WASHINGTON — Howard University has been named in a federal lawsuit that alleges five former and current students were raped or sexually assaulted on campus, and that the school did little or nothing to help them.
The lawsuit identifies the female students as Jane Doe 1 through Jane Doe 5 and says the incidents took place between 2014 and 2016.
WTOP has requested comment from Howard University.
In the case of Jane Doe 1, the suit alleges after she reported she was raped by a male student who was also employed as a resident adviser, she heard nothing from school officials for six weeks.
In frustration, she took to Twitter in what the suit refers to as a “Twitter storm” and criticized the school for its handling of her case.
According to the lawsuit, she was later told by the dean of student affairs, “You embarrassed your family by doing that.”
The suit further states that Jane Doe 1 came to learn that another student, identified as Jane Doe 2 had reported to the school that she had been raped by the same male student in October of 2015.
The lawsuit states that that student left Howard “when her case was not investigated because she felt unsafe on campus and was receiving no information or support from Howard.”
Jane Doe 3 reported that a Howard University campus police officer sexually and physically abused her in November of 2014. The suit alleges there were delays in providing counseling to her, and that when she requested her counseling records from Howard, she was told she should be careful with the records because people would “judge her.” The suit states the implication was that she should be embarrassed by the sexual assault.
Jane Doe 4 reported that she was raped by a male Howard student in March of 2016 and asked for a new dorm assignment. The complaint further says that when she asked for academic accommodations as she struggled to deal with the aftermath of the rape, the school told her they could not “push” professors to provide extensions or otherwise accommodate her request.
In August of 2016, she learned that the student she accused of raping her had been assigned to her dorm for the next academic year, according to the suit.
In the fifth case, the lawsuit alleges that Jane Doe 5 reported she was sexually assaulted by a Howard student in April of 2015. Citing safety concerns, she asked to complete her coursework at a community college in her hometown. The lawsuit states her case was “passed around from administrator to administrator” and that it took months for the request to be handled.
Then in October of 2016, her assailant was accused and criminally convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in D.C.
Linda Correia, an attorney at Correia and Puth who is representing the five students, explained that the lawsuit was filed under Title IX, the federal civil rights statute that protects students from discrimination based on sex.
“The issue here is not about adjudicating whether or not there was a rape.” Instead, Correia said: “The issue is how did the university respond after these women reported that they were sexually assaulted?”
Correia says it’s the obligation of universities to ensure that women on colleges have educational opportunities that are equal to those of their peers.
“That means that if they have been sexually assaulted and they need to have their housing situation adjusted, or they need to take whatever steps to make sure that the student is safe on campus — that’s what Howard’s obligation was and that’s what they failed at here,” Correia said.
Read the lawsuit:
Howard University Lawsuit by wtopweb on Scribd
