Hanover Police are investigating an incident that occurred at Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority early Saturday morning in which the sorority's house was allegedly broken into and property was severely damaged and destroyed.
Patrick O'Neill, the Hanover Police sergeant who first arrived at the scene at approximately 10 a.m. Saturday, said police believe the break-in occurred "sometime between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Saturday morning."
The house was almost empty during the early morning hours of Saturday, according to KKG Summer-term President Kate Armstrong '98. Armstrong said most of the sisterhood was off-campus at a "sister overnight," and did not return until early Saturday morning.
O'Neill would not comment on the incident other than to say "there were objects in the house that were damaged and broken."
But Armstrong described the condition of the house in an e-mail message she sent to the presidents of the College's other fraternities and sororities on Saturday morning.
"Our house was absolutely trashed," she wrote. "Not in a funny way. There was feces in our kitchen, property destroyed, breaking and entering, etc."
"This was beyond the point of silly pranks and good humor," she wrote.
In an interview with The Dartmouth last night, Armstrong said about 35 of KKG's 45 members who are on campus this summer were away on the sister overnight when the incident occurred. Fifteen sisters live in the house this summer, she said.
Armstrong declined to comment further on the incident, saying the organization has been asked to forward all inquiries to their national chapter. Representatives from KKG's national chapter were unavailable for comment last night.
O'Neill said the case has been turned over to Hanover Police detective division, who will begin examining it today.
In separate e-mail messages to the fraternity and sorority presidents on Saturday and again yesterday morning, Armstrong appealed to the other members of the Greek system for help in bringing the perpetrators of the crime to justice.
"If you hear of anything else concerning what happened at KKG, please call ... the Hanover Police Department," Armstrong wrote yesterday morning. "Please tell members of your house that they can call the police directly and need not go through any students here first."
Armstrong also tried to diffuse any rumors about who might be responsible for the break-in.
In an e-mail message to the fraternity and sorority presidents last night, she wrote, "At this time the sisters and I are not blaming any individuals, or houses for that matter ... Please disregard any rumors that reflect things contrary to that."
"Kappa is pointing no fingers now ... The police are conducting the investigation, and we are leaving the law up to them," she wrote.
