Students

WPI Investigates Sex Abuse Allegations

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Worcester Polytechnic Institute and campus police have launched an investigation into allegations of sex abuse made on social networking website.

The claims were made on a WPI Facebook confessions page, where students are allowed to post anonymous messages about campus life.

In anonymous posts, three female students claimed that experienced humiliating and insulting behavior by fraternity members at an off-campus frat house. The students said that after consensual intercourse with fraternity members, others poured water and hit them with ice or pudding, Boston Globe reports.

One woman said, "the man she was with came back with a bunch of his frat brothers and they poured a large bucket of ice all over me, didn't even give me a chance to cover up," wcvb reports.

The posts did not reveal the location of the alleged incident and the name of the fraternity. College officials have not yet confirmed whether the allegations are true.

Dean of Students Philip Clay said that allegations of this nature are taken seriously. School officials said the incident is not sexual assault, but under the school's policy, it is deemed sexual harassment.

This is the first time the officials have received a complaint from a Facebook post, Fox News reports. Officials said that investigating such incidents is difficult as the institute doesn't run the website.

"That's one of the challenges of these anonymous confession sites, is that there's very little information to go on so we immediately started launching the best investigation we could," Clay said.

If the fraternity members are identified and found guilty, they might be either expelled or suspended.

"Such posts are deeply disturbing -- not only because they allege that such vile acts may have taken place at the hands of some of our own community members, but because these posts offer a warped reflection of the values of this university and the vast majority of its citizens," college's interim president, Philip Ryan said.

One student was shocked to learn about the incident."The fact it could happen is appalling."

Another student found it horrifying. "I'm not sure it's true."

Confession pages have become popular among college campuses in the country. Although the pages have helped bring out an ease of communication among the campus community, it has posed a major problem for university officials.

In October, a Boston College student was disciplined after he lied about raping three women on a BC confession page.

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