Investigation of Sigma Phi Delta begins, fraternity disaffiliates two members who wrote sexually-explicit message

Two members of Lehigh’s Sigma Phi Delta fraternity are being officially disaffiliated after sending a graphic, sexually explicit recruitment text message. The fraternity’s executive board members and the group said they denied the message’s approval on three separate occasions.  

The president of Lehigh’s chapter of SPD, Alex Scarlata, ‘28, spoke with The Brown and White and provided a written statement. 

Scarlata said the two members wrote the 358-word text message by prompting an artificial intelligence chatbot with one sentence to create a lesbian sex scene.

In graphic detail, the message describes two unnamed women performing oral sex, and at the end states that it was the erotic dream of a fraternity member. The last portion of the text details the fraternity’s events for the night.

“One shoves the other onto the bed face-down, yanking her pants and underwear down in one hard pull,” the message reads. 

Scarlata said he immediately placed these two members into the university’s disaffiliation process and has provided them with all of the necessary disaffiliation forms to make the process official. 

He said the national organization has its own judicial process to remove members, and the national disaffiliation process is pending. 

“The text message sent by two former members of our organization has been alarming to the Lehigh community, but also to our own brotherhood for a number of reasons,” Scarlata said in the statement. “There is a public perception of misogyny, toxic masculinity and immaturity online and in the media regarding the Greek community, abetted by reprehensible actions such as this.”

The Brown and White gave the two members the opportunity to comment and they declined. 

Scarlata said this incident occurred because two rogue brothers went against all systems designed to prevent this behavior, including a three-step approval process from the members. 

“When this message was proposed, it was met with revulsion from those who saw it, and it was immediately condemned,” Scarlata said in a statement. “Despite this expressed rejection, these two individuals acted on their own and directly went against the brotherhood by sharing this message without the knowledge or approval of the chapter as a whole.”

The Brown and White interviewed a sorority executive board member at Lehigh who asked to remain anonymous to protect her identity and organization. 

She said she and her sorority found out about the text midday Sept. 25, when the message was first discussed on Yik Yak. 

She said her and other members of her sorority were shocked, disgusted, uncomfortable and angry.

“Personally, I have never seen a (recruitment) text like this,” she said. “I don’t doubt that they are like this, unfortunately. I’ve never seen anything like this from SPD, specifically. Honestly, I think that’s where a lot of the shock came from. We don’t think of SPD like that and as people who would talk about women like that.”

She said she thinks disaffiliating the members is a warranted response, and it’s nice to know there are members of SPD taking the situation seriously, because kicking someone out of a fraternity chapter isn’t a small ordeal.

Student Conduct Office is running the investigation

SPD is currently on disciplinary probation, meaning any further violation of the Student Affairs Code of Conduct may result in dissolution, termination or other authorized sanctions. 

Christopher Mulvihill, associate dean of students, said he is at the very beginning of an ongoing broad investigation into the incident and has obtained the original text message. He said the individual investigations will be secondary, after the organization part of the investigation is complete. 

He said the process includes reviewing documentation, interviewing anyone with relevant information and determining if there are any alleged violations of Lehigh’s Code of Conduct.

Mulvihill said if there are violations, they issue a charge letter to the group or individual outlining what the allegations are and what the next steps are for the accused student or organization. 

He said there likely are violations and the fraternity will likely be charged. Mulvihill also said this incident could likely violate the respect for others and respect for community sections of the Code of Conduct. 

Multiple reports of this incident came to the Student Conduct Office through the Title IX Office. They determined, however, the investigation would be better suited to be resolved via the conduct process, according to Mulvihill. 

He also said multiple reports came in as harassment or discrimination, but said the incident doesn’t fit those legal definitions. Both the Student Conduct and the Title IX Offices received reports about the incident. 

Mulvihill said the investigation is predicted to be complete in about two to three weeks.  

In a typical academic year, the office gets about 700 cases and about 50 of those cases involve major investigations. He said in the 2024-2025 academic year, there were 54 investigations into Greek organizations. Mulvihill said that amount is typical. 

