Sigma Nu rallies behind beaten alumni advisor

Within days of being notified that their alumni advisor was the victim of a brutal gay-bashing assault in Ireland, the Sigma Nu fraternity is organizing a fundraiser to pay for Robert Drake to be transported back to Philadelphia. Drake, 36, was researching and writing a novel in Ireland when two men -- currently under Irish police custody -- allegedly beat him unconscious in his apartment January 30. He remains in critical condition and on a respirator in an Irish hospital. The fraternity had been corresponding with Drake by e-mail until two weeks ago, when he did not respond to a message regarding an upcoming visit to Penn's campus. Presently, Drake's unstable condition and financial situation prevent him from being flown back to Philadelphia, his home for the past three years. Before moving to Ireland last spring, Drake contributed hundreds of hours to "coordinate events" and act as "a liaison between the [Sigma Nu] chapter and national fraternity" at Penn, said Sigma Nu brother and InterFraternity Council Vice President Andrew Exum, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist. Now, said the College junior who helped conceive the fundraiser idea "within six hours" of hearing about the assault on Monday, "we owe him a little time of our own." Sigma Nu will sell $3 buttons that simply say "Robert" on Locust Walk next week to raise $7,500 to $12,000 for Drake's travel expenses, Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski wrote in a press release yesterday. On Monday, Scott Pretorius -- Drake's partner of six years and the chief resident in radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- e-mailed Reikofski, a good friend of Drake's, that the writer, editor and literary agent had sustained "significant head injury" and was on a ventilator. "Robert's family, friends and I are outraged by this unimaginable act of violence against this gentle and kind individual," said Pretorius, calling the crime "a natural byproduct of a culture which continues to relegate gay men and lesbians to second-class citizenship." The entire Greek system as well as the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance has given Sigma Nu "commitments of support," said Exum, who stressed that the assault does not reflect only a "gay issue" but rather a "human issue." "Until organizations outside of the gay community begin to speak out against hate crimes, we can expect such actions to continue," he added. The Panhellenic Council announced the button fundraiser to all chapter representatives at its delegate meeting last night, according to Panhel President Becca Iverson, a College junior. And the Greek Alumni Council was also informed of Sigma Nu's endeavors last evening at its first full board meeting of the semester. Sigma Nu expects donations larger than the suggested $3 button price once it begins distributing Drake's story along with the buttons next week. Drake -- author of The Gay Canon: Great Books Every Gay Man Should Read and free-lance book reviewer for The Philadelphia Inquirer -- attended Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. before obtaining his master's degree in liberal studies from St. John's College in Maryland. He was born in Portland, Maine, and raised in West Virginia.