Latest news with #fraternity
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
Penn State placed a frat on interim suspension. It opted to operate independently
Another fraternity at Penn State has decided to operate independently of the university after being placed on interim suspension. Sigma Pi, 303 Fraternity Row, State College, was put on interim suspension in April and will remain like that until the student conduct process concludes, a Penn State spokesperson confirmed in an email. The university's student affairs site states it is on interim suspension for 'alleged violations of university policies and guidelines.' But during the process, the fraternity told the university it intended to operate as an independent organization, regardless of the outcome. It is the eighth fraternity at Penn State operating without university recognition. 'This decision mirrors a national trend where some fraternities choose to cut ties with institutions to avoid oversight. However, the university retains jurisdiction for the matter currently under review, as the allegations occurred when the group was a recognized student organization. Details regarding the outcome will be shared when the student conduct process is complete,' university spokesperson Wyatt DuBois said. Groups that operate independently of the university can't be held to Penn State's standards for recognized student organizations. The student affairs site states they can't participate in official university activities and while the individual students can be held accountable under the student Code of Conduct, the collective group is not held to the same standards. 'This lack of structure increases the risk for behaviors and environments that jeopardize student health and safety — including hazing, high-risk alcohol use, and unchecked misconduct. Penn State strongly discourages students from affiliating or associating with unrecognized organizations,' DuBois said. In addition to Sigma Pi, other known unrecognized chapters and organizations are Acacia, Delta Phi, Lambda Phi Epsilon, Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE), Phi Kappa Sigma (Skulls), Sigma Chi and Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. During this past spring semester, three fraternities (Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Chi and Tau Kappa Epsilon) banded together to form an independent, student-led State College Interfraternity Council. Penn State has said the rogue independent council is 'deeply concerning' and strongly discouraged students from affiliating with the unrecognized organizations and avoiding events hosted by the groups. Solve the daily Crossword
Associated Press
30-06-2025
- Associated Press
Second person dies after shooting at Atlanta fraternity picnic
ATLANTA (AP) — A second person has died after a fraternity picnic at an Atlanta park ended in gunfire on Saturday. Atlanta police said Monday that Justin Minnitee, 23, died from his injuries. Witnesses have said that Minnittee arrived at the picnic that Kappa Alpha Psi was holding at Coan Park, southeast of downtown Atlanta, and began arguing with people attending the event put on by the historically Black fraternity. 'From what we know at this point, there was an uninvited guest that arrived to the location, which led to a confrontation, which led to guns being produced and shots being fired between the two individuals,' Atlanta Police Lt. Andrew Smith told WAGA-TV. Investigators say at least two people exchanged gunfire. Authorities on Saturday said Andrew Pearson, 33, died at the park after being shot in the head. WSB-TV reported that Pearson was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. Minnittee died later after being hospitalized. Two other people took themselves to the hospital. One was grazed by gunfire, while the other was admitted to be treated for injuries. Police said they're still investigating.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
ERL Men's Spring 2026: Time to Grow Up
Colleges are about fitting in, and so Eli Russell Linnetz found himself hunting down Sperry Top-Siders and Vineyard Vines critter shorts on eBay during his film studies at the University of South California. 'Believe it or not, I joined a fraternity, and there's so much pomp and circumstance around what you wear, and this weird hierarchy of taste and power,' he related over Google Meet. More from WWD The Originals: Yohji Yamamoto Willy Chavarria Takes on the Megaride AG, Superstar in Latest Adidas Collab Celebrities Front Row at Amiri Spring 2026 Show: J Balvin, Anuel AA and French Montana His spring collection and look-book shoot followed a similar, fantasy narrative about a student named Ivy who becomes obsessed with headmaster Christian and begins to adopt his more sophisticated, grown-up looks. Hence Linnetz's spring ERL collection emits a more mature vibe with its subdued colors and a continuing exploration of tailoring, although the suits have a youthful flair, cut boxy in linen or nylon. He paused his signature wave motif and groovy pastels – ERL is based in Venice Beach – and included only a single print: a bold floral for a loose rayon shirt. The cozy hoodies, vaguely grunge hoodies and beat-up cargo shorts are still there, but also roomy shirts and short shorts, two recurring silhouettes this season. Linnetz didn't make it to Paris because he's in pre-production for a feature film he wrote, describing it as 'a '70s college film. There's definitely a lot of like humor to it, but it's a thriller, it's emotional.' He's also fine-tuning the interior concept for a forthcoming flagship store in Venice Beach, and his first boutique in South Korea, where his business is booming thanks partly to his 'I Did What Last Night?' ringer T-shirt that's been adopted by numerous K-pop stars. 'It's pretty interesting. We've really just taken off there,' he related. 'I feel like they understand what I'm saying.' Launch Gallery: ERL Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear Collection Best of WWD Windowsen RTW Spring 2022 Louis Shengtao Chen RTW Spring 2022 Vegan Fashion Week Returns to L.A. With Nous Etudions, Vegan Tiger on the Runway
CNN
29-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
She helped Texas close a loophole preventing sexual assault survivors from getting justice. Why can't more states get it done?
