Protestors Gather Outside FIJI Fraternity House Over Sexual Assault Report & 12 Other Rape Allegations
UNL students have had enough of FIJI.
YouTube Hundred of protestors gathered overnight in front of University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity — also known as FIJI — on Tuesday night to demand justice for an alleged sexual assault that occured at the fraternity house.
Students are demanding justice after reports of the assault circulated around the campus.
What Happened at UNL FIJI?
According to campus crime logs, a student alleged that a sexual assault occured at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house between 11:30pm and 12:00am on Monday night.
By the following night, students had gathered outside the scene of the alleged crime chanting, “What do we want? Justice” and “If we don’t get it, what do we do? Shut it down!”
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UNL's Phi Gamma Delta fraternity has a history of sexual assault allegations.
This allegation is not the first reported sexual assault case accusing FIJI members. In fact, FIJI has been involved in a number of sexual assault allegations, which has motivated many to call for it’s removal from campus.
In light of this week’s events, a petition was created on Change.org to completely shut the fraternity down. In just 12 hours, more that 40,000 people have added their names to the list.
The creator of the petition claimed, "13 girls have been raped so far as to be left on the lawn naked and bleeding."
In comments on the petition, posters told stories claiming they or someone they know had been sexually assaulted by the frat members at Phi Gamma Delta.
In 2017, Phi Gamma Delta was temporarily suspended until 2020 after a string of incidents involving, "Reckless alcohol use, hazing and inappropriate sexually based behavior, including a pattern of sexually harassing conduct."
Student at University Of Nebraska-Lincoln have criticized handling of sexual assault on campus.
According to It’s On Us, 20-25% of female students are victims of sexual assault on undergraduate campuses.
In 2019, 21 sexual assault survivors reportedly wrote letters to Ronnie Green, the chancellor of UNL, about their traumatic experiences at the school. A few days later, their letters were answered with generic emails that completely failed to address the concerns of these women. Two letters allegedly weren’t answered at all.
This started a campaign called “Dear UNL,” which demands accountability, transparency, staffing, survivor support, and training from the university’s Title IX office.
The implementation of these demands would create a safer campus for women, especially since UNL has previously chosen to ignore serious sexual assault issues on their campus.
Fraternities are often associated with rape culture.
Fraternities are especially known for contributing to sexual assault on campus. Rape culture is perpetuated by things like “the party life” (aka getting young girls drunk at parties), disrerspecting women, comparing “body counts” and victim shaming, which are all regular occurences in many fraternities.
Sexual misconduct undermines education, because learning becomes impossible when you’re constantly worried about being hurt. Everyone deserves to feel safe on campus, which means universities should be doing everything they can to prevent sexual assault.
Last night’s protest shows that this is an issue that many students are taking seriously, but at the same time there are many who do not understand the severity of sexual assault on campus.
Hopefully UNL will take this opportunity to step up and make serious changes that will keep their students safe.
Susie Grimshaw is a writer who covers news and entertainment topics.