Alleged Rape at Sigma Chi (Wisconsin)

AOEforme · #1 03-04-2009, 03:12 PM

http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/03...pe_at_sigm.php

BlueCarnation · #2 03-05-2009, 01:34 AM

Yeah, this is a bad situation all around...I can't believe the BH let someone print the alleged victim's affiliation in the comments. It's hard since they let unaffiliated men live there too. There's not going to be any good outcome to this, unfortunately.

sugar and spice · #3 03-05-2009, 07:08 AM

To be totally honest, the combination of Greek life + the binge drinking culture at Wisconsin has been courting disaster for decades. I'm only surprised that it took this long for something to happen--or rather, to be reported. It's been happening--both inside and outside of the Greek system--the entire time. The excessive drinking makes it easier for the rapes to occur, and harder to report, since a lot of the women blame themselves for drinking so much, or are blamed by those who they report it to.

I was in a sorority there about five years ago, and a substantial number of my sorority sisters had been raped. I'm not trying to blame fraternity men here; the rapists were both Greek and non-Greek men. But while almost all of my sisters were hesitant to report the rapes, those who were raped by frat boys were especially so, because the repercussions were so much worse. You didn't have just one guy and perhaps a handful of his friends mad at you; you had an entire fraternity, plus the entire Greek system taking sides and plenty of them calling you a liar (see the comments on those articles). And the anger wasn't just directed at you, but at your entire sorority. The fallout was just way higher than when it was a non-Greek man.

As is pointed out, the Sigma Chi house is rented out to both Greeks and non-Greeks, which complicates the issue. I'm fairly sure that the majority of men who live there are still Sigma Chis, though. Does anyone who currently goes to the UW have more information on that?

I'm glad this girl had the courage to report this. And I hope that it will encourage other women who have experienced it to do the same. I also hope that it turns out that this is an isolated incident and that the rapist(s) are punished accordingly. But if they find it's not an isolated incident, get them off campus immediately. The message that this is totally unacceptable hasn't yet been sent, and it needs to be.

ETA: I didn't see the affiliation listed in the comments. Did they delete it, or is it still there and I'm just missing it? Nevertheless, the impression I get from talking to my friends who are still in school is that a lot of people in the Greek system already know who this girl is, and that rumors of this incident have been circulating since the fall. So it wouldn't be surprising that affiliation was posted.

cheerfulgreek · #4 03-05-2009, 09:37 AM

I just think it makes matters more complicated when the victims wait so long to report the incident, especially if they've had too much to drink the night of. Whenever something like this happens, I think it would be a good idea to have a few police officers disguised as college women (if that's possible) show up to the fraternity party, and watch who's doing what.(as far as drugs being placed in drinks) I think doing so could possibly eliminate a lot of the problems before someone becomes a victim, while at the same time catching the guys causing the problems.

sugar and spice · #5 03-05-2009, 09:59 AM

The victim went to the hospital and was tested for rape immediately following the incident, and reported it to the police shortly after. The only thing she waited to do was bring it to the paper.

Also, the alleged drugging in this story took place at a bar, not a party, although the story does have other girls recounting similar incidents that took place at a party.

cheerfulgreek · #6 03-05-2009, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugar and spice

The victim went to the hospital and was tested for rape immediately following the incident, and reported it to the police shortly after. The only thing she waited to do was bring it to the paper.

Also, the alleged drugging in this story took place at a bar, not a party, although the story does have other girls recounting similar incidents that took place at a party.

I missed that. I'll go back and read it again. I also didn't see anything about finding any DNA that could be used to catch the guys who actually raped her.

sugar and spice · #7 03-05-2009, 10:45 AM

DNA evidence usually takes a while to process, so my guess is that the results aren't back from the lab yet.

Here is another article that makes it more clear that the incident was reported to the police in October.

BlueCarnation · #8 03-05-2009, 02:31 PM

It's still unclear on how many non-Sigma Chis live in the house. As you can see in the BH story, they are still advertising for renters. The follow-up editorials in the BH today are very interesting. It's also hard for alot of the girls in sororities here; they want to support this girl, but they are friends with guys in the house and don't want to believe that something like this could happen. It's hard being 20 and thinking your good friends could possibly do something like this. There is a lot of distrust in the Dean of Students, the police, the Greek System's process, so we'll see what happens. Whatever happened obviously traumatized this poor girl, and if it was criminal, the perpetrators need to be brought to justice. It's just horrible.

srmom · #9 03-05-2009, 02:34 PM

If the DNA evidence comes back positive, in that there is enough for an identification, wouldn't they have to have samples of everyone at the house?

I know that in the Duke lax cross they got samples of all the players, could they subpeona all the residents for samples?

It seems like that would be overreaching and against the constitutional rights of the residents, but maybe there would be probable cause.

Any lawyers know?

sugar and spice · #10 03-05-2009, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueCarnation

It's still unclear on how many non-Sigma Chis live in the house. As you can see in the BH story, they are still advertising for renters.

They finished that house right around the time I started college. It's huge. I think they've always had that banner up. They are a fairly large chapter but still quite a few members shy of the biggest, which are the numbers you'd need to fill that house with members alone.

I think people are hesitant to jump to conclusions because last year, the student papers reported that a girl had blacked out and been raped at a fraternity party. Details later came out that indicated that, while she had injuries consistent with sexual assault, other people could account for her during the entire party. So if she had been raped, it wasn't there, and not by one of the members of the fraternity. The details of this case seem quite different than that one, but I think it makes people inclined to be cautious.

