RCMP investigating after UBC professor alleges students were drugged at campus fraternities

RCMP are investigating after a professor with the University of British Columbia publicized allegations that a number of students were drugged Friday at fraternities on campus and at a Vancouver bar.

Marina Adshade, a professor of economics, said in a tweet Tuesday that a student “spent the weekend in hospital” after being given drugs at an event on campus. The professor also claimed six other students “who had been drugged in the fraternities” on the UBC campus were also in hospital Saturday morning.

CBC News has not been able to independently verify claims made by Adshade.

On Wednesday, RCMP said it had launched an investigation into the allegations after university staff notified the force about Adshade’s post. A statement said Mounties, to date, had not received any police reports about the alleged incident.

The university said staff first heard of the claims through Twitter late Tuesday and asked Mounties to open a formal investigation.

“The information shared online is being taken very seriously, and we hope to have a full investigation into this matter,” Ainsley Carry, UBC’s vice president of students, said in a conference call with media on Wednesday.

Carry said his staff met with representatives from UBC fraternities early Wednesday morning to discuss Adshade’s report.

“We will be speaking to the fraternities at length right now and in the days to come and we are doing everything that we can with our fraternity to find out what has happened,” Carry continued.

The Interfraternity Council (IFC), the official governing body for the 10 fraternities on the UBC campus, posted a statement on social media on Wednesday.

“We take any issues concerning the safety of the UBC community and the community at large very seriously,” said the IFC.

According to the IFC, all social functions have been indefinitely suspended.

A spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department told CBC News it had not received any reports from UBC students about being drugged at a bar in the city on Friday but also encouraged any victims of crime to phone police.