Date Rape Alleged at USC Fraternity : Crime: Group’s members paraded in front of victim, police allege. Misdemeanor charges are expected, but prosecutors say they lack evidence for stronger action.

A female USC student who says she was the victim of a date rape on Fraternity Row last December was moments later subjected to a parade of frat members “in various states of undress”--an event the men apparently regarded as a kind of prank, authorities said Wednesday.

Although prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to file rape charges, police are expected to seek misdemeanor charges, possibly sexual battery or indecent exposure, against one or more fraternity members.

USC officials said they will conduct an investigation that could lead to disciplinary action against members of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO), the fraternity at which the incident occurred.

“If indeed the event had taken place the way the D.A. has described, I am shocked, dismayed and disappointed,” said James Dennis, USC’s vice president of student affairs. “I know of no one in the university community who would condone such behavior.”

Los Angeles Police Capt. Noel Cunningham said he is “90% certain” that detectives will ask the city attorney to proceed with a prosecution.

“We want to exhaust every possible legal avenue,” Cunningham said. “In fact, it appeared to us she was a victim of a conspiracy to play this game with her.”

Cunningham said that the woman appeared to be a victim of a ritualistic prank that fraternitY members called “Just Playing Through.” Investigators said that in this case, a few ATO members wearing golf caps and carrying golf clubs may have exposed themselves to the woman who later accused her date of rape.

At least two fraternity members acknowledged that the incident took place, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Lucienne Coleman, supervisor of the sex crimes and child abuse division.

USC’s Dennis said the university, at the request of police and the alleged victim, had delayed its investigation pending the district attorney’s decision.

Dennis suggested that individual students, and possibly the ATO chapter, would be disciplined if campus officials corroborate the findings of police and the district attorney.

“I know members of the university community will be very, very concerned,” Dennis said.

The district attorney’s decision not to seek felony charges against the 21-year-old ATO member accused of rape capped a controversy that surfaced in April, when the alleged victim made a formal complaint to police.

The 4 1/2-month delay in reporting the incident prevented police from obtaining any physical evidence of rape and was a key factor in the decision not to file felony charges, Coleman said.

Investigators found that the woman, whose name was not released, met the 21-year old man in a bar near campus, the 901 Club. She said there was some mutual attraction and, after consuming four beers and two shots of whiskey, she accompanied the male back to his frat house, according to investigators.

The alleged victim acknowledged that she consented to kissing, fondling and removal of some clothing but was forced to have sexual intercourse. The suspect told police that penetration never occurred because he was too drunk.

After interviews with the alleged victim and two friends in whom she confided, prosecutors concluded it was unclear whether the woman had resisted before penetration. “If she didn’t make her protestation known until after penetration occurred, the crime of rape did not occur,” Coleman said.

In the weeks that followed, the woman told investigators, she was frequently harassed and teased by fraternity members. According the district attorney’s report, the harassment prompted her to seek help from a USC counselor. She then went to police with the accusation that she was raped.

During the 1989-90 school year, three other “date rape” allegations were aired before a student conduct review panel, Dennis said. The panel, he said, did not decide whether rape had occurred, but in all three instances found that the male student had either “harmed” or “threatened to harm” the female student. The offending students were suspended for a year.

A similar panel will be convened to air allegations regarding the incident at ATO house, Dennis said.