2nd Sexual Assault Allegation Surfaces Against Another UChicago Frat Party. Detailed In Lawsuit

CHICAGO—Just days after an alleged sexual assault was reported at a University of Chicago fraternity house, a second woman has stepped forward with claims that she, too, was sexually assaulted at another UChicago frat party during the winter.

The lawsuit filed by Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC, in the Circuit Court of Cook County on behalf of the plaintiff, named Alpha Delta Phi, Inc., and its University of Chicago chapter, the Chicago Society of Alpha Delta Phi as defendants. Attorneys for the plaintiff, whom they identify as Jane Doe, contend that both entities ignored known sexual assault risks at the house and failed to put meaningful safeguards in place. The University of Chicago is named as a respondent in discovery, a procedure under Illinois law that allows the plaintiff to obtain records from the university and add it as a defendant if the evidence warrants.

Subscribe

This latest allegation comes after another rape claim was made at an Alpha Epsilong Pi frat party earlier this month near the University of Chicago campus. According to a Chicago police report, 30 members of the fraternity were said to be cheering outside a bathroom while a 20-year-old woman was being assaulted. The cases come amid the fallout of a lawsuit filed last month against Cornell University and seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, where a 20-year-old woman claims she was drugged and gang raped.

The 19-year-old Jane Doe in the lawsuit, who was not a student at UChicago but went to another college, attended a party at Alpha Phi on Feb. 7, where she was greeted at the door by the fraternity brother she accuses of raping her. The Alpha Phi member is identified in the lawsuit but is not named as a defendant because the alleged assault is still under investigation by Chicago police. He is continually referred to in the lawsuit as the "perpetrator" but has not been charged criminally.

When she arrived at the party, the suit said Doe was not asked for ID or carded. According to the filing, the Alpha Phi member allegedly encouraged her to drink a shot, after which, Doe claimed to feel "unsteady and lightheaded."

The fraternity brother is accused of guiding Doe upstairs to a bedroom on the residential floor, where guests were prohibited. The complaint said that other fraternity members did not try to stop him.

Soon after arriving in the bedroom, the complainant maintained that Doe lost all physical and verbal ability to stop the fraternity brother from assaulting her. Despite being incapacitated, Jane Doe pleaded with him to wear a condom, according to the suit, but the fraternity brother allegedly refused.

When he was finished assaulting her, he left Doe alone and unconscious in the bedroom, according to the complaint.

Doe's friend learned that Doe was upstairs, unconscious in a bedroom. When she tried to go upstairs, the complaint said she was blocked by other fraternity members because she was "not allowed" on the residential floor. Another fraternity member who saw Doe unconscious told the other brothers to let her go upstairs, the lawsuit states.

The same fraternity members who claimed to be protecting the residential floor seemed to have no problem allowing the alleged perpetrator to bring a visibly impaired Jane Doe to the restricted floor earlier in the evening, the complaint said.

When the friend found Jane Doe, the complaint says Doe struggled to speak and required assistance to walk out of the room. The next morning when Doe awoke in her dorm room, there was blood on her underwear, the filing alleges. She also reported the sexual assault to Chicago police.

In the days following, the University of Chicago Police reached out to Jane Doe and filed an incident report. The lawsuit claims that university police refused to provide Doe a copy of any reports or records without a subpoena.

The complaint further alleges that there has been more than a decade of warnings. The chapter has faced multiple police investigations into sexual assault claims against the Alphi Phi members since 2009. Two sexual assaults were reported just five days apart at the house at 5747 S. University Ave. Chicago police and University of Chicago police also investigated a reported assault connected to the chapter's weekly "Bar Night" gathering. Following one of the incidents, a student was reportedly taken to an emergency room by ambulance.

"Alpha Delta Phi has been on notice about this house since 2009," said Jane Doe's attorney Michael Grieco in a news release. "Report after report, investigation after investigation—and a young woman was still raped there this year. What did the national organization do with those warnings? Were changes made? Was anyone held accountable? Those are the questions Alpha Delta Phi now has to answer under oath."

Fraternity members were provided with a "Sexual Violence Chapter Toolkit" that included a PDF "Consent Discussion Guide," the complaint alleged. In addition, a pamphlet was also distributed to chapters entitled "It's On Us" and "Rape and sexual assault are never the victim's fault–no matter where or how it happens."

"Universities say fraternities operate outside their oversight. That makes the national organization's role all the more important," Grieco said. "Alpha Delta Phi charters this chapter, sets the rules inside this house, and has the power to enforce them—or shut the chapter down. That responsibility doesn't end at the front door."