Washington:
Another elite university in the United States is facing a disturbing report of sexual violence at a fraternity house, weeks after the "Cornell 7" gang rape allegations shocked Ivy League campuses. A woman has approached police, alleging she was raped inside a University of Chicago (UChicago) frat house bathroom while a group of men cheered "when's my turn" and "let me in" outside the door.
The University of Chicago, a top-ranked US research school with 18,000 students, stated that a 21-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted early on Sunday during a rowdy party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house.
The university said the survivor is not a student. It added that the perpetrator fled the house after another person confronted him.
Chicago police said no one had been charged in the case so far, even as university officials posted an alert saying that a person of interest had been identified.
According to cops, the woman reported the assault to police and went to a hospital for treatment.
The Allegations
The New York Post reported that the woman told cops that she, along with her friend Mia Lara, 21, and another friend, went to the party after seeing it advertised on the frat's Instagram.
The Chicago Sun-Times, citing the police report, said the woman said she had been drinking and dancing at the party before she began feeling unwell.
The report stated that two of the woman's friends later found her "not fully conscious" in a bathroom with a man and that both were partially undressed.
The friends told police that to get into the bathroom, they had to force their way through several men who were "cheering and appeared to encourage the activity inside," the Sun-Times reported.
Talking to the New York Post, Lara said that after searching the house for the woman, she found a small group of men cheering outside a locked bathroom door in the basement, "saying things like, 'When's it my turn?' and 'I want to go in there'."
She said she managed to force herself into the bathroom, where she found her friend "sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall, undressed with her underwear pulled down shortly before 2 am."
The man, who reportedly was also not a student at the university, had his hands on the survivor's wrists as she yelled, "Make it stop" and "Get me out of here," Lara told the publication.
Lara claimed she chased down the man outside of the frat house, accusing him of assaulting her friend, to which he allegedly responded, "She wanted to."
College's Response
Alpha Epsilon Pi said no fraternity members took part in the alleged attack or encouraged it. The fraternity's University of Chicago chapter said in a statement that its members rushed to help the woman after being alerted by one of her friends and ended the party immediately.
"There is no evidence at all that any AEPi members participated in this assault or were aware of it while it was transpiring," Jonathan Pierce, a spokesperson for the fraternity's national organisation, said in a statement.
The fraternity said the perpetrator was chased out of the house and was recorded by cameras while fleeing.
University officials said the person of interest who has been identified is not a student or otherwise affiliated with the school.
Cornell 7 Reminder
The Chicago case comes amid an uproar over Cornell University's handling of a woman's allegations that she was drugged and gang-raped by fraternity members in 2024. A campus investigation led to internal disciplinary action by the university, but no criminal charges were ever filed.
The Cornell case came to light last month after a woman filed a lawsuit against the university and seven fraternity members, saying she was repeatedly assaulted at a fraternity house in October 2024. She went to campus police three weeks later and gave a detailed interview, but local prosecutors never pursued charges. The men she accused have denied wrongdoing.
Cornell announced on Tuesday it's banning parties at fraternity houses until next year. The university said it will include the New York State Police in investigations of campus sexual assaults.
Fraternities have also been under scrutiny at the University of Arizona, which suspended fraternity activities earlier this month following multiple reports of assault, hazing and other misconduct.