreasonable).

              That said, it’s not a prank. It’s a criminal act, and needs to be investigated and hopefully prosecuted. Just wanna be sure we don’t limit suspects to frat boys I guess.

              • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 15:29

                I know right, it is strange territory for me too.

                I just don’t see it being logistically possible but I am not letting the little snots off the hook completely, one or more of them were involved or had to have witnessed something going on and did nothing.

  6. StoneyCurtisll November 9th, 2014 at 20:45

    What does this say about Brown U’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity if they cannot “get” girls through natural means, or with alcohol, and have to spike the punch/booze with GHB..
    What a bunch of losers they must be..(and now criminals), if convicted..

    I’m sure their parents are proud.

    • ChrisVosburg November 9th, 2014 at 20:57

      Objection, assumes facts not in evidence, your honor. Point is, you don’t have to be a frat boy to spike a drink, and I’m thinking that if only a coupla women reported symptoms, this probably isn’t a spiking of the punch bowl itself.

      Me, I’d probably be asking the women if they happen to recall who was that seemingly nice fella who offered to fetch a glass of punch for them…

      • burqa November 9th, 2014 at 21:29

        Objection denied. He didn’t say one had to be a frat boy. He was just referring to those in the case at hand.

        Good point on the number of women so far who reported anything. If there are others, one would hope they would step forward. It can be mighty hard to do so, but if this was something added to the punch and there were numerous victims, having others come forward could help getting the frat shut down, if that is appropriate.

        I hope they catch whoever committed the sexual assault and punish the miscreant severely.

        • ChrisVosburg November 9th, 2014 at 23:56

          It’s worth pointing out that a spiked punchbowl would not in and of itself implicate the fraternity, since access to it was not restricted to the fraternity members alone.

          Further, even if evidence should be revealed that implicates a given frat boy, this does not necessarily implicate the fraternity as a whole.

          Anyone at the party that evening is a suspect, period.

          • DaddyO_969 November 10th, 2014 at 13:47

            It was under their control. That’s the legal standard. Along with: ‘they’ either knew or should have known. They are responsible.

            • ChrisVosburg November 10th, 2014 at 14:24

              [sigh] C’mon, DaddyO, and this goes for the rest of you guys too, stop making me defend a freaking dumbass fraternity!

              But go ahead, specify the “legal standard” that makes you the culprit if you throw a party and one of your guests spikes the drink of another guest.

              Jeezus Christ, next you’ll be telling me that the guy who threw the birthday party in Alaska is responsible for the behavior of the Palin family.

      • StoneyCurtisll November 9th, 2014 at 22:37

        I will leave it up to the authorities to decide..:)

        • ChrisVosburg November 9th, 2014 at 23:51

          I imagine your judgment to be as good as any “authority,” Stoney, given further evidence.

      • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 09:30

        Since none of the boys reported being drugged it is clear that they knew ahead of time that the punch was drugged.

        • ChrisVosburg November 10th, 2014 at 10:19

          Whew, Candide, you’re positing a very complex “conspiracy of brothers,” one in which “the punch,” by which I assume we are referring to a communal punch bowl of some sort, was spiked, and that further, all frat members– indeed, all males present, frat or not– were notified of this and warned off, by, I dunno, some sort of “secret bro code” or perhaps that “guys only” telepathy us guys have.

          And under this scenario, all the guys at the party would then merely pretend to drink punch while craftily emptying their cups surreptitiously into the potted plants when no girls were looking.

          As I say, a complex conspiracy, one in which a lot could go wrong, and whew, lotta work. One which, and I’m gonna go out on a limb here, a bunch of frat boys are far too dumb to pull off.

          …Which is why I’d go with the simpler scenario that a couple girls had their drinks spiked, by guy or guys unknown.

          • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 11:05

            Sorry, I guess I should have put the /s at the end.

            I was being factious because of the comment about ‘only a few girls were drugged’ Like that makes it better.

            We have no way of knowing how many people actually drank that punch or the gender of who drank it and since it was a frat party, people can just wander in off the street and help themselves or dump something in the punch since it is a college campus.

            I am pretty sure that when given a choice, most of the people there would have drank beer and not some sketchy punch.

            • ChrisVosburg November 10th, 2014 at 12:30

              My apologies, as well; jeez, I seem to find myself defending a frat here, of all things, something I never imagined I’d ever do. I find fraternities in general to be pathetic anachronisms of old-boy clubbiness, and perhaps it’s the stupid and sadistic hazing “pranks” which pop up in the news from time to time that leads some folks here to lay blame for this at the frat’s doorstep (and that’s not entirely unreasonable).

              That said, it’s not a prank. It’s a criminal act, and needs to be investigated and hopefully prosecuted. Just wanna be sure we don’t limit suspects to frat boys I guess.

              • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 16:29

                I know right, it is strange territory for me too.

                I just don’t see it being logistically possible but I am not letting the little snots off the hook completely, one or more of them were involved or had to have witnessed something going on and did nothing.

  7. Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 08:27

    “a Conservative group claimed that date rape drugs are a myth.”

    because conservatives are the only ones who use date rape drugs, no woman in her right mind would ever willing sleep with a rethug unless it was for money…like Rush Limpballs 4 wives, or is it 5 now?

    • ChrisVosburg November 10th, 2014 at 09:58

      I had a look at that video presentation by a conservative “research associate” and was horrified by the sheer nastiness of what they are counseling to women, which boils down to this:

      Since evidence of date-rape drugs are found in such a small percentage of cases of date rape, it’s therefore unlikely to have happened to you, despite your belief that you have been so victimized. So you should think twice before reporting it to authorities– you’re probably just imagining it, or maybe you’re just drunk, and that’s your own fault, innit, Drinky, so just shut up.

      Really, I don’t know how these people can sleep at night.

      • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 10:12

        You know Muslim countries tell women the same things and for the same reason, so many rapists to protect.

        The more religious a country is, the more rapists there are and that is not a coincidence.

        It is also no coincidence that the places with the most churches are also the places with the highest crime rates or that most of the people in prisons in the US are christian, even a bigger percentage than they hold in the outside world.

  8. Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 09:27

    “a Conservative group claimed that date rape drugs are a myth.”

    because conservatives are the only ones who use date rape drugs, no woman in her right mind would ever willing sleep with a rethug unless it was for money…like Rush Limpballs 4 wives, or is it 5 now?

    • ChrisVosburg November 10th, 2014 at 10:58

      I had a look at that video presentation by a conservative “research associate” and was horrified by the sheer nastiness of what they are counseling to women, which boils down to this:

      Since evidence of date-rape drugs are found in such a small percentage of cases of date rape, it’s therefore unlikely to have happened to you, despite your belief that you have been so victimized. So you should think twice before reporting it to authorities– you’re probably just imagining it, or maybe you’re just drunk, and that’s your own fault, innit, Drinky, so just shut up.

      Really, I don’t know how these people can sleep at night.

      • Candide Thirtythree November 10th, 2014 at 11:12

        You know Muslim countries tell women the same things and for the same reason, so many rapists to protect.

        The more religious a country is, the more rapists there are and that is not a coincidence.

        It is also no coincidence that the places with the most churches are also the places with the highest crime rates or that most of the people in prisons in the US are christian, even a bigger percentage than they hold in the outside world.

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