Editor’s Note: Trigger warning: This story contains mentions of nonconsensual drug use and references sexual assault. All names have been changed.  

When then-first-year Jane Davis left her dorm room to go to an off-campus party February this year, she didn’t think she would be in the hospital the next morning.

Davis was drugged at the party she attended with her friends the night before, hosted by members of Colorado State University’s chapter of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity at an off-campus house. What followed was several months of repeatedly being told nothing could be done, an experience that left Davis feeling ignored by the people and systems that were supposed to protect her.

The party wasn’t supposed to be any different from the other parties she’d attended during her first year, Davis said. Davis was familiar with Phi Delta Theta and said she never felt uncomfortable in any of her previous interactions with members of the fraternity.

“That is the one frat that I (thought) I could go to a party (at) and I would feel comfortable setting my drink down and thinking that no one would touch it,” Davis said. “That’s the level of comfort that I had been made to feel with Phi Delt.”

She and her friends brought their own drink containers, only one of which was an open container. Davis said her friend drank from the container when they first arrived, but no one else did for roughly half an hour before Davis drank from the cup.

“​​I became so completely intoxicated about three minutes after that,” Davis said. “They couldn’t tell what was going on with me.”

The level of apparent intoxication and the speed at which it set in concerned Davis’ friends, so they decided to leave the party and return to their dorms.

They took Davis to a friend’s room in their dorm building to keep an eye on her, but her symptoms got more extreme, leaving them all unsure of what was happening or what they should do. 

“I couldn’t even sit up straight,” Davis said. “I kept falling. I couldn’t form words — couldn’t function at all.”

Davis’ roommate eventually brought her back to their room, hoping she would be able to sleep off whatever was causing her symptoms. Davis was told by her roommate the next morning that she stopped breathing at certain points.

A friend who slept in their dorm room to keep an eye on Davis told her she thought she had been roofied — a term that refers to when someone is drugged with Rohypnol without their knowledge or consent. Rohypnol is a central nervous system depressant commonly used to incapacitate targets of sexual assault and often referred to as a date-rape drug.

“CSU pretty much said unless this specific individual comes out, they can’t do anything. No repercussions are going to be had. It’s going to happen to someone else; it’s going to continue happening until (there are) repercussions.” -Jane Davis, CSU student

Davis was taken to the UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital early the next morning because she was still experiencing symptoms of intoxication. However, when Davis was examined by medical staff, she was told they did not have the capability to test what was in her system but that the UCHealth Harmony Campus might.

Davis went to the emergency room at the Harmony Campus location, hoping to figure out what she was drugged with. However, medical staff at the second hospital told her they were also unable to run a drug test that would detect Rohypnol or GHB — gamma-hydroxybutyrate, another sedative used as a date-rape drug.

The hospital on East Harmony Road gave Davis information on the nearby Day Reporting Center and recommended she go there to undergo a full drug test. The Day Reporting Center is a part of the Larimer County corrections system and does substance testing and sample collection. Davis filed a police report at the DRC before going home to wait for her results.

The center called Davis and informed her that she tested positive for Rohypnol.

“They (told me) that normally it could take up to two weeks, but my positive results come back within about 30 minutes,” Davis said. “They said there was so much in my system that it was right there. So then I went to the police station.”

Davis went to the CSU Police Department after the call but was turned away because the incident occurred outside CSUPD’s jurisdiction. 

“CSU police said because this was a fraternity house, they can’t do anything because they’re, like, satellite houses,” Davis said. 

A satellite house is a privately owned, off-campus residence occupied by members of a fraternity and frequently used to host parties. According to the CSU Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life’s Joint Policy on Risk Management, all official chapter houses are required to be substance free, which is defined as “no alcohol or controlled substance on chapter premises.”

Due to this policy, any event where alcohol will be present must be held at a different location.

Davis said she reported what happened to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and spoke to other university officials, hoping CSU would be able to take some kind of action in response.

“CSU pretty much said unless this specific individual comes out, they can’t do anything,” Davis said. “No repercussions are going to be had. It’s going to happen to someone else; it’s going to continue happening until (there are) repercussions.”

Davis wasn’t the only one trying to get the university to respond to an incident at a fraternity party hosted at an off-campus house last spring semester. Sofia Miller faced the same roadblocks in her attempt to get the university to help her after she reported being drugged at a party in late January.

Miller was in her third year at the time and was invited to a party hosted by CSU’s chapter of the Sigma Nu Fraternity.

Members of the fraternity went to Miller’s sorority house to invite them to a party to celebrate the initiation of new Sigma Nu members. Members performed a song and gave the sorority a decorative invitation card.

The party felt off to Miller as soon as she and her friends arrived.

According to the FSL Joint Policy, “any event an observer would associate with the fraternity or sorority or council” is considered a chapter event. Chapter events must register with the FSL office and must follow the proper guidelines, even if the event is hosted at a private location.

Those guidelines include compiling an official guest list and ensuring the list is monitored at the entrance to the party, a guideline Miller said was not met at this party.

There was a fraternity member at the entrance with a tablet who appeared to be checking the people entering, but he didn’t actually have a list, Miller said.

“He claimed that he had a list of who (was) coming into the party and asked us who we were,” Miller said. “So we just informed him that we were in my sorority. And then he turned around and showed us (the tablet), like, ‘Oh, we don’t have a real list.’ … Kind of making a joke out of it.”

Miller and her friends were let into the party, which was primarily held in the backyard. Photos provided to The Collegian show a tent with the fraternity’s Greek letters painted on it. The timestamp and geotag of the photos match the invitation card Miller and her friends received.

Things took a turn when her group split up, Miller said. Two of her friends went to find a restroom, so Miller moved closer to the door of the house to keep an eye on them. Three members of the fraternity then approached Miller.

