Student sues Lawrence University
Sexually aggressive man allowed on campus until rape report, suit alleges
A Lawrence University student has sued the institution, alleging it allowed a sexually aggressive student to remain on campus, despite repeated complaints about him, until months after she reported to police that he had raped her.
The woman, identified in the suit as Jane Doe, accuses Lawrence of “deliberate indifference” toward the suspected male student, who was eventually expelled after Doe reported him to Appleton police.
The federal lawsuit says the assault occurred last fall when the woman was an 18-year-old freshman at the Appleton campus. The male student, it says, was a junior and is now 21.
Doe’s lawsuit names the male student in the complaint, but it does not list him as a defendant. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages from Lawrence for negligence, and violations under Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.
Charles Giesen, an attorney for the male former student — who has not been criminally charged for any actions at Lawrence — said his client “adamantly denies any nonappropriate, nonconsensual sexual conduct.”
Giesen said his client has texts and emails that show the relationship was consensual, and that police investigated and declined to refer any charges to prosecutors. His client does not plan to contest expulsion or return to Lawrence, Giesen said.
A Lawrence investigation concluded the student had “engaged in a pattern of predatory sexual assaults” against three women and harassed a fourth, in violation of the university’s sexual misconduct policy. And the university expelled him in mid-April.
Ken Anselment, vice president of enrollment and communications at Lawrence, said the university followed its publicized procedures about campus sexual aggression, which he said are based on nationwide best practices.
He said Lawrence “takes all matters of student safety very seriously, and remains committed to providing a fair and equitable process for addressing claims of sexual misconduct.”
According to the suit, at least three female students had complained about the man to Lawrence officials and he had been banned from attending “most fraternities because of his sexually aggressive behavior” at parties.
Doe met him while she was working at a campus athletic facility where he worked out regularly. They became friendly, communicated on social media and socialized at times.
According to the suit, Doe went to a
fraternity party in October where she saw the student. They did not leave together, but afterward, it says, he texted Doe inviting her to his dorm to watch videos. Doe said she responded that she was drinking and ”didn’t want anything to happen” and that he assured her by text that nothing would.
By the time Doe arrived at 3 a.m., she was highly intoxicated and “barely conscious,” the lawsuit states. At the room, the other student removed her clothes and had sex with her, according to Doe, who “only has fragmented memories of what occurred.”
A few days later, it says, Doe met the man in a study room after he had texted, “We have to talk.” Doe says he tried to accuse her of leading him on, groped her, then blocked her exit and said she could only leave if she sat on his lap and kissed him.
“Because she was afraid for her safety and desperately wanted to leave, she complied,” the suit states. Doe says that during the encounter, the man admitted he knew she was too drunk to consent to the sex on Oct. 29.
On Nov. 8, Doe reported both incidents via Lawrence’s online sexual misconduct complaint system called SHARE. She said she heard nothing back and that her resident life adviser said nothing could be done until there were multiple complaints about the same student.
In January, Doe went to Appleton police, and she and her parents met with Lawrence’s Title IX coordinator, Kimberly Jones, and dean of students, Curt Lauderdale. According to the lawsuit, Jones told Doe there had been three prior allegations against the student, but that she was not aware of Doe’s initial complaint.
Jones thanked Doe for going to police so that Lawrence could now remove the suspect student from campus.
That did not happen immediately. According to the suit, he and Doe were subject to a no-contact order while the university investigated. Lawrence offered to let Doe move off campus, or to a single room nearer her friends and the resident assistant.
She took the single room, she said, only to learn it was across the hall from the suspect’s friend, and he was often there visiting.
Lawrence’s sexual harassment policy states that the Title IX coordinator can initiate investigations with the formal filing of a complaint or grievance, or even when such a formal complaint has been withdrawn.
The university’s Title IX website says, “a report notifies the Title IX Coordinator of sexual misconduct; reports are kept in a secure location and used to offer help and to improve campus safety; they are not formally investigated unless they indicate a pattern, predator, threats, violence, or weapons.”
Doe’s attorney, Paul Kinne of Madison, said she plans on returning to Lawrence in the fall. “She wants to attend Lawrence. She felt it would be giving in,” if she transferred.
In addition to the lawsuit, Kinne said he believes Doe’s mother has filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.