Students sue Brown University, claim administration repeatedly downplayed or dismissed sexual misconduct complaints

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“The indifference of the school and the impunity granted to their attackers compromises the education of women, establishes a code of silence regarding sexual assault and reinforces humiliation and psychological stress, making their campus a hostile place” , said co-counsel Kim Evans. Brown University’s Main Green in 1990. The school is the subject of a class action lawsuit by four current and former students who say it has failed to protect them from harm “despite knowing that the assault sex on its campus are rampant ”. (Will Hart / Flickr)

In the fall of 1990, students at Brown University were frustrated and angered by the administration’s derisory response to reports of sexual assault. So they took matters into their own hands.

According to an article in the New York Times at the time, the Brown University library “has become a repository of information of a most unusual kind: on the walls of its bathroom, women made a list. male students who the women said had raped them. Repeatedly cleaned out of bathrooms by janitors only to reappear, the list of names has grown in recent weeks to 30 and has appeared in several other bathrooms on campus.

More than 30 years later, Brown is again coming under heavy criticism for his alleged failure to tackle sexual assault on campus. But this time, the university faces a class action lawsuit brought by four current and former students – all survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault on campus – who claim the school has failed to protect them. against harm “despite the fact that sexual assault on its campus is rampant.” The case, filed in federal court in Rhode Island on August 6, alleges that Brown officials have repeatedly downplayed or dismissed complaints of sexual misconduct – including stalking and assault – in violation of Federal Title IX rules, Rhode Island Civil Rights Act and Brown’s. code of conduct.

“Brown’s survivors are silenced, injured, fired and discouraged from seeking justice at the university,” said the four plaintiffs – Carter Woodruff, Chloe Burns, Taja Hirata-Epstein and Katiana Soenen. “Brown’s so-called justice and support systems, and the faculty, staff and administrators who operate them, actively perpetuate and exacerbate the injustices and prejudices they claim to address. “

The four complainants are two recent graduates and two students. They are jointly represented by the law firms Grant & Eisenhofer and Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky. The lawsuit seeks to represent all of the women who have dated Brown since 2018, who have experienced sexual violence and have subsequently been “further traumatized by the university’s mismanagement of sexual misconduct complaints.”

“These brave women brought this action expressly to hold Brown University to account for tolerating sexual misconduct. Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky.

The complaint describes sexual misconduct as “rampant” on the Brown campus. In 2019, an independent research firm commissioned by Brown surveyed 3,100 students about their concerns about issues of sexual assault and misconduct at the university. A quarter of undergraduate women reported having had non-consensual sexual touching while at Brown. Almost half (48.2%) of all students reported experiencing at least one type of offensive or inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature. More than 76 percent of the authors were current Brown students. And more than one in five students (22.1%) thought sexual misconduct was very or extremely problematic on the Brown campus.

“Our clients are taking this necessary step confident that, given his previous decades of inaction, Brown will simply continue to act like the 18th century and perpetuate his non-compliant, haphazard and ineffective internal grievance process,” Bailey said. . “We hope this action is a call to other women who have suffered similar abuse and subsequent mistreatment by college administrators to come forward and hold all responsible to account.”

The lawsuit alleges that the university “has failed and continues to fail” to protect women, “creating a campus culture that ignores and even tacitly allows trauma to be inflicted on women.” According to the complaint, “Brown has a system in place that actively deters and thwarts reporting of sexual assault and misconduct on campus despite his knowledge of a pervasive and ongoing problem.”

The complainants allege that “Brown employees … discouraged or even openly prevented the proper reporting of allegations of sexual assault and abuse.” When students were able to file complaints, they were “ignored or insufficiently investigated or addressed, effectively ratifying abusive acts committed against” complainants, they say.

The complaint notes that the university routinely reports many more “incidents” than formal complaints or findings of responsibility. For example, in the 2019-2020 academic year, 103 incidents were reported but only nine formal complaints were filed and only five liability findings, or less than 5% of reported incidents.

The plaintiffs also allege that the university “has regularly retaliated against students who have publicly discussed their experiences, publicly raised complaints against Brown and / or engaged in publicly organized protests against the failures of Brown ”.

Woodruff, Burns, Hirata-Epstein and Soenen said that despite “many student uprisings led by survivors and their allies …

In June 2020, the students created a Voices of Brown Instagram account, where they shared their sexual assault stories and experiences reporting the assaults to Brown. In February 2021, after more than 100 survivors reported their experiences, the students created another Instagram account – End Sexual Violence at Brown, where the students posted an open letter “denouncing the Brown administration and telling a story of many. decades of silencing institutional survivors and suppressing student activism. The students then covered the campus with posters reading “End Sexual Violence @ Brown” and “End the Silence, End the Violence”.

On April 7, students held a COVID-safe, outdoor, in-person protest. They marched to President Brown’s house and presented a list of demands. They later organized an email campaign demanding action. “Brown’s trustees never responded to the actions … directly,” the complaint states, and “only grudgingly agreed to meet with” the student leaders, resulting in “no material change in Brown’s policies or conduct “.

The plaintiffs request a permanent injunction to ensure strict compliance with the provisions of Title IX.

“For Brown University, an Ivy League school and one of the nation’s elite liberal arts institutions, fail students who have suffered physical trauma and need extra care and compassion, c ‘is appalling, “Grant’s co-counsel Kim Evans said. & Eisenhofer. “Not only are these young women not being supported at a particularly vulnerable time, but the indifference of the school and the impunity granted to their attackers compromise the education of women, establish a code of silence around sexual assault and reinforce humiliation and psychological stress, making their campus a hostile place.

Brown University did not respond to a request from Ms for comment on the lawsuit.

“We hope our legal action will bring justice to the countless survivors who suffered at the hands of the university,” said Woodruff, Burns, Hirata-Epstein and Soenen.

Resources are available to help survivors of sexual assault from the National Sexual Assault Hotline operated by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). To speak confidentially with a trained staff member of a local sexual assault service provider, call 800-656-HOPE or visit https://hotline.rainn.org/online.

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