President Wallace Loh 

The University of Maryland’s investigation into the offensive email sent in January 2014 by a former university Kappa Sigma fraternity member found the email did not violate university policy, according to an email university President Wallace Loh sent to the university community Wednesday night.

The Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct, University Police and Prince George’s County Police conducted the investigation, which found the email signed “AJ Hurwitz” posed no explicit need for disciplinary action, said Catherine Carroll, the office’s director and Title IX officer.

Investigators conducted extensive interviews about the email’s content as well as the “time, place, manner, and effects of the message,” and did not find any subsequent conduct “that raised safety concerns,” Loh said in his email.

“The email is generally protected speech under the First Amendment,” Carroll said.

In his email, Loh provided a statement from the email’s author, who apologized for offending the campus with his email’s language and said he is “committed to becoming a better person.” The author’s parents also apologized to the university.

“I regret sending that email more than I’ll ever be able to put into words. I know there is no way to erase this incident or the agony it has caused, but I want you to know that I will strive to never use such language again,” the student’s statement said. “I have learned an important life lesson, realizing there is no room for hate or prejudice of any kind in our community.”

Loh asked for the university to forgive the author “not for his sake, but for our own. It frees us from our hurt and anger.”

The offensive email, which was allegedly sent during last year’s fraternity spring rush period, used racial slurs to tell the email’s recipients not to invite black, Indian and Asian women to a rush party “unless they’re hot.”

The student referenced sexual assault when he wrote “erect, assert, and insert, and above all else, f— consent.”

The student who sent the email will not be on the campus for the rest of the semester “by mutual consent between the student involved, his family and the University,” according to an email Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement sent last week.

The student “offered to undergo individualized training in diversity and cultural competence” and proposed a plan to do community service, according to Loh’s email.

“I accepted these actions to hold him morally accountable for his offensive communication,” Loh wrote. “And, on behalf of the University, I accepted their apologies.”

The Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct received three additional sexual assault reports relating to an affiliated or unaffiliated fraternity since the email resurfaced, which Carroll attributed to a timing coincidence. But she also said the attention surrounding the email could have persuaded people to report.

“We want people to report, and we want people to get services and support they need,” Carroll said. “I think the attention on the fraternities may have brought people forward who may have not come forward, [but] I don’t know.”

Clement also announced a list of university-sponsored measures in response to the email, such as the creation of a multicultural student advisory group and mandatory Department of Fraternity & Sorority Life training programs on sexual assault prevention, according to her email.

“There should be more mandatory comprehensive training for all of Greek life because there’s a lot going on there behind the radar,” which is hard to identify from an administrative level, Carroll said.

About 100 students gathered for a sit-in at Stamp Student Union and a march around Fraternity Row as a response to the offensive email and the culture of fraternity life, calling fraternities racist and sexist.

Some men watched the protesters from the porches of fraternity chapter houses around the row, while others took selfies and filmed protesters as they passed.

“As a university, we are all morally on the hook,” Student Government Association President Patrick Ronk said. “We can’t just blame Greek life for it; we all need to take responsibility.”

Carroll also said it is important for the campus community to know this offensive language and culture can be found in groups outside of Greek life.

“There’s pockets all over campus. I don’t think you can make that blanket statement about Greek life or just groups on campus,” Carroll said. “It’s not as easily defined as we want to make it.”