A group of six students — four current and two former — Thursday filed federal Title IX complaints against Vanderbilt University for the alleged “mistreatment of sexual assaults,” according to senior Sarah Beth O’Brien, one of the students who filed the complaints. The complaints were filed shortly after midnight Thursday morning to the Office for Civil Rights hosted under the United States Department of Education.
“As a group and as individuals, we decided to file complaints against the university on the grounds that the university created and perpetuated a hostile environment for us as well as the general student body,” O’Brien said in a statement to InsideVandy.com.
O'Brien, who was raped during her freshman year at Vanderbilt, said she and others have been afraid to come forward as a result of "horror stories" about the lengthy and painful process that the complainants claim are associated with reporting or sharing their stories with university resources.
"In spring 2010, I joined the majority of victims of rape who remain silent about their assault. I could not imagine facing the institutional and communal feelings of betrayal and shame," O'Brien wrote in a guest column featured in The Vanderbilt Hustler and on InsideVandy.com.
All others associated with the filing wished to remain anonymous. One complainant's filing, however, centered on the issue of stalking. She claims that the university did nothing in response to her reports after being convinced to allow the school to handle the stalking. "That's a huge part of our complaint as well," O'Brien said.
O’Brien said the students associated with the complaint preferred that details regarding the specific incidents not be made public. However, she said the filing is the “exact same type of complaint filed at other universities,” including Yale and Swarthmore.
Yale faced a fine of $27,500 for each offense, totaling over $150,000, after investigations found that the school had violated the Clery Act, which requires that all universities accurately report crime statistics on campus, including those related to sexual assault and harassment.
“We also demonstrate the university's mistreatment of sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual assault cases,” O'Brien said. “It is our hope that filing these complaints will begin to affect change at our university, encourage other survivors to speak out and for respectful and responsible conversations among students about these issues.”
The day before the complaint was filed, O'Brien and many other students participated in the unveiling of the Clothesline Project, an emotional event where students hung T-shirts with survivor stories on clotheslines in Sarratt Student Center. The event was organized for Vanderbilt Students for Nonviolence (VSN).
Following the event, after which VSN presented Dean of Students Mark Bandas a list of problems and demands from the university, Bandas expressed support for the fight against sexual violence, but insisted that university policy addresses the problem currently.
"As a university, we consistently work to enhance the ways we can prevent sexual violence and support survivors. And we welcome suggestions of this group of students," Bandas said in a prepared statement to InsideVandy.com. "Much of what they recommend is in place now, and we will consider additional ways of communicating our current policies and mechanisms for dealing with sexual violence and assisting victims."
Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Beth Fortune said in a statement to InsideVandy.com that the university had not yet received a copy of Thursday's complaint, but will fully cooperate with the Department of Education.
The Office for Civil Rights complaint guidelines require that complaints be filed within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. The complainants must wait anywhere from 2 to 14 days receive confirmation on their filing from the Office of Civil Rights. If the case moves forward, more specifics on the claims against Vanderbilt will become available.
Vanderbilt has been in the national spotlight on sexual assault following the alleged June 23 rape of an unconscious female student in Gillette Hall involving four former Vanderbilt football players, all of whom have pleaded not guilty. The complaint filed on Nov. 14, however, is not connected to this summer incident, according to O’Brien.
O’Brien and the other complainants are not being represented by any legal counsel or advocacy group. She is, however, working closely with a student from Amherst College who filed a similar complaint last week.
The complaint is only the first step in a process that could include an extended investigation and eventually fines for the university if federal officials find that either the Clery Act or Title IX policy was violated or not adequately enforced, according to the Office for Civil Rights.
Stay tuned to InsideVandy.com for more information on this story.
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