Protests break out at the UNL campus

At the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a string of protests emerged following an incident with one of the fraternity houses on campus, Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji. Thousands of students and citizens of the Lincoln and Omaha area gathered on August 24th to the 28th to rally against an alleged rapist who is part of the fraternity house. UNL sophomore and Central High alumnus Dillon Galloway participated in the protests.  

“Fiji is actually notorious on campus for doing similar things, such as drugging and raping girls—along with other issues as well. And this most recent incident kind of woke people up, not only because it was such a bad sexual assault, but also because it was in the first week of school when classes had just started that day, I believe. It just caught everyone off guard that someone would do something like this,” states Galloway when asked about the Fiji protests from his point of view.  

In addition to the incident that incited these sexual assault protests, Galloway mentioned that that Fiji had been suspended from campus before after a similar occurrence in 2017, saying, “I knew it was a bad fraternity from the start because of what the other people I knew in frats said. In fact, my friends and I would specifically avoid their parties because of the suspension and what they were known for.” 

Over the course of five days, protestors stood outside the Fiji house on campus and in the common area of the Lincoln campus, chanting for reform and justice for the victim of the crime. Galloway went on to add that word spread by mouth during the first day of protesting. He states, “The protest was happening in a central part of campus, so people would see what was happening and choose to join in because they realized what the situation was.” 

Galloway also chose to document the Fiji protests starting on the second night. He mentioned that filming and taking photos of the event is a good way to get the message out about what is happening at UNL. A petition on Change.org was created in order to demand the removal of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity from campus. This generated almost half a million signatures after the protests gained national attention.  

The sexual assault incident is currently under investigation, as well as the Fiji fraternity house itself. UNL chancellor, Ronnie Green released a statement saying, “The Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) fraternity at UNL is currently under probation for previous violations of university policy. We are closing the fraternity house and suspending operations of the Fiji chapter while this investigation is ongoing, due to potential violations of that probation. This is the responsible action to take for everyone involved.” 

There have not been any large protests since the statement release from Green. However, Galloway states,”Even though there haven’t been any active protests, people are still spreading awareness and talking about the issue and wearing shirts or hanging posters in support of their classmates. It’s just important to know that there are people there for you if you need to reach out.” 

National sexual assault hotline: 1-800-656-4673