University of Chicago students rally for accountability after sexual assaults
Students at the University of Chicago have called on the school to do more to protect people from sexual violence.
They rallied on the Hyde Park campus on Wednesday night, chanting, "We are Jane Doe."
A woman identified only as "Jane Doe" filed a lawsuit against Cornell University last month, accusing multiple members of the Chi Phi fraternity of gang rape.
Just this month at the U of C, two women said they were sexually assaulted at fraternities.
One sexual assault was also reported at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house on the next block at 5625 S. University Ave., during a party early on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 11.
According to a University of Chicago report, a 21-year-old woman reported she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom during a frat party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house, 5625 S. University Ave., at 1:50 a.m. Sunday. A UChicago alert issued this week said the woman was not affiliated with the university.
The woman did not know her attacker, the university said. They said when someone intervened, the unidentified suspect ran off.
Video has surfaced online showing a woman, who identified herself as a friend of the 21-year-old victim, chasing down a man she claimed to be her friend's attacker and yelling that he assaulted her friend in a bathroom at a frat party.
Later, the friend commented that the 21-year-old woman was "drugged and taken away from us against her will … practically incapacitated, being held to the ground with a man over her, kissing her and taking her clothes off."
Last week, a woman who also only called herself "Jane Doe" filed a lawsuit against the university and the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, alleging that she was raped at a fraternity party in February and that the fraternity and the university were aware of years of sexual assault reports.
According to the complaint, the victim, identified only as Jane Doe, attended a party at the Alpha Delta Phi house, 5747 S. University Ave., on Feb. 7, 2026. The complaint said that at the party, Doe was given a shot of unidentified alcohol by one of the fraternity members, whom the complaint identifies as student Kevin Shim, and was encouraged to drink it. The lawsuit says "almost immediately" after she drank the alcohol, Doe began to feel "unsteady and lightheaded."
At that point, according to the complaint, Shim coerced her upstairs to a bedroom, led her to a bed, and sexually assaulted her. The complaint states Doe told him multiple times that she felt unsteady and lightheaded, but he ignored her. The complaint also says that while in the room, Doe "lost all physical and verbal ability to refuse" the frat member.
The complaint states Doe was raped while unable to consent or to verbally or physically refuse Shim, but she did plead with him to wear a condom. According to the complaint, he refused.
After the assault, Jane Doe alleges Shim left her in the room, and another frat brother blocked her friends from going upstairs to find her. The lawsuit alleges her friends were not allowed to go upstairs until her assailant told his frat brother that it was OK.
At the rally on Wednesday night, students called for accountability and firmer action from the university's administration.
The students who rallied said they support every "Jane Doe."
