The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is currently investigating a reported off-campus criminal sexual assault. Both the complainant and the alleged perpetrator are current University students.
The incident allegedly occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m. on October 11 at the Delta Upsilon (DU) fraternity house, which is located at 5714 South Woodlawn Avenue. No arrests have been made in connection with the case, but Karl Grindel, associate executive director for Delta Upsilon International, confirmed on Monday that the campus chapter has since suspended one of its members, who is the alleged perpetrator.
“Since learning of the accusation, the chapter voted to suspend the accused member pending a final report on the investigation. It would be premature to comment any further on an ongoing investigation by the University, or any other entity, until a final report has been made,” Grindel said in an e-mail on behalf of the Chicago chapter and the international organization.
He added, “Both the fraternity and the chapter take allegations of sexual assault very seriously, and both the chapter and members are fully cooperating with the University’s ongoing investigation.”
University spokesperson Marielle Sainvilus declined to comment on the alleged incident, as well as on whether the administration is conducting an investigation separately from the CPD.
The alleged victim originally filed a complaint with the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) at 9:38 a.m. on October 14; the investigation was later transferred from the UCPD to the CPD. According to the UCPD report archive, the investigation is “of a reported criminal sexual assault by a known suspect.”
Nicole Trainor, news affairs officer for the CPD, said that an 18-year-old female filed the report, and that the alleged assailant is a 19-year-old male. Trainor added that the reported victim “received treatment at the University of Chicago hospital.”
The CPD and UCPD incident reports are inconsistent on the time of when the alleged incident occurred. The CPD report states the time of the alleged assault as between 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on October 11, while the UCPD archive states 12:20 a.m. on October 12.
The UCPD did not issue a security alert in conjunction with the incident report. Bob Mason, crime analyst with the UCPD, said that this is because the department decided that there was “no continuing threat to the [campus] community,” which is a criterion for “timely security alerts” listed on the University’s Safety & Security website.
He added that in conjunction with the ongoing CPD investigation, the reported assault will be included in the University’s next Crime Information and Statistics report as a forcible sex offense. The report, which is available on the University’s “Common Sense” website, contains data on reports of criminal activity on and near campus for each of the past three years, in compliance with the Clery Act, a federal law. According to Mason, the University will send crime data for incidents that occurred in 2015 to the federal government in October 2016.
Editor’s Note: Due to the ongoing investigation, The Chicago Maroon is withholding the name of the alleged assailant and the alleged victim. Comments mentioning specific names that have been withheld will not be published. Managing Editor Stephen Moreland is a member of Delta Upsilon and was not involved in the production of this article.