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article contains discussion of sexual assault that may be distressing for some readers. Summer Willis looked down at her bloody hands and knees after crawling for 22 hours on her way to the Texas Capitol to advocate for a change in state sexual assault law. She had set out at 4 a.m. on that cold February day to crawl the length of the entire Austin Marathon, a melding of performance art and activism, but this was the most agonizing physical pain the mother of two had ever experienced. She made it an excruciating 13 miles. Exhausted, she looked across the street and realized she was standing directly across from the site where she said she was raped 10 years ago at a University of Texas at Austin fraternity party. Prosecutors say what happened to her would likely not legally have been considered sexual assault because of a state loophole: she accepted the drink she was handed at that party – which she believes was laced – before she was raped by another person. At issue was how Texas sexual assault law outlined lack of consent. It did not specifically include victims who have been voluntarily intoxicated, making their cases nearly impossible to prosecute. 'After 10 years, I finally gave myself permission to stand up,' Willis said, deciding to run the remainder of the marathon. 'I stood up and I said, I'm not going to finish this how I anticipated it, but I am going to finish it.' And she did. The long-standing loophole that prevented Willis and other sexual assault survivors from getting justice in court was closed with the passage of the Summer Willis Act, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed on June 20. The law expands the definition of consent and clearly outlines sexual assault to include cases in which a victim 'cannot consent because of intoxication or impairment by any substance.' 'I'll never get justice from this bill. It's not retroactive, but I know that every victim from the day of the signing … won't have to be told it doesn't count,' Willis said. Two years before she crawled to the Capitol, Willis decided to start running marathons – some with a mattress on her back – not to change laws, but to bolster her own healing after years of living with the long shadow of trauma the attack cast on her life. 'I was looking at my beautiful boys' faces, and I was like, 'I want to be the woman that I used to believe I could be for you guys, someone who's strong, and confident and whole.'' Her organization, Strength Through Strides, has now raised tens of thousands of dollars for sexual assault survivors, she says. 'I know that every victim from the day of the signing … won't have to be told it doesn't count.' Summer Willis Her success has captured attention, along with high-profile cases of survivors seeking justice. This month alone, the trial of music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, continues. Meanwhile, disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein and President Donald Trump have been contending with the legal fallout from sexual assault allegations. Trump has denied all claims. Advocates hope these stories will encourage survivors to come forward. But even if they do, many people still live in a state where rape statutes don't protect victims who were unable to consent after becoming voluntarily intoxicated. Experts say some form of the intoxication loophole still exists in more than 20 states. A 2022 analysis of sexual assault laws from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. found nearly half of those jurisdictions 'require that a victim must be involuntarily intoxicated to be considered incapacitated or impaired.' 'State laws have enshrined victim blaming in our legal system when it comes to sexual assault,' said Mollie Montague, director of state legislative affairs with the nation's largest anti-sexual violence group, RAINN. Policy change may require a cultural shift, she says. 'Changing these laws really forces us to confront long-held beliefs – and laws that do that are hard to pass,' Montague said. 'People fear changing the status quo, and right now the status quo is protecting predators.' It can take time, she says, citing New York, where lawmakers have been trying to pass legislation to close the state's intoxication loophole for at least six years. And it isn't always due to opposition to the policies themselves or lack of lawmaker support. Advocates in the state said they've seen sexual assault bills with bipartisan support die again and again simply because they were not called to a vote. But after the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned a felony rape conviction in 2021, citing that the victim had voluntarily consumed several shots of alcohol and a prescription narcotic pill before the alleged assault, outrage ensued and state lawmakers passed a new law within months. A group of lawmakers, including Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson, met Willis at the finish line. 