An Emerson College student said the school mishandled her sexual assault complaint and did nothing to prevent him from attacking her a second time, including telling the victim to shrug it off.
The Huffington Post reported that Sarah Tedesco, a sophomore at the Boston school, filed a complaint following being sexually assaulted Oct. 13, 2012. The school began an investigation and found the accused person, who attacked again during the probe, "not responsible."
The investigation began in January and lasted about three months, during which time the alleged attacker lived nearby in their off-campus residence hall. Tedesco said a school administrator told her not to report it to the Cambridge police and to pursue the investigation through the school.
She also said the school did not aid her in any way when she then started receiving anonymous threats.
"When I brought this concern up, I was quickly told by several people in the administration and Office of Housing and Residence Life that it was a quiet matter and I shouldn't be making a big deal with it," Tedesco told the Huffington Post.
Joined by other Emerson students, Tedesco filed a federal complaint with the U.S. Education Department's (ED) Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The complaint alleges the school violated the women's rights under the Title IX gender equality federal law. Also potentially being violated is the Clery Act, a law requiring schools to accurately and timely release campus crime statistics.
An Emerson spokesman declined comment, saying the school had not seen the complaint led by Tedesco and Jillian Doherty, a junior.
Tedesco said campus police were not helpful the day after when she went to report the crime. In the three months before the investigation began, she also said the school called her parents and told them of the assault, which she believed was an invasion of privacy. Additionally, the school "advised" her to take a semester off for emotional healing.
"Basically asking me to leave the college which was something I obviously didn't want to hear from a school administrator," Tedesco said. "It made me very nervous that I was doing something wrong."
Tedesco, Doherty and other Emerson students formed an alliance in filing their complaint, acting on advice given by students who filed a federal complaint at Swarthmore College.
The only problem facing the Emerson students' complaint is it was filed during the government shutdown. Because OCR is a federal agency, officials cannot review the complaint until a bill is passed approving the federal budget.