The March Against Sexual Assault at USC

By: Nancy Aguilar ‘22

Trigger Warning: The following article discusses the events of sexual assault that occurred at USC on October 20th, 2021.

Last week, the University of Southern California released a crime alert email reporting a sexual assault case in the Sigma Nu Fraternity house. This was found to be correlated to previous reports of drugs being placed into drinks and an ongoing investigation has since been taking place regarding what the email called ‘drug-facilitated sexual assault.’ The Sigma Nu fraternity has been suspended and is unable to host any events; the email also mentions that a member of Sigma Nu has already been detained and academically suspended.

Needless to say, this terrible event greatly impacted our students and the entire USC community as a whole. My mom called me a few days after the incident telling me to be extra careful when I go out. I can only speak to my experience with my friends and classmates, but many students around me were affected by this event and showed their support on social media and in-person during the October 25th March Against Sexual Assault announced on USC Flow’s instagram.

The event started at 4:00pm and all of the attendees met up at the Village where markers, paper and supplies were provided for people to craft their own signs. The actual march started at 5:00pm and the plan was to march to the Fraternity Row, sit in front of the houses, and chant our demands for justice.

A few hundred students gathered at the Village to march. I was very surprised that almost half of them were men and many were even brothers from other fraternities. It was very heartwarming to see so many people show up to support the victims and demand justice. Once we got to the Row, we split up into different groups and had a discussion about how sexual assault is dealt with at USC while brainstorming ideas for how USC can reform and improve how they handles cases. There was even space for people to share their personal experiences, which I will not discuss here out of respect for their privacy.

Here are some of the main suggestions I remember from the group I joined:

1. Educate the brothers of fraternities.

This would mean establishing better systems to combat sexual assault. For example, if somebody reports an incident, the president should be immediately notified and the assaulter should be written up for further charges and detained.

2. Implement better training for DPS officers.

From the personal stories, many students recalled that DPS was not very attentive when issues were brought up to them. So I think it’s important to make DPS officers are held accountable in actually doing their job which is to keep students safe.

3. “If you see something, say something.”

This is something simple that anyone can do. If you see or suspect anyone’s safety is being compromised, step in or find someone who can. A man in the group brought up that he sometimes feels uneasy stepping in if the assaulter is bigger than them, so it was suggested that he approach with a group of people instead. This is in addition to shutting down derogatory and offensive comments and jokes.

4. Have better consequences.

So far, the fraternity and the assaulter have been suspended but further action should be administered. Suspension is a roadblock to get over but rape is something that shatters your life.

In fact, expulsion is something that many students felt was the just punishment for the Sigma Nu fraternity and any other party involved in or with knowledge of the sexual assault. All in all, I think this is the main takeaway: victims don’t feel like justice is being served. Students don’t feel like justice is being served. If USC is not fighting for and defending their students—especially the victims of the assault—they’re not doing their job and accepting their responsibility.

I would also like to add a special note to the students: although there was a really great turnout for this march, I think we as a school can do better. I know that we’re all busy, but if we all dedicated some time to showing up for the victims, imagine the change we can accomplish. I can think of no better use of my time than being there for another human. If you’re interested in participating in a future march, you can always check out USC Flow’s instagram for updates or reach out to me for more information.

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