A 19-year-old student has been arrested in connection with a rape in a dorm room at the University of Kansas, the same school hit with nightly protests earlier this month after a separate alleged rape at a frat house.
The university’s Public Safety Office responded to a call about an alleged rape subject who “had sexual intercourse with a person whom was unable to give consent,” according to its crime map which confirms that the suspect was transported to Douglas County jail on Wednesday.
KU Public Safety Deputy Chief James Druen identified the suspect as Chi Hong Kai. He told The Daily Beast in an email that the alleged rape occurred on Sept. 16 between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. at the school’s Stauffer Place Apartments, and that it was reported to campus public safety on Wednesday. “Both parties involved are students,” he said. “We had probable cause that a rape did occur and made the arrest.”
The alleged rape came just days after hordes of protesters demonstrated for two consecutive nights outside of the university’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, demanding more action be taken to protect students and hold accountable perpetrators of sexual assault.
Those protests were sparked by allegations that a woman had been drugged and raped at the Greek house on Sept. 11.
On the first night of demonstrations, protesters gathered for more than two hours carrying signs and reportedly shouting chants like “We believe her,” “Justice now,” and “Lock him up.”
Protesters could be seen in a video posted to Twitter hoisting a sign that reads “No Means No” to replace a flag in front of the offending fraternity.
Grace Reading, 23, and Anissa Brantley, 22, two recent grads who lead an advocacy group called Strip Your Letters, told The Daily Beast at the time that they’re targeting a culture of rape in Greek life on campus that has “never gone away.”
A Change.org petition to remove the frat from the campus has garnered roughly 20,000 signatures.
Students also staged a sit-in last Friday outside Chancellor Doug Girod’s office. According to the Kansas City Star, outraged students demanding change placed a placard at the entrance of the chancellor’s office that read: “Office of the Complicit.”
Chi Hong Kai’s bond was set at $100,000, and he was authorized for pretrial release on Thursday afternoon with GPS monitoring, according to a booking report.
