Police at the University of California, Los Angeles are investigating after receiving two recent reports of female students being drugged at off campus fraternity parties.
According to a bulletin issued by UCLA police, one of the incidents allegedly occurred on Oct. 3, with a second one reportedly happening Oct. 5 that sent the student to the emergency room.
Experts who spoke to KTLA warn that these types of incidents are a public health issue that leave students susceptible to overdose and sexual assault. Several students agreed, saying it’s a concerning trend and one of the reasons they avoid off-campus parties altogether.
The victim on Oct. 3 reported that she had been to three separate parties at fraternities on Gayley Avenue and developed symptoms that she didn’t believe were alcohol related.
Several days later, the second victim said she attended one party where she was handed a drink and quickly began feeling unusual, eventually prompting her to go to the hospital.
Many students, like UCLA senior Zoe Gianna Monterola, received a “Bruin Alert” alert about the incidents on their cellphones and found the message disturbing.
“Definitely just disheartening and I think what’s more sad is that it’s really not surprising,” she explained. “I feel like there’s a culture of being able to tolerate these things and moving on, especially when you’re in a college environment.”
Another student, Temi Osuntokun, told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff that there are certain fraternities with a reputation for misconduct.
“It’s something that we’ve heard about ever since my freshman year and I’m a fourth year [student],” she said. “We’ve been hearing about frats assaulting, raping, drugging students. When we walk by, we’re like, ‘Oh yeah, there’s that one frat,’ and it’s that sort of thing.”
Dr. Tipu Khan, Chief of Addiction Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center, told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff that people are unintentionally being exposed to more drugs than they think.
“They think they’re taking one substance, for example alcohol or cannabis, but it’s contaminated with other drugs and other substances that can lead to overdose or cases where they are taken advantage of,” he said.
KTLA has reached out to UCLA, asking what exactly officials are doing about the issue and how they’re counseling students to be safe and is awaiting a response.
So far, authorities have not identified any suspects in connection with the two incidents.
