Woman, 21, Was Sexually Assaulted at Chicago Frat Party as Gang of Men Cheered Outside Bathroom Where Attack Was Unfolding, Police Report Claims

A 21-year-old woman told Chicago police she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom at a fraternity party near the University of Chicago while a group of men cheered outside the door, according to a police report.

The woman said the alleged assault happened early on Sunday, October 11, at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house on South University Avenue in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood.

The woman told police she danced and had some drinks at the party on Saturday night, according to a report. She said she “began feeling unwell” as Saturday night turned into Sunday morning.

She had three alcoholic drinks before she began experiencing periods of blacking out while dancing with a man whom her friends later identified as her alleged attacker, police said. The two eventually ended up in a bathroom inside the house, according to the police report.

As many as five men who gathered outside the bathroom were “cheering and appearing to encourage the activity inside,” according to the report. The group initially told the woman’s friends that she wasn’t inside the bathroom, and they tried to block two of her friends from going in.

When one of her friends got inside, the woman was “not fully conscious,” and both she and the man were partially undressed, the report says. Someone intervened, and the suspect fled the house.

An initial review of security camera footage showed a person fitting the suspect’s description running from the house, the university said in an alert asking the community for help with the investigation. The woman reported the alleged assault around 1:50 a.m. and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center. Video aired by a local station appears to show a confrontation outside the house afterward, with a woman heard saying her friend had been assaulted in the bathroom.

University officials said they identified a person of interest and banned them from campus. The person isn’t affiliated with the university, and no arrests have been made, according to police.

The woman is a student at the University of Illinois Chicago, not the University of Chicago. One of her friends said she is “obviously shaken up” and worried her name will get out.

The university’s Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter said “to the best of our knowledge, no one affiliated with AEPi was involved or complicit with this incident.” In a statement, the chapter said its members were “deeply disturbed by the sexual assault that occurred,” that the party was shut down afterward, and that the “perpetrator” was chased out of the house. The chapter said members learned of the situation from one of the party’s sober monitors and immediately helped the woman.

The fraternity’s national headquarters said the chapter has been told not to hold any events during the investigation, and it said it “unconditionally opposes” sexual harassment and sexual assault. The report comes amid heightened attention on sexual misconduct at college fraternities, including a lawsuit accusing seven former members of a Cornell University fraternity of drugging and r----- a woman in 2024.