Penn has suspended its chapter of the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity until fall 2025 after an investigation into its involvement in hanging “Missing Cow” posters alleged to mock kidnapped Israelis.
In a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, DSP Executive Director Jeremy Levine wrote that DSP was suspended until at least fall 2025 “as a result of violations of the Delta Sigma Pi Risk Management Policy.” A recent report by the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which included some of Penn’s disciplinary records, wrote that the suspension of a Wharton fraternity came after an investigation into the “Missing Cow” posters.
The records indicated that the posters had been hung as a part of an “‘initiation-week’ ‘prank’ by newly-recruited members.”
The DP reviewed the House committee’s report and statements by DSP’s central office and a Wharton spokesperson to confirm the identity of the suspended fraternity. DSP is no longer present on Wharton’s list of registered business fraternities, though it was listed on the website in November 2023, according to online archives. No other business fraternities have been removed in that period.
“Delta Sigma Pi was placed on suspension in December 2023,” a Wharton spokesperson wrote to the DP. “The chapter is working collaboratively with the National DSP Office to reorganize chapter operations and work towards reinstatement.”
The spokesperson declined to provide any additional information about the terms of DSP’s suspension or the incident that caused it. Student members of Penn’s DSP chapter did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The investigation centered on a Nov. 16, 2023 incident when hundreds of “Missing Cow” posters were hung on campus and appeared in many locations, according to witnesses. Each poster included a photo of a cow silhouette with “Beef Dinner” written on it and offered a reward of “a box of chalk and a can of beer” for finding the missing cow.
The design of the posters appeared to resemble the “Kidnapped” posters displaying the names and faces of Israelis who are being held hostage by Hamas. At the time, a University spokesperson described the posters as “crude” and “deplorable,” adding that Penn was working to identify the individuals responsible for them.
“In November, Delta Sigma Pi’s Central Office became aware of an incident involving members of Beta Nu Chapter at the University of Pennsylvania,” Levine wrote. “After a review of information by University and Wharton School of Business officials, the decision was reached to suspend chapter operations until at least the Fall of 2025.”
Levine added that “Delta Sigma Pi supports the decisions of our host institutions and is committed to being a strong partner moving forward.”
An email address, howsthecow13@gmail.com, was included at the bottom of the posters. In an email response to a request for comment at the time of the incident, the email said that the poster was not intended to be antisemitic and was “a joke to promote veganism.” The email also “apologize[d] to those offended for the way the poster was formatted and the manner in which it was distributed.”
“The format of the poster was an unintentional mistake that we now realize could be misconstrued,” the email read, adding that it “condemn[ed] the kidnapping of Israelis that took place and did not mean to allude to that situation.”
The email address has since been deactivated.
“Students interviewed in the course of the investigation explained that the posters were intended to reference a prior prank and inside jokes within the fraternity,” the records contained in the House report read. “In a meeting with administrators, the fraternity’s executive board expressed contrition and remorse, clarified that the prank was not intended to be antisemitic, and acknowledged the hurtful impact of their actions.”
The report further indicates that Penn placed DSP on an 18-month suspension and required the chapter to “comply with requirements to demonstrate cultural change” and accept reorganization.
At the time of the initial incident, Department of Psychiatry professor and Director of Penn’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research for Nicotine Addiction Robert Schnoll told the DP that he saw the posters when he ran through campus at 6 a.m. Schnoll added that when he returned at 8:40 a.m., most of the signs had been removed. He later saw three students putting the signs back up.
Schnoll said that when he attempted to confront the students about the perceived offensive nature of the signs, the three students “ran off” and entered Gutmann College House.
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