Group of men cheered and asked 'when’s it my turn?' as woman was assaulted inside bathroom at University of Chicago frat party

A woman has alleged she was sexually assaulted during a fraternity party near the University of Chicago campus on Sunday (October 11). Reports suggest she was abused inside a bathroom as a group of men cheered on from the outside, with one asking, "When is it my turn?" The Chicago Sun-Times reported the woman was drinking and dancing at the party before she started feeling unwell. Her friends found her "not fully conscious" in a bathroom with a man.

The women said they had to force their way through several men who were "cheering and appearing to encourage the activity inside", the Sun-Times reported. University officials said in an alert that a person of interest had been identified. Chicago police said a day later that no one had been charged yet.

Also Read: Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff admits he failed to follow up on sexual assault report

Alpha Epsilon Pi frat party

The 21-year-old woman was assaulted at a party that took place at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house at 5625 S. University Avenue. The university said the perpetrator fled the house when confronted by another person, adding that the victim was not a student. The 21-year-old woman reported the assault to police and went to a hospital for treatment.

The woman's friends frantically tried to pick the lock to rescue her and told the police that a group of men outside tried to stop them from entering the bathroom.

Men cheered outside, asking, “When’s it my turn?”

The women had gone to the party after seeing the event advertised on Instagram. They were dancing, and soon one of them started kissing a man. One of the friends lost track of them and later saw a group of men cheering outside a locked bathroom in the basement. "They were saying things like, ‘When’s it my turn?’ and ‘I want to go in there,’” she told The New York Times. She added that the men told her the woman inside was not her friend.

But she forced her way into the bathroom and found her friend partially undressed and on the floor. The man was holding her wrist, while the woman said, “Make it stop” and “get me out of here." He told her "everything was "cool". When the friends confronted the man outside the frat house, he said he was not it, and then ran away.

According to the police report, the man is 5 feet 7 inches tall and has curly hair. He was dressed in a black, short-sleeve shirt with black pants at the time of the alleged assault.

The incident comes at a time when reports of sexual assault on college campuses have rocked the United States. A woman filed a civil lawsuit last month alleging she was gang-raped by seven fraternity members at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in October 2024.