Cal Poly was warned of ‘St. Fratty’s Day’ event ahead of time

Cal Poly officials were warned of “St. Fratty’s Day” events to be held the morning of March 7, a review of university emails has shown, but no investigation was carried out ahead of time.

Four days before the party, administrators at the Office of Student Affairs received an email tip from a local fraternity chapter president, who also warned his fraternity membership not to take part in events that morning, according to university emails obtained by The Tribune in a public records request pertaining to the St. Fratty’s Day event.

In follow-up emails, the administrators pledged to investigate the matter in advance of the event, but a Cal Poly spokesman said Thursday that no investigation occurred until afterwards.

“A preliminary investigation was not launched before the party; it was initiated in the wake of the March 7 incident,” spokesman Jay Thompson wrote in an email to The Tribune on Thursday.

On the morning of March 7, at least eight people were injured in a roof collapse amid a crowd of about 3,000 revelers who had descended on Hathway Avenue near Cal Poly for the annual event.

San Luis Obispo police Chief Steve Gesell told The Tribune previously that his department was caught off guard, and was not properly staffed that morning to deal with the situation. He said officer shifts were rearranged in advance of the weekend to prepare for smaller parties that evening, based on “loose information” from university police.

What emails said

According to emails obtained by The Tribune, a local fraternity president — whose name is redacted — sent an email on March 3 titled “Warning for St. Fratty’s Day” to members of his chapter, telling them that the Cal Poly administration had received word of upcoming events and that any citation given to a fraternity member at an unregistered event would automatically place his fraternity under investigation.    

Local fraternities and sororities were on social probation at the time and all unregistered events involving the groups were banned.

“Because of this, no unregistered events at the main house or satellite houses will be condoned for both weekends,” the person wrote. “This especially applies to Saturday morning when many police officers will be in the vicinity of the main house. Do not invite others to the main house before or after any event you choose to attend on Saturday morning.”

There was no reference in that email to one large event that would attract thousands.

The chapter president then forwarded that email to university coordinator of fraternity and sorority life Kathryn O’Hagan the same day.

“Here is a message we have sent to our chapter warning them about St. Fratty’s Day,” the person wrote to O’Hagan. “We hope that we have clearly shown that we have no part in the St. Fratty’s Day activities and would not like to be held responsible.”

O’Hagan then forwarded the email to Jason Mockford, assistant director of leadership and service within the Dean of Students Office.

“I don’t know that I have warned them that we will definitely launch an investigation, but it’s better to be safe than sorry,” O’Hagan wrote.

O’Hagan and Mockford did not respond to a request for comment.

Thompson on Friday said that while the Student Affairs Office received an email with reference to possible St. Fratty’s Day party events on the morning of March 7, details such as the time, place and expected crowd were not discussed.

“To clarify, the university’s Student Affairs Office received an email that included a reference to a possible St. Fratty’s Day party on the morning of March 7,” Thompson wrote in an email to The Tribune.

“While references and rumors about various parties are a frequent occurrence on university campuses, the Student Affairs department did share information about a potential March 7 party with the University Police Department but did not discuss the morning timing mentioned in the March 3 email,” Thompson added.

Gesell said Thursday that his department never received any information from Cal Poly about events planned for the morning of March 7 but reiterated that the University Police Department shared rumors of a few smaller frat parties expected later that night.

Gesell declined to comment on the university emails.

The aftermath

Two days after the event, on March 9, O’Hagan attended a meeting of the Cal Poly Interfraternity Council, which included several fraternity chapter presidents.

According to an email recap of that meeting from O’Hagan to Dean of Students Jean DeCosta and several administrators, most fraternity members in attendance said that St. Fratty’s Day was not a Greek event and were concerned that responsibility would be pinned on them.

Though the investigation was then just beginning, O’Hagan and Mockford expressed skepticism of the fraternities.

“In his report, [IFC president] Alex [Horncliff] asked if there were any thoughts about the party prefacing with ‘while we all know this wasn’t a Greek event or one chapter event …’ (yeah, it was as fun to hear as I’m sure it is to read),” O’Hagan wrote.

Mockford replied: “Please send notes. Since [name redacted] hasn’t talked to us, [redacted] information must come from elsewhere (which we will want), or [redacted] is making things up (which is not unheard of for [redacted]).”

On March 12, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong moderated a forum attended by about 400, where some students said the incident was the result of the then-ongoing ban on all frat parties in response to three reports of sexual assaults at Greek parties this school year.

The next day, Armstrong sent an email to City Council members and staff noting that many students were interviewed by administrators and that those “who failed to comply with our mandate to be interviewed will be addressed through our formal student rights and responsibilities process.”

He also announced the university would use outside people such as student conduct officers and experts from other college campuses versed in student discipline issues to try to identify the event’s organizers.

Thompson said Friday that the investigation is “well underway,” but he declined to elaborate.

This story was originally published April 4, 2015 at 11:58 PM with the headline "Cal Poly was warned of ‘St. Fratty’s Day’ event ahead of time."