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Swarthmore bans fraternities and sororities after racist, homophobic documents are leaked

The decision comes after the Phi Psi and Delta Upsilon fraternities decided to disband following backlash.
Image: Swarthmore College students hang a banner at the Phi Psi fraternity house during a sit-in on April 29, 2019.
Swarthmore College students hang a banner at the Phi Psi fraternity house during a sit-in on April 29, 2019. Students are protesting to get the fraternity shut down after documents containing derogatory comments allegedly belonging to Phi Psi surfaced this month.AP

SWARTHMORE, Pa. — Fraternities and sororities will no longer be allowed at Swarthmore College.

School President Valerie Smith made the announcement Friday.

It comes after the only two fraternities at the private liberal arts college in suburban Philadelphia decided to disband amid outrage over leaked internal documents from one of the organizations.

The documents, written between 2012 to 2016, contained derogatory comments about women, the LGBTQ community, and jokes about sexual assault. The two campus publications that released the Phi Psi documents, Voices and The Phoenix, said they were leaked anonymously.

In the wake of the documents' release, dozens of students occupied the on-campus Phi Psi house and called for both fraternities to be shut down.

Smith say the school's lone sorority can continue with its current members through the spring 2022 semester, but can't recruit or initiate new members.