KDR's 'Marital' Bliss Results in IHC Review

Author: Megan O'Keefe

The Inter House Council (IHC) failed to reach a decision in a Tuesday meeting convened to recommend a sanction against the Kappa Delta Rho (KDR) social house to the Dean of Student Affairs office. KDR is under scrutiny as a result of their annual "marriage" party held on Friday, Sept. 18. The open-event, which was the only party registered with Public Safety on Sept. 18, was attended by hundreds of Middlebury College students and was tied to a number of alcohol-related incidents.

"Three students were taken to the Health Center, one of which was then transported to the hospital. A fourth student was taken directly to the hospital. Six incident reports were created due to issues that arose at the party," said Associate Dean of Student Affairs Karen Guttentag.

The "marriage" theme, a KDR tradition, has students pretend to date, marry and divorce during the night. Each stage is associated with a particular drink. Beer was served in the basement of KDR for "dating" party-goers, while champagne was served on the first-floor as a symbol of marriage. While tradition once prescribed that divorcing couples downed a shot of hard alcohol, this practice was discontinued several years ago due to changes in College alcohol policy for registered parties.

KDR Treasurer Benjamin Kraines '04.5 told The Middlebury Campus: "Due to the sensitivity of the issue, the KDR leadership cannot make a comment at this time."

Public Safety Officer Edward Dolback, who was on duty at KDR during the party, also declined to comment.

Students who attended the party on Sept. 18 noted that the house and front porch were packed with students. "It was so crowded you could not move at all," said Virginia Harper '07.

Several other students reported seeing blood outside of a bathroom on the first-floor of the house. A KDR brother told The Middlebury Campus that the blood was the result of a cut that a student got from sharp metal on a wire cage that was installed on a ground heater located adjacent to the bathroom during the summer. The blood was not part of an alcohol-related accident, the brother said, but was an unfortunate result of an unsafe facilities mistake.