Fraternity house video of man shooting bottle rocket into another man's pants launches UTC investigation

Performers while rehearse for The Rep's Young Artists' Production of "Singin' on a Star." The junior actors spent the past two weeks in the Summer Musical Theatre Intensive theatre training program learning and rehearsing for the show which has two public performances Saturday at The Rep.

Young Actors Workshop

Video available Watch Video

A Facebook video has the local chapter of Phi Delta Theta in the hot seat.

The video, posted to the Web in late September 2012, shows a shirtless man setting off bottle rockets in the pant legs of an unconscious man at the chapter's Oak Street fraternity house.

One user posted a comment on Facebook to the video, saying "We done it 4 times before he even moved there holes all in his pants now." Later posts by the same user indicate that they got the victim to "chug half a bottle of jack," which caused him to black out just before they lit the fireworks.

The events reportedly took place late Sept. 22 or early Sept. 23, 2012, during a party held at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house after UTC's fall homecoming football game.

Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Development Dee Dee Anderson said she was notified of the incident several weeks ago and an investigation was launched shortly thereafter. During the investigation, officials determined that those involved were alumni members and that current students were not involved.

"We found them not responsible because they were alumni members. The undergraduate chapter from our investigation did not violate our university policy," Anderson said.

Anderson said the Phi Delta Theta national office was conducting its own investigation into the incident.

Upcoming Events