Frat allegations spur rally calling for USC action

University head says one person has been suspended. LAPD names a suspect.

Faced with growing furor over reports of sexual assault and druggings at a USC fraternity chapter, President Carol Folt said late Friday that the university has suspended an individual in connection with some of the allegations and apologized for the pain roiling campus.

“Such behaviors are deeply disturbing, they hurt people and go against everything we stand for as a community,” Folt said in a message to the campus community. “We are sorry for the pain and anguish this is causing.”

Outrage over allegations involving the Sigma Nu chapter escalated Friday, as protesters demanded that USC take stronger action to address the reports. USC said Thursday that it placed Sigma Nu on interim suspension, blocking it from hosting or organizing any activities, a day after six students filed reports to the USC Department of Public Safety that they had been drugged at the fraternity house on Sept. 27. One student reported being drugged then sexually assaulted.

Also Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department identified Sigma Nu President Ryan Schiffilea as a suspect in a sexual assault case, said Det. Meghan Aguilar, an LAPD spokesperson. Schiffilea has not been arrested or charged and was questioned by detectives earlier this week after a woman reported that she was sexually assaulted on Oct. 16, Aguilar said.

It is unclear whether Schiffilea is the student who Folt said was placed on interim suspension, as her letter did not identify that person. Neither Schiffilea nor several of his family members could be reached for comment.

Schiffilea’s name was written in marker on the Sigma Nu fraternity house, where students gathered Friday to plaster the outside wall with protest signs and angry notes. Many questioned both fraternity culture and USC’s actions to address the pervasive problem of campus sexual assault.