The accountability statement in the Code of Conduct states a group organization can be held accountable for the actions of its members if the violation is in any way related to the group organization. Mulvihill said, in these cases, the office questions if the incident occurred because the people were members of the organization and investigates what the organization did to prevent this from happening. 

He said the chapter can either take responsibility for the charges and have a hearing or take responsibility and ask for a panel to impose sanctions in a sanctions-only hearing. 

Mulvihill said the office used interim actions to put SPD’s social activities on hold and tell them they can’t register events on or off campus. 

According to the Code of Conduct, organization sanctions can range from a warning to termination or permanent removal of the organization from campus. Individual sanctions range from a warning to expulsion. There are also restorative and educational sanctions for both cases.

“It certainly raises concerns with me if this type of message is what our organizations are sending out to recruit men,” Mulvihill said. “It certainly raises concerns with me about what’s going on in the fraternity and sorority community.”

Concerns raised for women on campus

The anonymous sorority member said the fraternity told her chapter the incident doesn’t represent their values and that they are taking accountability for the action. She said the most frustrating part of the apology was that they framed it as a one-time mistake. 

“My first response was, ‘are you apologizing just because you got caught or because you actually understand why this is unacceptable and why you should be apologizing,’” she said. “If you’re taking the time to put something in AI, giving it a prompt and then reading it and sending it out to all of your rushes, that isn’t a slip of a moment. This is a choice that you made.”

She said that her sorority has denounced the text. She nor others in the sorority are comfortable, she said, existing in an environment in which people speak about women and, specifically, queer women, in such a disrespectful way. 

She expressed concern about the issue of sexual harassment, assault and microaggressions that make women feel unsafe in everyday instances, specifically surrounding Greek life.

“This raises the broader concern of women feeling unsafe at fraternity events and why they felt that this was okay to do,” she said. “There’s already a broader conversation that’s happening within sorority spaces, and I don’t know if that is being mirrored in fraternity spaces in the same way with the same degree and same importance. I hope that it is.”

She said it’s very clear that the fraternity is taking accountability and trying to make a change to move forward and better themselves. She added that if SPD was not taking similar action, it’d be a different conversation. 

Next steps

She said Greek life organizations on campus cancelled many social events with SPD to take some space and let the fraternity deal with this internally, citing that they do not want to be associated with the incident. She also said SPD put themselves on a pause and cancelled all of their own social events for the next few weeks to handle the situation.

Scarlata said the fraternity has held workshops in the past about cultural acceptance and the dangers of toxic masculinity to create a space where everyone feels welcome and safe. 

“The actions of this past week do not reflect those efforts, and go against the values that our fraternity holds,” he said in the statement. “This instance is especially troubling given the broader climate of Greek life at the moment. The kind of culture where men refuse to hold each other accountable cannot ever be allowed, and is not one that we intend to participate in.”

Scarlata said he will be fundraising within the fraternity to donate a minimum of $200 a month to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest anti-sexual violence organization in the United States, every month while he is president. He said he hopes this tradition will continue after he leaves this position. 

The sorority executive board member said she thinks the donation idea is great, but she would also like to see some educational initiatives. 

“It’s wonderful that they’re donating money and that they’re helping people in the way that they know how, but I think also being educated and informed on what’s going on and the severity of why RAINN exists could be beneficial more than just sending a check,” she said. 

Scarlata said he is gathering fraternity members who are diversity, equity and inclusion chairs, conflict mediators and leaders in other organizations to discuss future workshops and training. He said he surveyed the fraternity’s members earlier this year and found 26 brothers hold a position on an executive board of another on-campus organization in some capacity. 

These 26 members and three members Scarlata thought would be good additions to the discussion will be meeting sometime this week.

He said he understands that the chapter is responsible for the actions of its members, and he will ensure they take time to reflect. 

“I personally apologize for the harm this message has caused anyone in the community, as a representative of Sigma Phi Delta, as a member of the Greek Life community and as someone who shares this campus with all of those who were affected,” he said in the statement.

The Brown and White reached out to the Interfraternity Council at Lehigh and has not yet received a response.

The Brown and White is following this investigation as it continues.