UC San Diego’s chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity announced their decision to suspend all remaining social events for Spring Quarter 2022 in conjunction with their response to recent sexual assault and misconduct allegations against a chapter member. TKE released their statement on May 13 on Instagram informing the removal of a member after a pattern of sexual violence came to their attention, in addition to announcing their decision to suspend all social events for the rest of the quarter.
In an email to The UCSD Guardian, TKE’s vice president Kassra Tehranchi offered further insight about the decision to remove the member.
“We received an allegation of sexual assault from a member of the Panhellenic community against one of our members,” Tehranchi said. “We received testimony from both members, met with the other member’s chapter’s executive board, and mutually agreed to two conclusions. Firstly, we agreed that there was not enough evidence and information to terminate our member, and secondly, we agreed to meet again after that weekend, which was Mother’s Day weekend. We received testimony from more members of the Panhellenic community that demonstrated an unacceptable pattern of sexual violence from our former member.”
Tehranchi also apologized for the actions of their member and stated that his organization stands with sexual assault victims.
“As a chapter, we are extremely disappointed that our former member committed this act against members of a community we stand to empower,” Tehranchi said.
Earlier this year, numerous allegations of sexual assault/harassment, drugging, and physical violence came across those involved in UCSD’s Sorority and Fraternity Life.
In February, the Collegiate Panhellenic Association decided to cancel all social events with the Interfraternity Council for the remainder of the Winter Quarter 2022 for allegations of sexual misconduct and physical abuse. In 2019, UCSD implemented a multi-year suspension of the Sigma Chi chapter from campus due to being under investigation for allegations of sexual assault and drugging.
In a follow-up email, Tehranchi stated his organization’s intentions to reflect on its culture to further prevent incidents of sexual misconduct and assault from occurring.
“The fact of the matter is that these incidents occurred by one of our former members, at our social events, under our roofs,” Tehranchi said. “Moving forward, our culture needs to look internally and pinpoint any and all weak spots that allowed such horrific behavior.”
The UC policies and codes of conduct explain the rights and responsibilities of students and employees in guaranteeing that the UC is a safe environment and how the UC addresses reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment.
UCSD encourages anyone with knowledge of events related to sexual misconduct to contact the Office for the Prevention of Harassment at (858) 534-8298 or online at [email protected].
CARE at the Sexual Assault Resource Center is UCSD’s confidential advocacy and education office for sexual violence and gender-based violence (dating violence, domestic violence, stalking). Contact them at (858) 534-5793 or email at [email protected] They are located at the Student Services Center, 5th floor, Suite 500.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Tran for The UCSD Guardian
Correction: This article was updated at 4:35 p.m. on May 22.
