Former student who reported rape says college betrayed her

CHARLESTON, W.Va. —The warnings came in text messages from her friends: He’s outside the dorm. He’s at the student center. He’s at Starbucks.

But for Alicia Gonzales, sometimes it didn’t matter where he was. She would often hide away in her room on the campus of Marshall University, overcome with fear that she’d run into him — or be subjected to his ridicule — even after reporting that he raped her on school grounds, and even after he was convicted of battery. Months later, she left the school.

“Every time I saw him, it was horrible for me,” she told The Associated Press on Friday. “It was almost like I was in that same state of mind, reliving the assault itself and how fearful I was. I just felt like I was helpless.”

The Associated Press does not typically identify sexual assault victims, but Gonzales has chosen to be identified.

Marshall has expelled 22-year-old Joseph Chase Hardin amid new rape accusations involving two additional women and renewed scrutiny of the West Virginia school’s handling of Gonzales’ February 2016 case. The expulsion caps a lengthy disciplinary process during which Hardin was allowed to be on campus, according to Gonzales’ ongoing federal lawsuit against the university.

A spokeswoman for the college said it followed state law and federal regulations in its handling of Gonzales’ case, adding that it “took every legal measure available to it to protect the rights of all parties throughout the process.”

In announcing Hardin’s expulsion, University President Jerome A. Gilbert released a statement saying, “The safety of our students is our first obligation.”

Hardin was indicted and jailed last week on second-degree sexual assault charges related to two alleged rapes in 2018. A judge ordered Hardin to remain jailed Wednesday at a court hearing for violating probation from the earlier case.

His lawyer, Kerry A. Nessel, said his client maintains his innocence.

Gonzales described a pattern of harassment by Hardin and his friends after the alleged rape.

“I felt completely betrayed by the university and I felt like I had absolutely no protection throughout it,” she said.