Florence authorities and university officials are currently investigating a case of alleged sexual assault involving two UNA students. The incident allegedly took place at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house Saturday, Jan. 18, said University Police Chief Bob Pastula.

The incident being investigated is listed as rape in the first degree on the UNA PD’s incident offense report.

The alleged victim reported the incident to university officials Monday, Jan. 20. The alleged victim is female and already had a medical investigation done through Rape Response before contacting university police, Pastula said.

University police have interviewed eight witnesses who were present at the fraternity house, Pastula said.

The alleged victim has approached Florence authorities and university police’s investigation has been turned over to the Lauderdale County District Attorney’s Office, Pastula said.

The university will be conducting a parallel investigation, said Kimberly Greenway, director of the Office of Student Conduct.

“According to federal regulations, the university is required to do an investigation, even if the district attorney did not,” Greenway said. “We are required to do parallel investigations, as well.”

The university’s Title IX coordinator Joan Williams will begin the investigation, Greenway said.

“Once she knows there is evidence to pursue, she will forward that to my office at Student Conduct,” Greenway said. “The actual hearing processes and all that will begin at (that) time.”

The office of Student Engagement often works with Student Conduct when students participating in Greek Life are involved in an investigation, said Assistant Director of Student Engagement for Greek Affairs Julie Fletcher.

“We’re not there yet,” Fletcher said. “It’s not the time to make any steps in talking with any individuals yet.”

Disciplinary decisions in conduct cases involving greek students are usually made on a case by case basis, Fletcher said.

“There has not been a list of ‘if your chapter does this, then this will happen’ or ‘if a student does this then they will face these consequences,’” she said. “That’s a little black and white to do and a lot of times situations are typically gray.”

Overall, student engagement has not had to utilize this process much, since they have not seen many conduct cases involving Greek students this school year, Fletcher said.

“We’re not having to put judicial issues as a priority, which is good,” Fletcher said.

The leadership of the UNA chapter of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity has declined to comment at this time.

The Flor-Ala was unable to speak with the Lauderdale County District Attorney’s office regarding the next steps in the processing of this case.

Editor’s note: Editor-in-Chief Corinne Beckinger, a member of Greek Life, did not contribute to this report.