Students, Frats Suspended After Drug Bust
San Diego State University has suspended six fraternities after a sweeping drug investigation that landed dozens of students in jail on suspicion of openly dealing drugs on campus.
The probe — prompted by the cocaine overdose death last year of a freshman sorority member — led to the arrests of 96 people, 75 of them San Diego State students. A second drug death occurred during the investigation.
Twenty-nine people were arrested early Tuesday in raids at nine locations including the Theta Chi fraternity house, where agents found cocaine, Ecstasy and three guns, authorities said. Eighteen of those arrested were wanted on warrants for selling to undercover agents.
Theta Chi and five other college social organizations have been suspended pending a hearing on evidence gathered during the investigation, dubbed Operation Sudden Fall.
All of the arrested students have been suspended and will be barred from attending classes or taking final exams until their cases are reviewed, San Diego State President Stephen Weber said in a statement. Those who live in university-owned housing were evicted, he added.
"If guilty, they have ruined an untold number of lives," Weber said. "We are determined to remove people from our community who have placed our students at risk."
Authorities said some fraternity members openly dealt drugs, and that one sent a mass text message advertising special prices on cocaine. Two kilograms of cocaine were seized in all, along with 350 Ecstasy pills, marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine, illicit prescription drugs, several guns and at least $60,000 (euro38,885) in cash, authorities said.
Profits may have been used to finance fraternity operations, according to an affidavit.
A member of Theta Chi sent out a mass text message to his "faithful customers" stating that he and his "associates" would be unable to sell cocaine while they were in Las Vegas for a fraternity formal, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The text promoted a cocaine "sale" and listed the reduced prices on bulk quantities.
The fraternity and sorority system at San Diego State has about 3,000 students, out of an enrollment of 34,000, but Fraternity Row — a strip of housing for members of the organizations — plays an outsized role in campus social life. It sits a block from Cox Arena, home to many college sporting events.
Dale Taylor, national executive director of Theta Chi, said he was "obviously shocked and saddened" by the allegations. Theta Chi prohibited the San Diego chapter from group activities such as parties or sports activities and will investigate additional disciplinary measures, up to expulsion of members or the entire chapter.
Theta Chi has 131 chapters in the U.S. and Canada and more than 161,000 initiates. It was founded in 1856.
University police launched their investigation into drug sales on campus after Shirley Poliakoff, 19, died from a cocaine overdose in May 2007. Investigators discovered many students in fraternities were aware of organized drug dealing within their houses.