A woman told Chicago police she feared she was drugged before being sexually assaulted at a University of Chicago fraternity house earlier this year, according to a police report.
On Feb. 8, a day after the assault reportedly happened, the 19-year-old told officers the alleged assailant gave her a shot of alcohol that “might have been laced,” the report says.
The woman filed a lawsuit Monday against the local and national Alpha Delta Phi organizations, alleging a member of the fraternity had assaulted “her limp body” during a party at the Alpha Delta Phi house, 5747 S. University Ave. The woman was identified only as “Jane Doe.”
The lawsuit came soon after another woman reported she was sexually assaulted on Oct. 11 at an off-campus party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house, located just a block away at 5625 S. University Ave. Witnesses in that case reported the accuser appeared “significantly more intoxicated than expected based on her reported alcohol consumption," according to another police report.
The two cases have placed the University of Chicago at the center of a national reckoning over sexual violence at colleges, sparked by reports of gang rape and drugging at a fraternity house at Cornell University in upstate New York.
The University of Chicago previously alerted students to a spate of alleged druggings in November 2022, warning of seven reports of undergraduates who suspected their drinks had been spiked at parties.
In one case, a student reported they were “likely sexually assaulted.” The university said at the time that “such behavior is unacceptable, not tolerated within this community, and may be criminal.”
Elizabeth Spratt, former toxicology director for Westchester County in New York, said “timing is everything” when it comes to testing for potential drugs, noting levels could be low by the following morning. "These [cases] break my heart, because they're ... hard to prove because of timing," Spratt said.
The women alleging they were assaulted at the two fraternity houses aren’t students at the University of Chicago.
The woman identified in her lawsuit as Jane Doe said she had two shots of alcohol at the Alpha Delta Phi house before meeting the alleged assailant, according to the police report. The suspect, identified in the lawsuit and the report as Kevin Shim, then gave Jane Doe another shot, after which she told police she “vaguely remembers anything,” the report says.
In the lawsuit, she said she felt “unsteady and lightheaded” almost immediately after taking the drink. She was then brought to an upstairs bedroom where the fraternity member assaulted her and left her “alone and unconscious,” according to the lawsuit.
Other fraternity members blocked her friends from getting to the bedroom as the assault was happening, the lawsuit says.
Jane Doe went to Chicago police the next morning and was treated at Illinois Masonic Hospital, according to the lawsuit and the report.
The lawsuit doesn’t mention she was potentially drugged, but her lawyer continued to raise that allegation in an interview.
“This situation is someone that really took all the right steps,” Georgia Booth, one of Jane Doe’s attorneys, said in an interview. “The next morning, she went to the hospital, got a toxicology report and a rape kit done, and then immediately spoke to the Chicago Police Department.”
But months later, the police investigation is still pending. Booth said she’s requested additional information but has only been provided the original incident report — and not the findings of the toxicology or sexual assault testing.
Booth said she had “no idea” why there still weren’t any charges in the case.
“Unfortunately, I work with survivors of sexual assaults primarily in my practice,” Booth said. “I work with clients that have made similar reports to the Chicago Police Department. Sometimes they get little to no investigation done into their experience. So we're encouraging the police department to continue investigating, and hopefully charges will be brought soon.”
The university, the police department and the national Alpha Delta Phi organization didn’t respond to questions Wednesday.
The university previously said the allegations in the lawsuit were “disturbing.”
“The University of Chicago is committed to addressing and preventing incidents of sexual assault,” the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. “The University is not a defendant in the lawsuit against the fraternity. The University will cooperate by providing information and is prepared to help the Chicago Police Department in its investigation.”
Alpha Delta Phi said "the member involved" was suspended from the fraternity after the organization became aware of the reported assault, which it takes “extremely seriously.” Shim hasn't responded to a request for comment.
The university will hold a public safety meeting Wednesday evening. The agenda was set in September but includes discussions of “sexual misconduct protocols and support systems, along with other public safety topics,” a university spokesperson said.
