THE PRICE OF GOOD PR

Earlier this week, the national chapter for the Phi Kappa Tau
Fraternity announced that its Boulder chapter will close until at
least August. The announcement comes after nine underage women were
hospitalized in September for suspected alcohol poisoning and
possible GHB drugging. So far, two of the nine women have tested
positive for GHB, the results of the other seven are pending.

A member of Phi Kappa told the Rocky Mountain News that his
fraternity is taking the fall for GHB cocktails. Tim Hudson, who
directs the Phi Kappa services nationwide, disagrees. He went out of
his way earlier this week to point out that the suspension had
nothing to do with the GHB drugging, which begs the question, what
the hell is he talking about?

According to Hudson, the chapter's suspension was due to a "pattern
of events" in which the fraternity was not following chapter
policies. Marc Stine, a spokesman for the Interfraternity Council in
Boulder, reinforced Hudson by saying that GHB played "absolutely no
role whatsoever" in the chapter suspension.

It's likely that Hudson and Stine avoided mentioning GHB in an
attempt to disassociate blame from the fraternity. But both spokesmen
missed a prime opportunity to condemn GHB and one underlying premise
for which it is often used: rape. It seems that no one wants to
associate themselves with the possibility of GHB abuse and rape.

While Sigma Pi, the Interfraternity Council and CU are also
maintaining their distance, they are at least spinning their PR with
a bit more savoir-faire. The groups have banded together with
Crimestoppers to offer a $5,000 reward to anyone with information
leading to an arrest. That $5,000 is a significant sum when it comes
to Boulder crime. Sure, we realize that these groups wouldn't be
giving money if they weren't somehow affected by the incident. But at
least guilt by association is good for something. If the criminals
are brought to justice, it could raise the stakes for anyone
considering the use of this potentially harmful and dangerous drug.