LEWISBURG, Pa. — Messages of support filled the sidewalks outside Fran's House, also known as Tower House at Bucknell University.
Fran's House is LGBTQ-friendly and houses nearly two dozen students. On Thursday evening, the scene there was anything but peaceful.
According to a statement released by Fran's House residents, around 20 male students came to the property Thursday night and tried to get into the building.
The men banged on windows, flashed residents, and urinated on the porch.
Residents identified the men as members of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
That fraternity lived in the building until the frat was banned from Bucknell's campus in 2019.
Fran's House residents said in a statement, "What happened to this house is abhorrent. Appropriate actions must be taken by the Bucknell Administration to ensure nothing like this will ever happen again."
"A lot of faculty were extremely distressed that this had happened," said Clare Sammells.
Clare Sammells is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bucknell. She reached out to Fran's House residents as soon as she heard about the incident.
"And I said, would you like us to come and sit outside your house and just deescalate anything before it happens? They agreed to that, so I set up a sign-up sheet and asked people to come by for shifts of a couple of hours," said Sammells.
Other professors helped organize a solidarity march.
"Most of the people in this community agree that we should treat each other with respect, and that people should be treated with dignity, and that we are not going to tolerate that kind of behavior," said Sammells.
Bucknell University President John Bravman addressed the incident in a statement and said: "We cannot erase the ugliness and subsequent trauma, but we can commit to addressing it in a way that protects LGBTQ Bucknellians and better ensures their safety in the future."
Bucknell University hired an outside firm to investigate Thursday night's incident and campus Public Safety's response.