'More than 30 years ago, I had somebody disclose to me that they were intoxicated at a fraternity party, taken to a space and sexually assaulted. It is something that I have carried with me,' Johnson told CNN. That personal story drove Johnson's decision to build a career working with assault survivors. As a former human trafficking prosecutor, she said she knows how difficult it can be to prosecute sexual assault cases, especially when alcohol is involved. Johnson said she and her colleagues with the state's Sexual Assault Survivors' Task Force have been workshopping legislation to close the intoxication loophole for at least the last six years, but each time it's been derailed, previously passing in the House but not the Senate. On that February day after the race, Willis 'was just physically devastated,' Johnson said. Ravenous, Willis snacked as the lawmakers talked to her about the legislation they had in the works and pitched her an idea. 'Would you be willing to let us name this the Summer Willis Act? Would you be willing to come back and testify to get it passed?' Johnson asked. Three months later, Willis was back at home in Houston, nursing a 102-degree fever and taking care of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old. The family was glued to the projector they set up specially for the night's entertainment: the last vote of the state's legislative session. 'He kept yelling at the projector, 'Talk about my mamma!'' Willis said of her older son. She had been telling and retelling the story of her rape to lawmakers, advocates and reporters over the past few months. 'I had to be willing to be the story,' Willis said. She anxiously waited to see if the bill, which now bore her name, would be called for a vote before the end of the night. With dozens of bills on the docket yet to be called, the hours ticked on. 'We're starting to realize, they're not getting through all of these. Will they choose ours?' Willis said. A text message from one senator's chief of staff came in, she said, saying, 'Prayers are needed right now.' When someone announced the session was ending for the night, Willis was in tears. 'And then they called our bill, when all hope was lost, when we already thought we lost,' Willis said. Texas Rep. Donna Howard authored the bill, which passed unanimously that night. 'When preparing for this legislative session, we knew we needed storytellers who could help thread the needle for lawmakers,' Howard told CNN in a statement. 'Summer was, in some ways, the missing piece to our puzzle.' Howard said Willis represents the thousands of survivors who have been turned away by law enforcement due to the state's previous consent laws. 'Our latest statistics show that 9% of survivors in Texas report their assault; of those, less than 3% will proceed to trial and even fewer will see their rapists behind bars. This will change after September 1,' she added. Republican state Sen. Angela Paxton, who carried the bill through the Senate, says the new law closes the gap that long allowed predators to escape accountability. 'Survivors will finally have the clarity and recognition in the law that their experiences are real, that what happened to them was criminal, and that our justice system will stand with them,' she told CNN in a statement. 'Prosecutors will be better equipped to hold offenders accountable, and potential perpetrators will know that these loopholes no longer exist.' In May, the state Senate passed a special resolution recognizing Willis for her advocacy on behalf of sexual assault survivors. When Willis heard advocates and lawmakers in New York were also trying to push through legislation to close their state's intoxication loophole, she booked a ticket. If people could see someone who took on the legislative machine and won, maybe they could do the same. Forty-eight hours later, and just weeks after the bill passed in the Texas Senate, Willis stood in the middle of New York City's Bryant Park as light rain misted over the busy professionals rushing by on their lunch breaks – and once again, she told the story of her rape. Her voice strained as she tried to speak over the din of the city in June, but she wasn't alone. Standing behind her were supporters from dozens of advocacy organizations, including Sky and Amanda Roberts, the brother and sister-in-law of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent sex abuse survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre died by suicide in April. Giuffre's advocacy for survivors was an inspiration for Willis, who wore a dress with a butterfly pattern that day, a symbol that came to represent freedom for Giuffre. When the bill passed in Texas, Willis says one of the first calls she received was from Sky and Amanda. The couple brought their two young children to the gathering in Bryant Park. 'I think it's important to let them know who their aunt was and what she fought for, and how important – at whatever age – it is to fight for what's right,' Amanda said. 