Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in front of a UMass Amherst fraternity house Monday for a second straight night following accusations of a sexual assault. The latest protest at Theta Chi was more peaceful than one on Sunday, which resulted in destruction of property at the frat, and two arrests, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
We spoke about these events with McKenna Premus, managing editor of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, the student newspaper at UMass Amherst.
McKenna Premus: The events that have happened over the last couple of days started with some posts on the anonymous social media app, Yik Yak. One of the first posts was alleging a sexual assault that occurred at Theta Chi over the weekend, and there were follow-up posts about a protest that was going to be organized.
So about 200 students gathered on Sunday at noon, mostly peacefully protesting. There were some instances of some fraternity brothers mocking the protesters and throwing things at them, and some protesters throwing things back. And then there were more protests Sunday night and even more last night.
Kari Njiiri, NEPM: And the size of the crowds has kept growing, along with people signing an online petition calling for the fraternity to be suspended or even disbanded. What are you hearing from the fraternity?
We haven't heard anything from the fraternity. I know that people are being directed to the national chapter and we haven't heard anything specifically from this fraternity. I did notice at last night's protest, it appeared as though everyone had moved out of the house. There were no cars parked there. All the lights were off. So we haven't heard anything specifically from the Theta Chi fraternity yet.
It's not the first time the fraternity has been embroiled in controversy this year, is it?
No, in the spring, they were found violating the university's COVID-19 protocol [and suspended], as they were holding parties. So they definitely came under some fire in the spring as well.
Now, in response to this latest alleged incident, the university's chancellor, Kumble Subbaswamy, put out a statement Monday saying, "no survivor or witness has come forward to file a complaint or a report substantiating the claims that have been made on various social media platforms." And he said the school cannot do anything without what he called "actionable evidence." What's been the reaction to the chancellor's statement?
At the protest last night, it was definitely talked about among the crowd, and it was a bit of a negative response. A lot of the protesters are calling for a reform of the process by which sexual assault cases are handled by the university. There was a megaphone and students were sharing their own stories of being survivors of sexual assault.
And one of the speakers was actually a UMass professor, Veronica Everett. And she spoke about her time working as a clinical social worker and working with students who have been assaulted, and just really calling for a reform of the process of how these cases are handled. You know, quite frankly, it's pretty disheartening that there were enough testimonies to last from 8 'til 11 p.m. when the protest finally dispersed.
What's your knowledge in terms of what allegedly took place this past weekend?
All I can speak to is the post that I've seen on Yik Yak about the alleged sexual assault. But again, these protests aren't just about this one specific instance. I think that they're a response to the history of similar cases of sexual assault and how they've been handled by the university historically, and how it doesn't seem that these fraternities are ever really held accountable for these cases.
