A person of interest has been identified after a 21-year-old woman told police she was sexually assaulted at a fraternity party near the University of Chicago last weekend, amid national outrage over sexual misconduct on college campuses.
Neither the woman nor the person of interest are students, according to the university. He said he was “not at liberty to release” his name but had been banned from campus.
The University of Chicago said in a series of news releases this week that the woman told police the incident happened at a party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house just off campus. She reported early Sunday, the university said.
The New York Times interviewed a woman, Mia Lara, a 21-year-old student at a nearby university, who said she saw her friend sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall, her clothes and underwear pulled down. She told the Times that her friend started saying, “Stop it” and “Get me out of here.” Lara told the Times she started screaming and the man ran away.
Lara went after the man in a video that went viral on TikTok this week, where she can be seen accusing him of assaulting her friend in the bathroom at the fraternity party.
“She wanted it,” the man replies as he runs away.
“This is deeply concerning to the university community,” the school said in a statement. “The safety and well-being of our students and everyone who comes to our community is our top priority. »
Chicago police said no arrests had been made and no further information was available.
The university said the woman was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and university police immediately contacted the Chicago Police Department.
The university noted that fraternities are not “recognized student organizations” at UChicago and therefore have no formal affiliation with the school. It adds that “all students at the University are subject to the University’s disciplinary policies and procedures” and that it “remains committed to addressing cases of sexual misconduct.”
In a statement Tuesday, Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Lambda chapter said the “attacker” had been kicked out of the house and members were cooperating with authorities. The branch said it learned of the “situation” from one of the party’s “sober observers” and that members immediately helped the woman.
“One member remained with the victim until the appropriate authorities arrived, and only left after the police asked him to do so,” the brotherhood said. “The party was shut down immediately upon our notification of the events.”
“We will continue to support the investigation to the fullest extent possible and offer our support in any way possible,” the fraternity added.
The Chicago Sun-Times, citing a police report, reported Tuesday that several men at the party blocked the woman’s friends from entering the restroom, where she was found “not fully conscious” or clothed. The newspaper added that at least one of the men got into a physical altercation with one of the woman’s friends, according to the report.
NBC News did not independently obtain the report. The Chicago Police Department declined to provide a copy.
The fraternity’s national organization said in a statement that its members have a “responsibility to protect each other, our guests and our community at all times.”
Alexa Walsh, a student at the University of Chicago, told NBC Chicago she hopes the university and fraternity take the allegation “seriously.”
“To learn that a woman came to our campus just to have fun and was sexually assaulted is very, very upsetting,” she said.
The UChicago allegation comes amid a national furor over a former Cornell University student’s allegation that she was gang raped at an off-campus fraternity house in 2024. The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, sued the university, the fraternity, Chi Phi, its sorority, Tri Delta and seven former Chi Phi members last month in connection with the incident.
After facing weeks of harsh criticism, Cornell said Tuesday it was suspending all “parties and social events” at fraternity houses for the remainder of the academic year.
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