Northwestern Student Government Wants Frat Suspended During Sexual Assault Investigation

By Mae Rice in News on Feb 9, 2017 7:26PM

Northwestern Unviersity, via Wikimedia Commons

Northwestern University's student government has called for a fraternity to be suspended while the school investigates multiple reports of sexual assault on its premises. The Associate Student Government (ASG) has also called for the frat—and any similar frat— to be removed from campus if the investigation finds members guilty.

The ASG's statement, released Wednesday, comes as the university investigates multiple reports of drugging and sexual assault at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

The ASG is advocating a strong stance, which would hold fraternities at large, as well as individual members, accountable for sexual assault. The ASG's executive board wrote in their statement that due to "[t]he scale of this event [at Sigma Alpha Epsilon] and frequency of similar situations," they believe that sexual violence is a "systemic issue" in Northwestern's Greek system—one that needs to be tackled at an institutional as well as personal level.

"We believe the university must remove individuals from campus who are found responsible for sexual assault, as well as organizations that do not foster a safe, healthy environment free of sexual misconduct," they wrote.

Northwestern is still investigating the reported assaults at Sigma Alpha Epsilon on Jan. 21, as well as another anonymous report of a woman being assaulted and possibly drugged at an unspecified fraternity. Northwestern asks anyone with knowledge of these cases to contact the Title IX Coordinator at TitleIXCoordinator@northwestern.edu or call University Police at (847) 491-3456.

The University of Oklahoma's chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon made national news for its racist chant back in 2015.

See the ASG's full Facebook statement below: