A young woman reported that she was raped at a party on Sunday in a frat house bathroom at the University of Chicago.
The alleged sexual assault — in which a group of men reportedly cheered from outside the door “when’s my turn” and “let me in” — occurred in the weeks following the “Cornell 7” fraternity gang rape allegations, the New York Post reported.
The alleged assault occurred at a wild party held at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house in Hyde Park. A 21-year-old woman who is not a student at the school went to the party with her 21-year-old friend Mia Lara and another friend after seeing a post about the gathering on the fraternity’s Instagram, according to the report.
Lara said she and her friends were dancing in the basement of the house when her friend disappeared with a man she had been kissing.
Lara went searching for her friend and ended up stumbling across a small group of men cheering outside the locked bathroom door in the basement right before 2 a.m. The group was saying things like “I want to go in there,” and, “When’s it my turn,” Lara told the New York Times.
Lara told the publication she was able to break into the bathroom, where she found her friend slumped against a wall on the floor with her clothes off and her underwear pulled down.
The man in the bathroom with her, who is also reportedly not a student at the school, allegedly had his hands wrapped around her wrists. The young woman cried to her friend, yelling, “Get me out of here,” and, “Make it stop,” Lara told the Times.
Lara said she followed the man outside of the house and accused him of raping her friend. She said the man allegedly responded, “She wanted to.”
Chicago police confirmed the young woman went to the hospital for treatment and said the department is investigating the sexual assault allegations, according to the report. No one had been arrested as of Wednesday night.
The university announced on Tuesday that it had banned the “person of interest” from campus.
Jonathan Pierce, a spokesperson for the fraternity’s national organization, told the Times via email that the suspect is not a chapter member.
“We do not believe that any AEPi members were involved in this horrible act, nor were they complicit with it,” Pierce said.
The fraternity posted a statement to Instagram saying it is “deeply disturbed by the sexual assault that occurred on the night of Saturday, October 10th” and “condemn[s] this violence unequivocally.”
“We became aware of the situation through one of our sober monitors being called over by the victim’s friend,” said Alpha Epsilon Pi, University of Chicago. “We immediately responded and multiple members of the fraternity, including our risk manager, arrived at the scene, providing assistance to the victim.”
“A member stayed with the victim until the necessary authorities arrived, only leaving after the police had asked him to do so. The party was shut down immediately following our notice of the events,” the statement continues.
While fraternities at UChicago are not formally affiliated with the school, they are still accountable to school policies and discipline, per the report.
The chapter said it supports an investigation into the alleged assault and will offer support “in any way possible.” The chapter said its top concern is “first and foremost for the person harmed, whose privacy and dignity we ask everyone to respect.”
The fraternity’s headquarters said it is assisting the school and law enforcement with the investigation and ordered the UChicago chapter to cease all events during the ongoing probe.
“Most importantly, all of AEPi hurts for the person who was the victim in this incident,” national headquarters said in a statement. “No one should attend an event on any campus — fraternity-based or otherwise — and have to fear for their safety and wellbeing.”
