AURORA | About 100 students at Regis Jesuit High School staged a walkout Friday afternoon, May 20 in response to a series of what they say are disparaging and sexist comments posted online by their male peers.

The walkout comes about a week after a video surfaced in the Regis Jesuit community, in which several unidentified males were reportedly joking about rape and sexual harassment, according to Regis junior Jewell Humphrey. She said that shortly after the discovery of the initial video, students found a Twitter account that was posting tweets “slut shaming” upperclassmen girls at Regis. The Twitter account has since been deleted, according to Humphrey.

Humphrey said that administrators have been made aware of the media posts, but a lack of transparency regarding how the school handled the situation has frustrated her and others.

“(Administrators) say they’re still investigating, but we feel as though this should have been handled already because we feel that rape and sexual harassment are not things you can make light of,” she said.

Charisse Broderick King, spokeswoman for Regis Jesuit, said in an email that the school has known about the possibility of a walkout for at least two days, and would allow the protest to occur despite discouraging the students from participating.

Students from nearby Grandview and Overland high schools attempted to join the protest but were ordered off the Regis Jesuit campus by security officials, some of them threatened with arrest if they did not comply. Members from the Denver Justice Project were also on the scene providing signs to those gathered.

Humphrey said that students were later made aware of a second video, in which Regis students who were mentioned in the original Twitter posts were told to kill themselves. The video, obtained by the Sentinel, shows screenshots of tweets posted by several Regis students with a song repeating the lines, “Please, please kill yourself.”

“It’s just escalated into a really bad situation that’s basically turned into boys versus girls,” Humphrey said.

Broderick King said that two Regis Jesuit boys involved with posting sexually violent language online have been suspended indefinitely.

“It has taken several days to investigate the situation, but disciplinary actions will be taken,” Broderick King wrote. “We have no tolerance for this language or behavior as it goes against every principle of our mission as a Jesuit and Catholic school. The investigation is ongoing.”

More than a dozen Regis students have posted thoughts about the situation at the private high school using “#RJforWomen” on Twitter. There have also been several associated tweets that have used the hashtag #WeAreRegisJesuit, urging the girls and boys divisions at the school to come together amid the controversy.

“We need to begin to stand in solidarity as one school.” – RJ Principals #WEareRegisJesuit #oneschool pic.twitter.com/4rsrPPQu6f

— RJ MEDIA (@RJ_Media) May 18, 2016

Broderick King said that there will be no disciplinary actions taken against any of the participants in Friday’s walkout.

“We permitted that to happen out of respect for those students … to let them know that they were being heard and that we value their input and their opinion,” Broderick King said Friday.

The videos and Twitter account were discovered shortly after two sections of a senior social studies class — one from the boys division and one from the girls division of the school — came together for an academic discussion about gender issues, including sexism and rape culture, on the school’s campus, according to Broderick King.

Humphrey said that the initial conversation was largely constructive, and that tensions only rose after the discovery of the videos and Twitter account.

“The conversation was generally positive,” she said.

Humphrey said that she and other students at the school sent text messages about the planned walkout to the majority of the current junior and senior classes, as well as to Facebook alumni pages tied to Regis. Participants in the walkout held signs with messages against sexual violence, such as “Woman Up! Stop sexism and sexual harassment.” 

“Regis Jesuit will allow any signs which speak out appropriately against gender-based injustices to remain posted on the campus,” Broderick King wrote.

Broderick King said that to the best of her knowledge, there has not been a walkout at Regis Jesuit since the school moved to its current location in Aurora about 25 years ago.

The school encouraged students to wear white Friday in an action of solidarity to “fight all disrespect,” according to the school’s Twitter account.

Humphrey said that the goal of the walkout is to bring the two sides of the school together, rather than furcate them further.

“We really think that the administration is working hard to fix the situation, but because … tomorrow is our last day of school for (juniors and underclassmen) we feel that we need to make sure they know where we stand on the situation,” Humphrey said. “But we don’t want to divide up our two schools. We want it to be a uniting factor. That’s really the purpose of it.”

Broderick King said that the school notified parents of the situation in an email sent earlier this week. She said that Regis plans to assemble a group of students, parents, faculty, staff and recent alumni that will, “help the school with initiatives … in further educating and creating a more open dialogue regarding gender issues.”

Juliana Davis, a sophomore at Regis Jesuit said that while small, she thought the protest went well.

“I think it was small, but that there’s power in just seeing that people can stand up for something,” Davis said. “I hope the next school year that we can learn from this and that the subject isn’t dropped; that we can continue to talk about it and grow from it.”

Davis said that she was spurred to become involved with the walkout after being targeted in one of the recent videos.

“That’s when I was like I have to do something about this,” she said. “This can’t happen.”

Ian Humphrey, Jewell’s father, said that he’s worried the walkout may not be enough to inspire change at the school. Ian has three more children, at least one of whom, Destiny, also attends Regis.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know that this is enough,” Ian said. “They have had enough conversations and they’ve whispered long enough, so I think they felt that they needed to scream and this was their way of doing that; of doing a walk out and saying, ‘this is important to us.’”