Lawsuit alleges rape at UChicago fraternity with history of sexual assault reports

We continue to follow breaking news. A second woman coming forward saying that she was raped at a University of Chicago fraternity house. This is a separate house than the first case. Gabriela Primus is on her way to campus right now. But first, she's speaking with one of the attorneys representing this woman. Good morning, Gabby. Hey, Natalie. I mean, I guess we could say that campus safety is top of mind all over the country, especially here at the University of Chicago. You know, like you said, just days ago, Chicago police launched an investigation into a reported sexual assault at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity on South University Avenue. And now a new lawsuit has been filed against another fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi, located just about a block down that same street, University Avenue. The lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court this morning. And joining us live right away is Michael Greco with Gold, Greco, and Hensley. Michael, thank you for joining us so quickly. Let's get into it right away. Can you walk us through some of the core allegations in this filing regarding what happened back in February? Thanks for having me, Gabriela. Absolutely. So we have named two defendants on behalf of Jane Doe, the Alpha Delta Phi, as you said, the local chapter, and then also the national chapter, which we allege controls, you know, the day-to-day events that occur at the local fraternity. This abuse occurred in February of 2026 and was immediately reported to the Chicago police. So we have an ongoing investigation that the Chicago police is still undertaking related to our client, our Jane Doe. We've also named the University of Chicago as a respondent in discovery. And what that means is it's a legal tool in Illinois where we can get more information from the University of Chicago as to what they knew and for how long, not only to our fraternity where the abuse occurred, but also to the others. It's clear that this is an institutional problem. It's clear that there have been other sexual assaults dating back to 2009 at this particular fraternity. And the University of Chicago, of course, wants to separate itself from these facilities, but how much separation really exists when these fraternities are associated with the university. So the other purpose of naming the University of Chicago was that they allegedly conducted an internal investigation that our client told us about, but told our client that they need to subpoena them for those documents for that investigation and they have not given any of those documents reports or findings to our client and so that's what that's why we're naming them as a respondent in discovery first to get those documents okay so waiting on some of those reports i mean could it be possible that the university could be a full defendant later on 100 percent i think this is something that has been going on for a long time. In our own investigation, we have found countless other sexual misconduct allegations, rapes, etc., at other fraternities associated with the University of Chicago. And so I think how much notice they've had, how much work that they've tried to do or failed to do to prevent further sexual assaults after they knew that this was ongoing up to two decades ago, is going to provide more evidence to us whether we need to convert them as a defendant. Do you already have some evidence gathered? I mean, obviously you do, that indicates some of these specific allegations since 2009. How do you know that the organization knew about this? Because I believe in one of the reports that you gave us. It was like some social media posts online back in like 2022 that mentioned the same fraternity. And it seems like maybe the fraternity hasn't made any steps to talk about drinking and consent and such. That's right. And the University of Chicago can talk to its own student newspaper to get that information because that's where we got it from. So they've had this information related to what's been going on on this campus related to sexual assaults and rapes for some time. It's clear that there hasn't been updated policies and procedures that have truly been enacted. As we've seen, not only at this fraternity, other fraternities at the University of Chicago and around the country. So I think that there needs to be a stronger control, stronger message from these institutions that allow for fraternities and sororities on their campus to have more oversight. And that's what this lawsuit is also about. How is your client doing, this 19-year-old? Yeah, she's, you know, I think every day is a challenge. I think she's waiting anxiously also on the Chicago police investigation to see what else happens. She reported right away, which is something that doesn't generally happen in sexual assault or rape cases. lot of clients don't want to come forward right away. But she went to the police and gave them evidence related to the bleeding that occurred related to the rape. And so I think that they're continuing to investigate the perpetrator. They're continuing to take witness statements and that will go hand in hand with our civil prosecution. Mike, again, I know you just mentioned it, but are you confident that you guys will see some of these changes, after all, everything's all said and done. I think so. I think that's what my firm is about. We do a lot of sexual assault litigation against different institutions, clergy-related universities, etc. And I think as part of these settlements, we're always trying to force and effectuate change, whether that's additional policies and procedures, whether that's additional monitoring, whether that's University of Chicago stepping in even further to try to prevent some of this stuff so a lot of that is going to come out in discovery but that is where our heads are at not only from a monetary perspective but also from a change perspective okay michael greco thank you so much for joining us we really appreciate your time um especially so soon after and we got this report um natalie you know sending it back to you we'll keep you updated on the story we're headed to the university of chicago campus right now, hopefully going to get a response from the university and also the fraternity who's involved in this suit. Yeah, I mean, the timing is so interesting. You have to wonder if this lawsuit was already in the works when that other instance was reported, or whether this was something where the victim saw the situation at Cornell and saw the other incident at the University of Chicago and felt like, now I need to come forward. So that's a question certainly that we could ask. But Gabby, thanks so much. I'm curious to hear what some of the students on campus say, even to see if they're aware of this latest allegation. Thank you.