'My sister – if she could be here today, she would have,' Sky added. Advocates for all kinds of causes are vying for the attention of the same pool of lawmakers who hold the power to turn a hot-button issue into tangible policy change. Having a face attached to an issue can mean the difference between a bill getting called for a vote or collecting dust for another year. 'Will people pay attention to sexual assault if someone's not crawling, or running with a mattress…?' Summer Willis But it's important to consult survivors when shaping these laws, not just when they're needed to promote them, Christian Nunes, president of women's grassroots group National Organization for Women, told CNN. 'A lot of times we see gaps in bills because survivors, or those people with lived experience who the bill is meant for, are not included in shaping the conversation, or the shaping of the bill,' said Nunes, who worked as a trauma therapist for years. Advocates in New York were heavily involved in shaping the bill, which had broad bipartisan support, Emily Miles, executive director of New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, told CNN. But that's not always enough, she noted. The bill was not called for a vote by the deadline and died. Four months, six pairs of knee pads and one small media blitz after her crawl to the state Capitol, Willis is sitting in her home in Houston on a hot afternoon in late June. She's been on a victory lap since the governor signed the Summer Willis Act, smiling wide for photo ops and media interviews. She just has one interview left for the day before she takes a full month off. She needs a break. 'I don't think people realize how hard it was,' Willis says through tears. 'Everyone can think about the worst thing that ever happened to them, but are they willing to stand on the steps of the Capitol, or crawl for 22 hours or tell the 'Today' show about it?' 'It takes so much,' she says. Despite her victory in Texas, she's disheartened by what happened with the bill in New York. No one ran. No one bled. But advocates there shared their experiences, just as she had. Is it enough for assault survivors to simply tell their stories and ask for help? 'That's a great question. Will people pay attention to sexual assault if someone's not crawling, or running with a mattress or doing these crazy things? Do we as a society care enough?' Willis says. 'I don't know, because this is the way that I did it.' She's planning on using her downtime to take a five-year anniversary trip with her husband, Andrew. He's been there for every step. Andrew says he's proud of what his wife has accomplished, and she's still the same person he met years ago back in the Peace Corps. He recalls an orientation they attended in Mexico. When the leaders reviewed information about sexual assault, one of their colleagues ran out of the room, visibly shaken. Summer rushed out to comfort her. 'I remember hours later seeing Summer and that woman, and maybe three or four other women, who were all sitting together and sharing stories,' he says. 'This was years before she ever thought about running marathons.' 'I forgot about the Peace Corps thing,' Willis says, recounting the night she told those women her story of sexual assault, and in turn they shared their own – one of them for the very first time. She considers the question again: Is it enough just to share your story? It turns out, sometimes it is. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you are not alone. Visit RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline for help. Call (4673), chat at or text 'HOPE' to 64673.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Yahoo
1 dead, 3 injured in shooting during fraternity picnic at Atlanta park
A fraternity brother died after a shooting at an Atlanta park on Saturday night. Three others were injured, including a suspect who is in critical condition. The shooting happened at Coan Park on Woodbine Avenue in southeast Atlanta. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Witnesses told Channel 2's Eryn Rogers that a Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. chapter had a permit to host a picnic at the park. They said a random man with a face mask walked up to them and started fighting with some of the fraternity brothers. As they tried to calm him down, the man started shooting. One of the fraternity brothers died. Others who had their concealed carry permit fired back at the suspect, who was shot and is in critical condition. A third person who was shot and a person grazed by a bullet took themselves to the hospital. Police have not identified any of the victims or the suspect. People at the park told Rogers the man who died was not involved in the fight. They said he was a mentor for the younger men in the fraternity and that he leaves behind a daughter. TRENDING STORIES Homicide suspect dead after SWAT standoff, shelter in place lifted in Griffin Firefighter injured while battling house fire in DeKalb Death investigation underway days after fire at Fairburn apartment complex