Miller said they crowded around her, blocking her path as a fourth member approached the friends who were looking for a restroom. He told them the main floor bathroom was busy but that he could take them to the upstairs bathroom.

“I did not like that, so me and one other girl followed these two girls upstairs to the bathroom, and when we were trying to get up there, guys were trying to block us off,” Miller said.

Miller said she was able to push through the people blocking her way and get up to the bathroom.

“The guy who walked them up followed them into the bathroom, so then I pushed in, (and) he walked out,” Miller said.

Miller and her friends felt uncomfortable with what happened and decided to leave the party, but the same members who blocked her off initially approached them a second time, once again separating Miller and one friend from the rest of the group.

“My friends were noticeably smaller than the guys,” Miller said. “So you know, when guys are standing shoulder to shoulder, it’s kind of harder to push through them, and they were definitely not letting them push through.”

Miller said this was the moment she noticed she didn’t feel alright. Miller hadn’t drunk enough alcohol to be intoxicated and felt completely sober when she went into the house, but she began to feel dizzy and disoriented.

“I was super confused because, at this point, I’m very, very foggy,” Miller said. “I can’t figure out what’s going on. I’m just trying to get us out.”

One of Miller’s friends managed to pull her away, but the same fraternity members tried to stop them again, Miller said. Her boyfriend came to pick them up and took them all back to his house as they tried to figure out what was causing Miller’s symptoms.

“When I’ve experienced all of this and still nothing is done, it just makes me wonder how much they’ve hidden. It just feels like they don’t give a shit.” -Sofia Miller, CSU student

Miller’s symptoms worsened to the point that she couldn’t stand on her own. When Miller tried to put her arm around the friend who was supporting her, she felt a sharp ache in her arm.

“They all took a flashlight to my arm, saw the mark and (were) like, ‘Go to the hospital now,’” Miller said.

Medical staff gave Miller fluids and treated her for alcohol overconsumption before testing her blood alcohol content, which was below the legal limit. Miller’s symptoms didn’t align with the test results, but medical staff told her they were unable to test her for drugs that might be in her system.

“I couldn’t speak,” Miller said. “I couldn’t see anything really whatsoever. It was just all black. Like, I kept falling asleep everywhere. One of the nurses had to help me go to the bathroom to get my BAC. I could not even function as a human being.”

One doctor told Miller her symptoms indicated ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, in her system, but they were unable to run a drug test to be sure.

In the days following the incident, a sample was sent to a testing facility in Denver to verify whether there was ketamine in Miller’s system, but she has not yet received her results.

Miller filed a police report with Fort Collins Police Services while at the hospital. She then took the same steps as Davis, reporting to several university offices, including the Office of Title IX Programs and Gender Equity, FSL, the Survivor Advocacy and Feminist Education Center and CSUPD. She also provided the university with video footage of the invitation performance and a photo of the invitation card to identify the fraternity.

The university told Miller there was nothing they could do. 

Both Davis and Miller met with various offices and university officials to no avail, receiving the same response time after time: Nothing could be done.

“I was so loud,” Miller said. “I went straight to the hospital. I told every office exactly what happened. Still there’s no support — none.”

The university sent a safety update email Feb. 9 following Miller’s report to the university. A line in the email referenced drug-facilitated crimes involving needle injections and warned students to stay alert. Beyond this, there has been no official action taken in response to Miller’s report.

“I just was so frustrated at that point,” Miller said. “Like, nothing was going to be done.”

Phi Delta Theta won a Fraternity & Sorority Life Community Award for Excellence in Harm Reduction & Risk Management last spring, and both fraternities are still in good standing with the university, something that concerns both Miller and Davis.

“When I’ve experienced all of this and still nothing is done, it just makes me wonder how much they’ve hidden,” Miller said. “It just feels like they don’t give a shit.”

The national organizations for both Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and Sigma Nu Fraternity provided The Collegian with statements confirming they were made aware of the reports last spring.

“Upon learning of the allegations, General Headquarters worked with the university and the Fort Collins Police Department to investigate,” the statement from Phi Delta Theta Fraternity reads. “After review, no evidence was found linking any of our members to the incident. Should the investigation proceed further, Phi Delta Theta will carefully assess the situation and determine the appropriate next steps.”

Sigma Nu Fraternity also cited an internal investigation within the organization and confirmed the CSU chapter violated internal social event policies.

“The Fraternity’s investigation nor the university’s investigation corroborated the allegation received,” the statement reads. “The Fraternity’s investigation did result in remedial measures for the Delta Rho chapter to address adherence to Fraternity and University policies related to alcohol at social activities; these measures were supported by the university and completed by the Delta Rho chapter.”

Leadership at the Interfraternity Council confirmed they were made aware of the reports last spring but said they “could not act as an investigative or adjudicative body.”

A university spokesperson confirmed both incidents were reported to the university.

“Colorado State University reviews all reports of student and organization misconduct, including off-campus incidents, and initiates investigations when sufficient information is available,” the statement reads. “These cases lacked enough detail for an investigation to proceed. Individuals are encouraged to share any knowledge of misconduct to aid in investigations and allow the university to support impacted parties. The university can also reopen cases if new information arises.”

The following resources are available:

• The 24-hour Victim Assistance Team is available to assist survivors of interpersonal violence and their loved ones 24/7/365. Call 970-492-4242 and ask to speak with an advocate.
• CSU Police Department: Call/text 911 in an emergency; non-emergency line is 970-491-6425
• Fort Collins Police Services: Call/text 911 in an emergency; non-emergency line is 970-419-3273.
• Incident reports can be made to Student Conduct Services.

Reach Hannah Parcells at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @hannahparcells.