A student at Stanford University has sued the institution for failing to protect women. This comes after a sexual predator was said to have been allowed to graduate even with several reported assaults on female students.
SFGate reported that the civil rights suit was filed on Monday at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. This comes only months after the case of former Stanford student Brock Turner for sexual assault on an unconscious woman on campus.
Brock Turner was recently released on Sep. 2 after only serving three months of his six-month sentence, which faced backlash for its leniency. Stanford rape case judge Aaron Persky has gained backlash as well after he reportedly gave another athlete, who was charged with attacking his girlfriend, a break.
The latest case against Stanford stated that Mr. X, the assailant, allegedly attempted to rape the plaintiff in Feb. 2014 after she refused to perform oral sex. The assailant was also said to have physically assaulted and verbally abused the victim.
The plaintiff, who is identified as Jane Doe, had ended her relationship with Mr. X prior to the assault. Later, she discovered that two other students had been sexually assaulted, battered or threatened by the assailant between 2011 and 2014.
It was believed that Stanford officials "ignored those reports" but ordered Mr. X to stay away from Jane Doe. The university has also banned the assailant from campus for 10 years.
Nonetheless, he was allowed to obtain a bachelor's and master's degree. The lawsuit added that the school did nothing when Mr. X violated the orders, including the non-contact directive.
"Women will not have an equal opportunity to succeed academically until the epidemic of sexual violence on campus ends," Rebecca Peterson-Fisher, the lead attorney for Equal Rights Advocates, one of three law firms representing Jane Doe in the action, said. "Institutions like Stanford need to be held accountable for their failure to recognize the severity of these crimes and to comply with Title IX."
