Alpha Chi Rho reacts to assault
Alpha Chi Rho has received no disciplinary action from the Interfraternity Council in the wake of an alleged sexual assault outside of its fraternity house Oct. 4, said Brian McAnaney, Crow house manager.
Crow is cooperating fully with the Syracuse Police Department and Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety, McAnaney said.
McAnaney doesn’t believe a fraternity member is the man accused of the sexual assault. ‘We didn’t do anything at all,’ he said. ‘No one in our house did this.’
Multiple calls to Eddie Banks-Crosson, SU’s director of fraternity and sorority affairs, and Brian Smith, IFC president, have not been returned.
On Oct. 4, an SU student was allegedly sexually assaulted outside the Crow fraternity house sometime between 1:30 and 2 a.m., said DPS Chief Tony Callisto. DPS notified the university community of the reported assault on Friday, distributing a public safety notice.
The victim met the man at a social event inside the house, and the man forced her outside and engaged in nonconsensual sexual activity immediately outside the house, Callisto said. The woman was not raped, said Sgt. Tom Connellan of the Syracuse Police Department, who declined to provide details on the investigation.
No one in the fraternity house was aware of what had happened Oct. 4 until they saw police officers outside with flashlights, McAnaney said. Fraternity members let the police officers inside the house to talk to the brothers. The fraternity was hosting a party with alumni that night, as it was SU’s Homecoming Weekend.
‘My reaction was pretty much, ‘Holy f*ck,’ he said. ‘This could happen anywhere, at any party. I think people just think, ‘This couldn’t happen at my house.”
The victim described the man as white, late teens, 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6 inches tall, thin build, brown hair that was ‘sort of spiked,’ last seen wearing a maroon-colored shirt, possibly a polo or long-sleeved shirt ‘with the sleeves rolled up.’ The suspect’s first name may be ‘Matt,’ Callisto said.
Crow has been trying to help find the suspect, and put the event behind them, McAnaney said. ‘I think you’re kind of shocked when this actually happens at your house.’
Published on October 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm
