Listen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated using AI-based technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve results. Police are investigating a woman’s report that she was sexually assaulted during a fraternity party near the University of Chicago campus, an allegation that comes at a time of heightened awareness about sexual violence on college campuses. Chicago police said no one had been charged Wednesday, a day after university officials posted an alert saying a person of interest had been identified. 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 criminal charges were never filed. The University of Chicago, one of the top research schools in the United States with an enrollment of 18,000 students, said in a statement that a woman reported being sexually assaulted early Sunday during a party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house. The university said the perpetrator fled the house after being confronted by another person. The AEPi fraternity house near the University of Chicago campus, where an alleged sexual assault was reported at a weekend party. (Nam Y. Huh/The Associated Press) The 21-year-old woman reported the assault to police and went to a hospital for treatment, according to Chicago police. The university said she is not a student. Chicago police did not immediately provide a copy of the incident report on the alleged attack when requested by The Associated Press on Wednesday. The Chicago Sun-Times, citing the police report, said the woman told police she had been drinking and dancing at the party before she started feeling unwell. The Sun-Times said the report indicated that two of the woman’s friends found her “not fully conscious” in a bathroom with a man and that both were partially naked. The friends told police that to get into the bathroom, they had to push their way through several men who were “cheering and appeared to encourage the activity inside,” the Sun-Times reported. Fraternity says no member involved in alleged assault Alpha Epsilon Pi said no member of the fraternity participated in or encouraged the alleged attack. The University of Chicago chapter of the fraternity 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 that any AEPi member participated in this assault or was aware of it while it was occurring,” Jonathan Pierce, a spokesman for the fraternity’s national organization, said in a statement Wednesday. The fraternity said the perpetrator was kicked out of the house and was recorded on cameras as he fled. University officials said the person of interest who has been identified is not a student or otherwise affiliated with the school.WATCH | Anger over Cornell’s handling of sexual assault case: Cornell students protest the university’s handling of a sexual assault case. Cornell students are protesting their university’s handling of an alleged sexual assault case after an investigation revealed the accused faced a range of punishments, from expulsion to writing papers. 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 filed charges. The men he accused denied any wrongdoing. Cornell announced Tuesday that it will ban parties at fraternity houses until next year. The university said it will include New York State Police in investigations of sexual assaults on campus. Fraternities have also been under scrutiny at the University of Arizona, which suspended activities earlier this month after multiple reports of assaults, hazing and other misconduct.
