May 1 (UPI) -- The only two fraternities at Swarthmore College in southeast Pennsylvania have disbanded over backlash from internal documents that revealed jokes about sexual assault.
Delta Upsilon, which was linked to the leaked documents, and Phi Psi announced within hours of each other Tuesday that they're leaving campus. Two student newspapers reported that a former Phi Psi member wrote the documents, which described a "rape tunnel" and a "rape attic."
Independent campus newspaper the Phoenix and alternative publication Voices released the redacted documents two weeks ago. The records spanned from 2012 to 2016 and some joked about date rape drugs, illegal drug use and photos of women the Phi Psi fraternity house.
The leak sparked a four-day day sit-in protest at the Phi Psi fraternity house that demanding Swarthmore administrators ban Greek organizations altogether. School officials had already suspended fraternity activities pending recommendations by a task force.
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"After much discussion, the members of Delta Upsilon have unanimously decided that disbanding our fraternity is in the best interest of the Swarthmore community," the fraternity said on a Facebook post.
"We hope that our former house will provide a space that is inclusive, safe and promotes healing."
Phi Psi members sought to distance themselves from the documents, which date to 2013 and 2014.
"The current members were in high school and middle school at the time of the writing of these documents," Phi Psi said in a statement. "We were appalled and disgusted by the content of these minutes, which led us to question our affiliation with an organization whose former members could write such heinous statements. We cannot in good conscience be members of an organization with such a painful history."
"We respect these students' decision to take this action, and we appreciate their strong condemnation," Swarthmore President Valerie Smith said Wednesday.
About 50 students staged the sit-in at the Phi Psi house Saturday and the number grew to more than 100.
