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Independent Interfraternity Council at CU Boulder does not offer Narcan to its 21 fraternities

Kappa Sigma, where six students overdosed on possibly tainted cocaine on Saturday, is not affiliated with the IFC on the Hill or the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Interfraternity Council at the University of Colorado-Boulder does not offer Narcan to their 21 fraternities
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BOULDER, Colo. — Denver7 has learned that the Independent Interfraternity Council at the University of Colorado Boulder, also known as IFC on the Hill, does not offer Narcan to the 21 fraternities it oversees.

The information comes on the heels of six students overdosing on what police believe could be possibly tainted cocaine at Kappa Sigma on Saturday night.

IFC on the Hill is not affiliated with the university, which has its own Interfraternity Council. CU Boulder's Interfraternity Council is comprised of 10 fraternities affiliated with the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life (FSL).

Students can still acquire resources, like Narcan or naloxone, through CU Boulder.

The university's requirements for fraternities changed in 2005, the year after Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr. — known as Gordie — died inside of the Chi Psi fraternity house at CU Boulder. According to The Gordie Center, "Gordie and twenty-six other pledges, dressed in coats and ties for "bid night," were blindfolded and taken to the Arapaho Roosevelt National Forest, where they were "encouraged" to drink four handles (1.75 liter bottles) of whiskey and six (1.5 liter) bottles of wine around a bonfire in 30 minutes."

Following Bailey's death, CU Boulder asked fraternities to move recruitment to the spring and incorporate live-in house directors. At the time, fraternities did not agree with those requirements and disaffiliated. In 2017, Phi Delta Theta became the first fraternity to affiliate with the university again and implement the new safety measures, including signing an agreement stating they will follow all university policies.

Kappa Sigma has been unaffiliated with CU Boulder since 2005 after the university asked fraternities to implement those safety measures.

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Michael Smith, the Greek Advocate for the IFC on the Hill, viewed those new safety measures as restrictions on the fraternities.

“The university was very unhappy, and they wanted control over the fraternity community, which they had not had since 1965. And they wanted to impose restrictions on the fraternity community that would essentially kill us," Smith said.

IFC on the Hill is the governing council for 21 fraternities not affiliated with CU Boulder. Members of the fraternities are elected to leadership positions within their houses.

“I decided all fraternities were formed by 19-year-olds in college who had a vision. We might as well return to the 19-year-olds and see what they can do with it. And this has been a resounding success up here," Smith said.

According to Smith, Kappa Sigma was previously a member of IFC on the Hill.

“They had a series of parties that violated our rules — and they were big violations — and they were headed for a judicial hearing in front of our chief justice and the court that is mandated under our Constitution," Smith explained. “It would not have surprised me for them to have been put on a multi-year probation or suspension or maybe even expelled, and rather than be accountable, they decided that they'd just leave.”

A spokesperson for CU Boulder said in an email that Kappa Sigma was "expelled from an unaffiliated Interfraternity Council in 2015 due to violations over time involving safety and welfare concerns."

“They left us and are operating on a standalone basis," Smith said. “They've got a house which provides the impetus for people to live there, and you can run a Lord of the Flies operation anywhere.”

Smith said there are two groups that could make the decision to shut down a fraternity like Kappa Sigma, which is completely unaffiliated.

"The local house corporation could decide they don't want to deal with the kids anymore and close it, or the national headquarters could close it," Smith said.

As of Monday evening, there are not many details about what happened when six students overdosed within Kappa Sigma. Police have not said if Narcan or naloxone — nasal spray with the capability to reverse an opioid overdose — was used on any of the students. All of them survived, but one of the students was in critical condition on Saturday night. Alcohol was involved.

Those with the Kappa Sigma Fraternity told Denver7, they have been made aware of this incident, and that "the operations of the Chapter have been suspended pending an investigation."

“The Kappa Sigma chapter is not small, and so you have to understand the culture of a chapter and what was going on before you make a decision," Smith said.

Denver7 asked Smith if the IFC on the Hill supplies its 21 fraternities with Narcan or naloxone. Smith said IFC on the Hill does not offer the nasal spray to the fraternities it oversees.

“I don't want the undergraduate taking that step, and it's not covered by [our] insurance carrier. So, our relationship with the Boulder Police and Fire Department and the ambulance people is superb, and we would much rather have them taking care of people who are in trouble," Smith said.

Alden and Susan Globe were shocked to hear the IFC on the Hill does not offer Narcan to the fraternities. The Globes, who spoke with Denver7 from their home in Steamboat Springs, lost their daughter Madeline in 2017. She was 21 years old at the time, and was preparing to start her senior year at CU Boulder.

“This was 2017, before we'd really heard of illicit fentanyl," Susan said.

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The Globes said, Madeline purchased a pill she believed to be Xanax. The pill was laced with fentanyl.

"No one else in the group died, but Madeline died that night on that $5 pill," Susan said. “She made a really bad choice, and she paid the ultimate price.”

“The six students at the fraternity, they were poisoned. They didn't know that they were getting a drug that contained an illicit opioid, if that's what was in it," said Alden. “It's a very dangerous landscape and there's a lot of information out there, but people still don't grasp the danger.”

When Alden and Susan heard about the six students overdosing in Boulder, they were hit with a wave of emotions.

“I was angry, I was frustrated, and I was so so incredibly sad that this is still going on," Susan said.

The Globes believe every fraternity should have Narcan or naloxone on hand.

“People need to understand that Narcan is the new first aid kit," Alden said. “It's so important because your odds of survival decrease 10% per minute. So, Narcan has to be administered immediately when someone has ingested an illicit opioid if they have any hope of survival.”

The two are grateful that six families are not suffering the pain they have experienced since 2017.

“The fact that they survived, maybe we have made some progress in terms of the first responders getting there quickly. People actually calling 911. Maybe they knew about the Good Samaritan Law through hearing about it at orientation, or some literature they saw on campus," Alden said. “That wasn't the case for us in 2017 and the many other deaths that followed. So, that's hopeful, but the fact that they ingested that in the first place tells me, you know, the message is not completely gotten across very well yet.”

On Sunday, Denver7 spoke with Blue Rising — a nonprofit organization that works to raise awareness about the risks of certain substances, including fentanyl. The executive director of Blue Rising said recently, organization leaders were allowed inside of the first fraternity in Boulder to distribute signs with warnings about overdose and reminders about the variety of drugs that could contain fentanyl.

"The students had a lot of questions and they were very receptive to learning about fentanyl, and quite frankly, they were surprised at the drugs fentanyl could be found in," Dawn Reinfeld, the executive director of Blue Rising, said. “Afterwards, a couple of the fraternity members came over and said, 'Can we get more materials and more naloxone? Because we're having our annual formal, and they wanted to be prepared.'”

Reinfeld said that fraternity was Chi Psi, which is within IFC on the Hill.

According to a CU Boulder spokesperson, anyone in the CU community can receive free naloxone, fentanyl test strips and overdose prevention education. Resources can also be found inside community center first aid kits, along with several campus departments, and can even be delivered directly to residence halls through Buff Boxes.

Independent IFC at CU Boulder doesn't offer Narcan to its fraternities


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