Ninth Congressional District Democratic candidate Joy Powers speaks with Barry Bridges after her town hall meeting in Rocky Mount on Tuesday.
Ninth Congressional District Democratic candidate Joy Powers speaks with Barry Bridges after her town hall meeting in Rocky Mount on Tuesday.
Trillium flowers are seen on Buffalo Mountain Natural Preserve in Floyd County are pictured.
Trillium flowers are seen on Buffalo Mountain Natural Preserve in Floyd County are pictured.
President Bret Danilowicz delivered a video message to the campus community on Tuesday.
A screenshot of the statement posted by the Kappa Zeta chapter of Sigma Chi to its Instagram page.
The Kappa Zeta chapter of Sigma Chi released a statement Tuesday regarding a Radford student's allegations of sexual assault against members of the fraternity.
Students rallied against Radford University's response to sexual assault Friday, after several women came forward expressing frustration about how it had handled incidents.
RADFORD — Radford University must set a goal of zero sexual violence, university President Bret Danilowicz said Tuesday, following recent allegations of sexual assault by four students.
“The past two weeks have been a call to action, both for me and for our university community. Sexual violence is unacceptable,” Danilowicz said in a video message to the university community Tuesday. “We must do better.”
Since the women came forward, Radford has updated its standards of student conduct and Greek Leadership Handbook to expand oversight and review of misconduct. The university has also established a presidential task force “to develop recommendations to strengthen our practices,” Danilowicz said.
The university will begin holding small-group listening sessions for employees and students this week, Danilowicz said, to allow them “to share thoughts on how our community can support each other and improve how we can prevent harm.”
Since Oct. 16, four women have come forward with allegations of sexual assault. The first told The Roanoke Times that the incident occurred in March 2025 at an off-campus residence and involved two members of the Sigma Chi fraternity. She also alleged that she faced harassment following a student conduct investigation she initiated.
Roanoke-based WDBJ (Channel 7) has reported on three additional cases. One woman said she was assaulted by a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity off campus in October 2025. A third woman, who graduated from Radford this spring, told WDBJ that she was assaulted by another student at an off-campus apartment in 2021. The fourth woman, also a former student, said she was assaulted in another student's dorm room last fall.
The allegations involving the first woman prompted a response Tuesday from Sigma Chi, which said it removed members involved in the alleged incident from its chapter.
The student alleged that fraternity members continued to harass her following the university's investigation, including through sexual solicitations, intimidation and public humiliation. In Tuesday’s statement the fraternity denied those allegations.
In the statement posted to the chapter’s Instagram account, the fraternity said it “acted immediately” after learning of the incident by removing the members involved from the chapter.
According to the student’s account, five Sigma Chi members gave her cocaine at about 3 a.m. March 16, 2025, before suggesting group sex. She said she initially consented but later wanted the sexual interaction to end, at which point two of the men refused.
The fraternity’s statement did not clarify whether all five members allegedly involved were removed from the chapter or whether the action applied only to the two men accused of rape. One of those men was not enrolled at Radford during the incident.
Fraternity leaders did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The statement also said fraternity members reported the matter to Radford’s Title IX Office on their own initiative, a claim the student corroborated.
“No one required us to make that report. We made it because we believed it was the right thing to do to support the victim and to make sure the matter was handled through the proper channels,” the statement said.
The student’s own report to the Title IX Office led to an investigation by Radford’s Office of Student Conduct. The investigation resulted in a one-semester suspension for one of the men she accused, who also was required to write an essay. The other man was not investigated because he was not enrolled at the university.
Sigma Chi said it had “cooperated fully” with the university since making its initial report and would continue to do so.
According to Radford’s Student Organization Status page, Sigma Chi remains in good standing with the university.
The fraternity denied the student’s allegations of harassment.
“Our chapter has not engaged in, encouraged, or tolerated any harassment of the student involved, and we deny these allegations,” the statement said.
“We are reviewing the claims and any member found to have taken part in harassment or retaliation will be held accountable,” it continued.
In a phone interview Tuesday, the student said the fraternity’s denial of the harassment allegations was the part of the statement that upset her most.
“I want it removed or reworded ASAP. It's disgusting," she said.
"I think the statement was more harmful than not releasing a statement," she added. "I do not see how they can deny the allegations while saying they're investigating them in the same sentence."
The student said she reached out to the fraternity president to request the statement be reworded but did not receive a response.
On Friday, Radford students held a rally in support of the student and three others who have since come forward alleging sexual assault. The rally included demands for an investigation into Sigma Chi and the expulsion of the men accused of sexual assault.
At the end of its statement, Sigma Chi said that although it “respect[s] everyone’s right to free speech,” members had recently received threats, messages urging them to take their own lives and “slanderous statements about members who had no involvement in this incident.”
“This must stop,” the statement said. “We ask everyone in our campus community to keep this conversation safe and to focus on supporting the people directly affected.”
Ethan Hunt (540) 381-1678
The small, wooden bridge on Diamond Avenue has been a part of the community for as long as some residents can remember. Many of those residents have asked for repairs to the bridge for decades.
The small, wooden bridge on Diamond Avenue has been a part of the community for as long as some residents can remember. Many of those residents have asked for repairs to the bridge for decades.