Quote:

Originally Posted by srmom

If the DNA evidence comes back positive, in that there is enough for an identification, wouldn't they have to have samples of everyone at the house?

Any lawyers know?

Not a lawyer, but from what I understand, they can't ask for samples from everyone in the house. If they can narrow it down to a smaller number of suspects that they have reason to be suspicious of, they can request DNA from just those men, but they can't just issue a blanket request from all members.

BlueCarnation · #11 03-05-2009, 03:09 PM

[QUOTE=sugar and spice;1787103]They finished that house right around the time I started college. It's huge. I think they've always had that banner up. They are a fairly large chapter but still quite a few members shy of the biggest, which are the numbers you'd need to fill that house with members alone.

I think people are hesitant to jump to conclusions because last year, the student papers reported that a girl had blacked out and been raped at a fraternity party. Details later came out that indicated that, while she had injuries consistent with sexual assault, other people could account for her during the entire party. So if she had been raped, it wasn't there, and not by one of the members of the fraternity. The details of this case seem quite different than that one, but I think it makes people inclined to be cautious.

Right...I was here when they had their original house, and when their new house was built, so I understand that...I think since no one can talk about it, no one is sure, and we probably won't know for a while. Add to it that there was a pre-game and a post-game party there that day, and who knows who could have been in that house...

PGD-GRAD · #12 03-05-2009, 03:50 PM

This has me thinking about my role as an advisor. I don't believe I would ever choose to advise or responsible for a house with my group's letters on it--"their house"--in other words, and have to deal with non-members living there: it's a disaster waiting to happen.

I don't know how this would play out legally, but even if it turned out to be a "he did it" "no, he did it" type of thing with brothers pointing to non-brothers it would still be awful. If you can't fill your house, pledge enough men who can or move someplace smaller--period. I don't see a fraternity or sorority "renting our rooms to non-members" to pay the rent. If you live in a house, eat in a house, have your chapter room in a house--IT'S YOUR HOUSE!

BlueCarnation · #13 03-05-2009, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOEforme

It just really quite confusing right now, because rumours about this have been floating around since fall. I do know that a private investigation was closed due to a lack of evidence, so this is another attempt to catch the person(s) who did this.

It's true Wisconsin's drinking culture is a breeding ground for this. 1 in 4 women at Wisconsin will be sexually assaulted by the time the graduated, a disgustingly high number.

I'm not sure of the number of ΣX's in the house compared to non-Greeks. I do know that that house is absolutely massive. It takes a lot of people to fill that house. It's also apartment-style living, which makes it more common for non-Greeks to live there (compared to a lot of the other houses that rent.)

All in all, I'm really disappointed with how the Badger Herald handled the story. In a situation such as this, its incredibly important to keep as much confidentiality as possible, to protect the victim and those fraternity men who are innocent. It also is no place for hearsay or rumours. The timing was also terrible: they chose to print the 3-front page articles on Shoutout Day, which means a much higher percentage of the student body read the article than would have normally. The comment section on the bottom of the articles (as one person mentioned) has replaced Juicy Campus: it's rumour, after rumour, after rumour, and the paper is eating this attention up.

Report the actual story with complete truth, help catch the predator who did this, and end it. Don't capitalize off this poor woman's trauma like you're US Weekly.

Also, today's opinion columns are dedicated to this. How do you have an opinion column on an ongoing criminal investigation? I'm just not a fan....

Oh, the BH knew exactly what it was doing putting it out on SH Wednesday. I usually only pick it up on Wednesday precisely for that reason, but still usually check it out online when I don't have a reason to be on campus. This consumed my whole day yesterday, and my chapter isn't even directly involved. If you are Greek here, you are affected by this.

I think the reason it needed to be all opinions today is because of the reactions it got. It was not well done to begin with, the comments were out of control, and someone with a brain at the BH realized something had to be done. Plus the DOS had to comment, and since Sigma Chi and the rest of the Greeks can't "officially" comment, everyone has to put their two cents in. It's just terrible. I don't know what the thinking was on the timing, but this is not helping anyone--and certainly not the poor girl--to put this out there.

33girl · #14 03-06-2009, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PGD-GRAD

This has me thinking about my role as an advisor. I don't believe I would ever choose to advise or responsible for a house with my group's letters on it--"their house"--in other words, and have to deal with non-members living there: it's a disaster waiting to happen.

I don't know how this would play out legally, but even if it turned out to be a "he did it" "no, he did it" type of thing with brothers pointing to non-brothers it would still be awful. If you can't fill your house, pledge enough men who can or move someplace smaller--period. I don't see a fraternity or sorority "renting our rooms to non-members" to pay the rent. If you live in a house, eat in a house, have your chapter room in a house--IT'S YOUR HOUSE!

Too many times what happened is the chapter got the house when things were big and booming with Greek life on campus or their chapter in particular, and even when numbers warrant it, refuse to give it up because "it's our house, it's tradition." And I think (sweeping generalization) guys are way more lax about letting independents in than girls. Plus there's also the issue of, there might not be another house to be had.

I've always said if you do have to do this, rent the rooms to people who have absolutely no interest in pledging or partying - i.e. grad students who'll be in the library 24/7 or people who go home to work every weekend.