The University of Kansas is not doing enough to keep students safe, according to a new lawsuit filed by a current student who says she was sexually assaulted.
Click here to read the lawsuit.
The student, who was a member of the university’s rowing team, does not want to go public with her name.
Her attorney alleges she was sexually assaulted in 2015 by the same football player who assaulted another rower a year before.
The civil suit accuses the university of failing to properly investigate the second assault, failing to protect the victim from subsequent intimidation by the football player and violating Title IX law by allowing her coaches to retaliate against her after she reported the sexual assault.
The lawsuit does not name the football player, who was expelled from KU earlier this semester.
In a statement, the victim says that action took too long.
“KU made me feel worthless. After I reported my assault, everything KU did made me feel like they were trying to get me to crack and leave. My rowing team coaches didn’t care, didn’t help, and they did not protect me.
KU had the chance to do the right thing. But it seems like they don’t do the right thing unless they are forced. My assailant should have been kicked off the football team and out of the University immediately. How many woman need to be victimized before KU will take action?
I reported my assault, and KU turned my experience into a living nightmare. Meanwhile, KU put the Jayhawk on my assailant’s back and told him to play for the University.
The Jayhawk is supposed to represent the spirit of the struggle for freedom. Today, that symbol stands for valuing football wins over the safety and success of women on this campus. I filed the lawsuit to make KU recognize what it means to be a Jayhawk again.”
What happened?
According to the lawsuit, the victim (identified as Jane Doe 7 in the lawsuit), met the football player through a mutual friend her fall semester.
On August 29, 2015 the football player sexually assaulted the victim in her room at Jayhawker Tower.
The victim “confided” the assault to a friend but did not report it to the university or law enforcement authorities until after she met with the rowing team’s sports psychologist in October 2015.
That’s when, according to the lawsuit, Jane Doe 7 reported the sexual assault to the KU Office of Public Safety.
The same day she reported the sexual assault, the victim “learned that another female student had been sexually assaulted by this same football player.”
About a week later, the woman reported the assault to the KU’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access (IOA).
According to the lawsuit, that same month the football player sent the victim a message through Snapchat “in an attempt to intimidate her.”
“During the remainder of the school year… [the victim] avoided ‘Late night at the Phog’ and no longer went to football games or other sporting events for fear of seeing her assailant. [She] became hyper-vigilant on campus and worried about her safety… is easily tearful, sometimes paralyzed with fear and infuriated with anger.”
The lawsuit alleges the IOA office “kept extending time for the investigation” between January through mid-March 2016. In the meantime, the lawsuit alleges the victim’s rowing coach made inappropriate comments about her voice and weight as well as “began the process of medically disqualifying” her from competitions.
Other accusations
This second lawsuit comes less than a month after former KU student and rower Daisy Tackett sued KU in a similar Title IX lawsuit.
Previous story: Former student who reported being raped files suit against KU for failing to protect her
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits gender-based discrimination in education. It requires universities to investigate and take measures to prevent sexual assault on campuses.
According to Tackett’s lawsuit, the same football player sexually assaulted her in Jayhawker Tower in 2014. She claims the university failed to properly investigate and protect her from retaliation.
Both Tackett and Jane Doe 7 are represented by the same attorney, Dan Curry of Brown and Curry LLC in Kansas City, MO.
University of Kansas' response
41 Action News reached out to KU by phone and email for comment. The university released the following statement:
"To protect the rights of all parties involved, the University of Kansas does not comment on individual sexual assault investigations. When the university receives a report of sexual assault, we quickly take action to support the person who came forward and work to investigate and resolve the matter. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."
In 2015, the university created the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center to address sexual violence at KU.
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