Content warning: This piece 

describes depictions of drugging, 
sexual 
assault 
and 
sexual 

harassment.

An anonymous plaintiff Jane 

Doe filed a civil lawsuit against 
the Psi Upsilon fraternity at the 
University of Michigan, claiming 
she was drugged and raped by a 
member of the fraternity while 
attending a party at the fraternity 
house in August 2019.

The 
fraternity 
member 

allegedly coerced Doe to an 
upstairs room in the Psi Upsilon 
house, according to the lawsuit, 
which was filed Monday in the 
Washtenaw 
County 
Circuit 

Court. The fraternity member, 
who was a senior at the time of 
the alleged assault and has since 
graduated, reportedly closed the 
door and told Doe she could not 
leave when she asked to do so. 

The fraternity member then 

gave Doe a cup of water that 
tasted strange, according to the 
complaint. The lawsuit alleges 
that Doe became “completely 
helpless,” 
after 
which 
the 

fraternity member raped her.

According 
to 
the 
lawsuit, 

Doe, who was underage as an 
18-year-old freshman at the time 
of the assault, was given alcohol 
by members of the fraternity. 
The lawsuit says members of 
Psi Upsilon did not ask Doe 
for identification even though 
male guests were asked to show 
identification.

The complaint says that Doe 

was “so visibly intoxicated there 
was no way she could have given 
consent for sexual intercourse.” 

Doe is being represented by 

Vernon Johnson, the namesake 
of Ven Johnson Law, a personal 
injury law firm based out of 
Detroit. The lawsuit names the 
fraternity member as well as 
both the University chapter and 
international headquarters of Psi 
Upsilon.

In a press release from the law 

firm, Johnson said, “this is a cut 
and dry case of assault, battery 
and rape.”

“(The 
fraternity 
member) 

knowingly coerced my client to 
a private room, where he had a 
spiked drink waiting for her and 
then attacked her,” Johnson said. 
“Intentionally taking advantage 
of and raping women who are so 
intoxicated they are incapable 
of giving consent is a disgusting 

and 
reprehensible 
practice. 

These defendants must be held 
accountable for their despicable 
behavior.”

The alleged assault took place 

“during what is referred to 
within the fraternity community 
as 
‘Freshman 
F--k 
Week,’” 

according to the law firm’s press 
release. The lawsuit alleges that 
Psi Upsilon Nationals and the 
University’s Psi Upsilon chapter 
“knew or suspected” that the 
first week of the fall semester 
is known by this nickname and 
thus “encouraged, endorsed and 
provided the opportunity” for 
the fraternity member to rape 
Doe.

Fraternity 
members 
in 

the 
University’s 
chapter 
of 

Psi 
Upsilon 
allegedly 
kept 

a “scorecard” of how many 
women the fraternity brothers 
had sexual intercourse with or 
engaged in sexual petting with 
during “Freshman F--k Week,” 
the lawsuit says. 

In an interview, Johnson said 

under Michigan’s social host 
liability laws, the fraternity was 
also responsible for enabling 
the assault by serving underage 
students alcohol. 

“So here, as it pertains to 

someone who’s going to want 

to say ‘yeah, Johnson, but your 
client was drunk” (…) The fact 
that she got drunk and passed out 
and otherwise was so inebriated 
that she was incapable of giving 
consent, that in essence is what 
they created by giving her the 
alcohol,” Johnson said. 

In a statement to The Daily 

from Thomas Fox, executive 
director of Psi Upsilon Nationals, 
wrote that the organization was 
unaware of the allegations before 
the lawsuit was filed Monday.

“Psi Upsilon Fraternity takes 

all reports of risk management 
violations, 
especially 
those 

with regard to sexual assault, 
very seriously,” Fox wrote. “We 
are currently investigating the 
incident and gathering further 
information as we received no 
notice of allegations prior to 
this complaint being filed. The 
undergraduate chapter is being 
cooperative in this matter.”

When asked for comment, 

the University’s chapter of Psi 
Upsilon directed The Daily to 
Fox’s statement.

The lawsuit was first reported 

Thursday by The Detroit News.
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Daily News Editors 

Lawsuit: Freshman was sexually 
assaulted by Psi Upsilon member

Plaintiff alleges she was drugged while attending fraternity party in 2019

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
2 — Wednesday, October 7, 2020 

 FILE PHOTO/Daily

Beginning October 12, U-M will allow all undergraduate students to return to in-person research.

