Key takeaways:
- A 21-year-old woman reported at about 1:50 a.m. Sunday that she had been sexually assaulted during a party at an Alpha Epsilon Pi house near the University of Chicago.
- The university identified and banned a nonstudent person of interest; no one was in custody as of Thursday morning.
- CBS News Chicago reported that Alpha Epsilon Pi’s national organization told the chapter to pause events and programs during the investigation.
The University of Chicago has identified a person of interest after a 21-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted at an off-campus fraternity party. The person is not a student or affiliated with the university and has been banned from campus. No one was in custody as of Thursday morning, and no charges had been filed against the person of interest.
The university said Wednesday that witness statements and video evidence helped identify the person. It shared the material with the Chicago Police Department but said it was “not at liberty to disclose” the person’s name. A source familiar with the investigation told CBS News Chicago that the university had also banned other nonstudents associated with the incident.
The woman reported at about 1:50 a.m. Sunday that she had been sexually assaulted in a bathroom during a party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house, across the street from the university’s Main Quad in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. She is not affiliated with the university and did not know the person she said attacked her, according to the school.
The university said the person ran off when someone intervened. It also said surveillance video from the area showed someone matching the description running from the house. A university police officer on patrol was flagged down, and the woman was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center. University police contacted Chicago police, who said no arrests had been made.
Mia Lara, a 21-year-old student at a nearby university, told The New York Times she found her friend sitting on the floor, slumped against a wall, with her clothes and undergarments pulled down. Lara said her friend was saying, “Make it stop” and “Get me out of here.” Lara said she screamed and the man fled.
The Chicago Sun-Times, citing a police report, reported that several men blocked the woman’s friends from entering the bathroom, where she was found “not fully conscious” or clothed. The newspaper reported that at least one man had a physical altercation with one of her friends. NBC News said it had not independently obtained the report, and Chicago police declined to provide a copy.
In a statement Tuesday, Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Lambda chapter said a party monitor alerted members, who helped the woman and chased the person it called the “perpetrator” from the house. A member stayed with her until authorities arrived, the chapter said, and the party was shut down. The chapter said it was cooperating with investigators. CBS News Chicago reported that Alpha Epsilon Pi’s national organization told the chapter to pause events and programs during the investigation.
“This is deeply concerning for the University community,” the university said. It said fraternities are not recognized student organizations and have no formal affiliation with the school, though university students remain subject to its policies and disciplinary procedures.
The report comes amid scrutiny of a separate allegation involving an off-campus Cornell University fraternity house. A former Cornell student sued the university, Chi Phi fraternity, Tri Delta sorority and seven former Chi Phi members last month over her allegation that she was gang-raped in 2024. Cornell said Tuesday it was suspending parties and social events at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year.
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