Over-the-Top U. of Maryland Delta Gamma Email Scrutinized

April 23, 2013— -- A sorority sister's hostile, profanity-laden email to other members in her chapter regarding their sociability has been widely circulated, inciting controversy, parody and possible inquiry on the part of both the university and the chapter's national organization.

Since the email was made public online, it has sparked thousands of comments ranging from support to ridicule. The email gained even more attention when it was parodied on the comedy video website Funny or Die by Oscar-nominated actor Michael Shannon in a four-minute dramatic reading.

The student, whose name is being withheld by ABC News, is a member of Delta Gamma's Beta Sigma chapter at the University of Maryland at College Park. She sent an email to her sorority sisters following their week-long events with another fraternity on campus.

In the over-the-top email, the woman said the feedback she received from fraternity members portrayed the chapter as "awkward" and "boring" and the sorority sisters needed to shape up.

"I do not give a flying [expletive], and Sigma Nu does not give a flying [expletive] about how much you [expletive] love to talk to your sisters. You have 361 days out of the [expletive] year to talk to sisters, and this week is NOT, I [expletive] repeat NOT ONE OF THEM," she said in the email.

"If this email applies to you in any way, meaning if you are a little [expletive] that stands in the corners at night or if you're a weird [expletive] that does weird [expletive] during the day, this following message is for you: DO NOT GO TO TONIGHT'S EVENT," she wrote.

"Seriously, if you have done ANYTHING I've mentioned in this email and have some rare disease where you're unable to NOT do these things, then you are HORRIBLE, I repeat, HORRIBLE PR FOR THIS CHAPTER."

The student has since disabled her social media accounts, but her old tweets have been dug up in attempts to paint a clearer picture of the author of the email. Attempts to reach her for comment have been unsuccessful.

Matt Supple, director of the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Maryland, told ABC News he viewed the flap over the email as "a teachable moment."

"Every chance we get, we want to make sure that these values in our organizations are about making women better women and men better men," he said. "In that process, it can be a messy evolution of identity development."

"Any time there is a situation where someone says something that is inconsistent with those values, our community has a tendency to pick on that individual or chapter, but it's part of their maturation process," Supple said.

University of Maryland's director of the Office of Student Conduct Andrea Goodwin told ABC News that she could not comment on as to whether the university was planning on taking disciplinary action against the student as it would violate her privacy rights.

But in similar cases to this incident, Goodwin said, the university would look at the content of the speech in the communication in question to evaluate if disciplinary action would be taken against the author.

"If there was a threat made against particular individuals or other students, we may start the disciplinary process," she said. "If there's no threat, we may talk with the student about the behavior and the disruption to the community."

Goodwin said if the university decided a student violated a code of conduct on campus, the individual would then be called in and charged with a specific violation. The student would respond to the allegations, either in a formal meeting with a hearing officer or with a disciplinary hearing board depending on the severity of the charge, she said.

If the university determined that a serious threat had been made, suspension or expulsion may be considered, she said.

"We want to make it clear that this letter in no way reflects the values of Delta Gamma as an international fraternity or our chapter at the University of Maryland," according to a statement released by Delta Gamma's national organization.

"The processes by which Delta Gamma handles member discipline are confidential, but we have a team of women working with the chapter to take all appropriate action including protecting, educating and supporting the chapter members in the aftermath of this event."

University of Maryland Delta Gamma chapter president Rachel Norris declined to comment to ABC News.

ABC News' Lauren Effron contributed to this story.