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The Daily Northwestern Monday, September 27, 2021
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4 OPINION/Podolsky
I was drugged at AEPi. Evanston Hospital failed me.
“NO MORE EXCUSES” 2,000 students protest Greek life after a series of druggings at fraternity events
Madison Smith/Daily Senior Staffer
By WAVERLY LONG and ALEX CHUN
daily senior staffers @waverly_long, @apchun01
Content warning: This story contains mention of drugging and sexual assault as well as explicit language in audio clips. Two thousand students surrounded the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house, spilling into Lincoln Street. The crowd stood still, holding a moment of silence in solidarity with the individuals drugged at the house Thursday. Until an organizer’s shout cut through the air: “Abolition is not the end! It is the beginning!” The crowd cheered and shouted back in response. Soon after, students hurled eggs, which splattered against the AEPi house’s walls. The protest, held outside the on-campus houses of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and AEPi Sunday night, followed two University Police crime notices. The first reported multiple druggings
at the AEPi house, and the second, sent just a day later, reported a drugging at the SAE house. The Saturday notice identified both addresses as on-campus fraternity houses, though the Friday notice did not. Neither notice identified the fraternities by name. Sunday’s action was part of ongoing advocacy to remove Greek life at Northwestern. The druggings have spotlighted the movement to end Greek life on campus and brought historic violence in fraternity spaces to the forefront. As students take action, they look to the future and wonder: What would it look like for NU to replace the Greek system with safer communities, and how can the University better support survivors?
Students respond to weekend reports
At 7 p.m, protesters prepared posters on SAE’s lawn. Some signs targeted SAE and AEPi with phrases like “Say bye bye to AEPi and all frats,” while others addressed Greek life as a whole: “IFC enables rapists.” “Not too late to
disband.” The crowd gathered on the sidewalk in front of the house and poured onto the lawn. Students held their posters to the house, though blinds covered the windows. They chanted: “How do you spell rapist? SAE.” “Silence is violence.” “Out of the frats and into the streets.” Around 7:45 p.m. demonstrators moved to the AEPi house. “1-2-3 f--k SAE,” they chanted. “3-4-5 f--k AEPi.” Some protesters banged on AEPi’s door and others spray-painted the sidewalk in front of the house with “abolish Greek life” and “f--k rapists,” among other phrases. UP, Evanston Police Department and officers from Allied Universal, a company contracted by the University, patrolled the protest. Officers stationed themselves around the SAE house, on the street and outside the AEPi house. At the demonstration’s end, Medill sophomore Maggie Sullivan, the event’s organizer,
» See PROTEST, page 6
ASG bans IFC and PHA from Senate seats
The announcement on Instagram follows multiple reports of drugging at AEPi and SAE By JACOB FULTON
daily senior staffer @jacobnfulton
Associated Student Government banned Northwestern’s Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association from holding or applying for Senate seats, the organization announced Sunday.
Recycle Me
This follows multiple reports of drugging at a Thursday Alpha Epsilon Pi event and another account of drugging at a Friday Sigma Alpha Epsilon event. About 2,000 students protested outside of both fraternity houses Sunday evening, demanding support for survivors and calling for an end to Greek life on NU’s campus.
Last April, ASG ended guaranteed representation for PHA and IFC with almost unanimous Senate approval in an amendment authored by former PHA Senator Pamela Chen. Both decisions are part of a campuswide discussion about the Abolish Greek Life movement, which prompted large-scale deactivation from many PHA and IFC chapters.
NU has prohibited members of IFC from holding social events and chapter-sponsored recruitment events until at least Oct. 17 in response to this weekend’s reports. Chapters violating the ban must pay a $1,000 fine and face demotion to associate status for the following quarter, meaning they can’t vote in IFC matters. However, no specific disciplinary
One dead, one injured after shooting
actions have been taken directly against AEPi or SAE by NU or IFC. Some community members have said existing sanctions don’t do enough to address the culture and environment that allowed the druggings to occur. ASG called on NU to remove Greek life from
Warning: This story contains content about gun violence and knife violence. A linked shooting and stabbing left a 45-year-old Naperville resident dead and 27-year-old Chicago resident injured Sunday afternoon, according to Evanston police.
» See ASG, page 6
» See SHOOTING, page 6
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