ADVERTISING

WMG-contact@umich.edu 

Starting 
Oct. 
12, 
the 

University of Michigan will 
allow all undergraduate students 
to return to in-person research 
and scholarship, according to an 
email update sent to the research 
community 
from 
Rebecca 

Cunningham, vice president of 
research at the University. 

Previously, 
the 
policy 
on 

undergraduate 
research 
only 

granted 
seniors 
with 
prior 

research experience to return 
to an in-person lab setting. 
This new policy, however, will 
expand the previous guidelines 
to allow all undergraduates — 
including those with no research 
experience — to engage in 
in-person research.

“Recognizing 
that 
our 

research productivity is not yet 
back to 100 percent, this next 
phase will allow for increased 
laboratory density, an expansion 
of human research participants 
and 
increased 
access 
for 

undergraduate 
researchers, 

who play a critical role in our 
research mission,” Cunningham 
wrote. 

This new policy will also allow 

labs to increase the capacity from 
45 to 60 percent as long as social 
distancing and face covering 
guidelines are maintained on 

any given shift. Cunningham 
underscored the importance of 
continual monitoring of virus 
transmission as this new policy 
is put in place.

“Research 
leadership 
will 

continuously 
monitor 
virus 

transmission rates over the next 
4-6 weeks to ensure our research 
community can safely maintain 
this expansion,” Cunningham 
wrote. “The health and safety 
of our research community will 
remain our top priority.” 

As of Sept. 29, nine total 

researchers have tested positive 
for COVID-19 since May 21, 
according to the email update. 
Based on contact tracing of 
asymptomatic 
individuals 

where a fellow lab member has 
tested positive, no sign of virus 
transmission has taken place in 
research settings.

LSA sophomore Kylie Schache 

conducts research in two labs 
— a microbiology lab and an 
Alzheimer’s lab. She said though 
this 
policy 
will 
technically 

allow her to return to in-person 
research, the capacity limits 
will still prioritize the graduate 
students 
and 
post-doctoral 

fellows in her lab. 

“If the option were open for 

me to work in person, I would 
certainly 
take 
it,” 
Schache 

said. “Right now, the issue is 
letting undergraduates return 

to research labs would take 
time slots away from graduate 
students or postdoc researchers 
because of the capacity limits. 
And so, I understand they have 
seniority, since it’s their full-
time job to do research.”

Schache noted that even if 

she were to return, she would 
not have concerns with safety 
or spreading COVID-19, given 
that many of the procedures 
within research settings already 
account 
for 
cleanliness 
and 

sanitation. 

“If there was a way that I 

could return to in-person work, 
I wouldn’t have any concerns 
in terms of safety regarding the 
virus just because labs are under 
so 
many 
safety 
restrictions 

normally, since we work with 
dangerous chemicals and what 
not,” Schache said. “The safety 
regulations in place right now 
especially — I mean they’re 
maintaining 
distance 
very 

strictly, they’re keeping limits 
on how many people can be in 
the same space, PPE (personal 
protective equipment) guidelines 
are followed very closely, so 
I won’t be concerned about 
returning from that standpoint.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Nicholas 

Cemalovic 
shared 
similar 

sentiments in that graduate 
students are often prioritized 
when assigning shifts, since 

they depend on the research 
setting 
for 
their 
degrees. 

Cemalovic said he is involved in 
an environmental toxicology lab 
with the School of Public Health. 

“I also understand that every 

year, there are new grad students 
rotating and there’s graduate 
students who need to get their 
degrees by being in there, so I 
understand the hierarchy, but I 
think introducing undergrads 
slowly 
would 
be 
great,” 

Cemalovic said.

Back 
in 
March, 
when 

Cemalovic had to transition 
into a remote research setting, 
he said he found other ways to 
stay engaged with the research 
community, despite not being 
able to return to in-person 
work.

“I found a way to transition 

into research in a different 
way,” Cemalovic said. “I found 
a lot of different methods that I 
could still be active. So, during 
that first bit of quarantine, 
I was still going to talks and 
lectures, I was doing a little bit 
of literature review. A good thing 
about a lot of wet lab biomedical 
research is that there’s always 
data being produced, so there’s 
always data to be analyzed.”

KRISTINA ZHENG 

Daily Staff Reporter 

All undergrads eligible to resume 
in-person research in mid-October

University allows labs to let younger students back inside buildings to work

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

