NEW YORK – A student at Yeshiva University in New York City filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the school and some of its leadership, claiming the university covered up her rape by a student athlete and mishandled its investigation. did.
The lawsuit claims that Modern Conservative University “falsely investigated” the case in order to shield a major fundraising campaign, and alleges that the effort was part of a longer pattern of covering up sexual assault.
The student said that she was raped by a classmate in her off-campus apartment in January 2021. She publicly disclosed the incident in a newspaper column in August and said that the school handled her ruthlessly after she reported the matter. Both the accuser and the alleged rapist have remained anonymous.
The case, filed Monday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, intensified charges against the university. It claimed that the university, its general counsel, Title IX coordinator and the law firm appointed to investigate the case “conspired to ignore, bury and cover up” the allegations.
The 137-page complaint alleges that the defendants failed to properly handle the incident as a Title IX case, misled the accuser and the student body about how he was handling the matter and a Conducted a negligence investigation that initially determined that the accused rapist was “not responsible.” Title IX is a federal civil rights law that deals with gender discrimination in federally funded education programs, and covers sexual assault and harassment.
The lawsuit states that the defendants “jointly made a knowledgeable, conscious and calculated decision” to cover the charges with a “pretend investigation”.
In response, the university said, “The allegations made against the university in this complaint are clearly false. We are confident that a proper and thorough investigation was conducted into the matter.”
“Our professionals, including those named in this lawsuit, work tirelessly to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and have taken extensive steps to provide assistance specifically in this matter,” a university spokesperson said.
The lawsuit also states that the law firm the university hired to conduct an “independent investigation” into the case had a clear conflict of interest on the university’s side, as lawyers were previously charged legal fees to defend the university. was paid in millions of dollars. Allegations of past sexual abuse.
The plaintiffs say that university investigators deliberately did not combine the rape kit with evidence collected by the hospital the day after the incident, did not interview key witnesses during the investigation, and that she was negligent, despite the investigation’s decision. Appeal against was not allowed.
Yeshiva University, New York. (Wikimedia Commons)
The lawsuit states, “U defendants took every possible action to deny plaintiff a full, fair and impartial judgment of her rape complaint because each defendant conspired to ignore, bury, and cover up the charges.”
A university spokesperson said, “The firm hired by Yeshiva University, which includes a female principal investigator who is a former Title IX coordinator at a top five national university, conducted a thorough investigation and submitted a conclusive report backed by all evidence.” We also enlisted an additional investigative firm to review the case, led by a former Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor who validated the earlier process and agreed with the findings.
“At Yeshiva University, we take very seriously our duty to make every effort to prevent and address sexual harassment in our campus environment and surrounding areas,” the spokesperson said.
The student also claimed in Monday’s lawsuit that the university did not take any measures to protect her after the incident, including separating her from the alleged rapist, or punishing her in any way, who killed her and other female students. put at risk.
The student has not yet sought a specific amount in damages and has sought trial by jury.
The court filings include a non-disclosure agreement dated April 1, 2021, signed by the university, barring it from disclosing the results of the investigation and ordering it to be destroyed a few days after receiving the report. She has said that her accused rapist also signed a non-disclosure agreement, which the school required from both of them prior to the investigation.
The filing also includes a May 2021 letter from the university informing the accuser of the findings. The one-page letter said “it has been determined that the evidence does not support a conclusion” that she was a victim of sexual assault, without explaining the decision.
The plaintiffs say that the university largely shrugged off the case in order to conduct the case more effectively.take off“Fundraising campaign that is seeking $613 million over the course of several years. It has raised over $256 million to date.
The alleged rapist was a member of the basketball team, and he said the school wanted to save the reputation of the team. After making public allegations in student newspaper commentatorThe basketball team continued an impossible, record-setting winning streak that was met with widespread acclaim.
The accuser is also a university athlete and full-time student. He has discussed the matter in detail Jeff Lacks radio show.
The lawsuit claims that the case is part of a longer pattern of covering up sexual abuse by the university for decades, stating that the school has reported zero cases of rape on or near its campuses in recent years. Fraudulent report published. The trial includes data showing that the university has reported zero rape or sex crimes since 2001, claiming that it is the only or only university in the US that has not reported any incidents in that time frame. . Federal law requires colleges and universities to publish and distribute information on crimes, including sex crimes.
“For two decades, YU has created a malicious, fake, and reckless story about the security of its campuses,” the lawsuit says.
In 2019, dozens of former students of a high school run by the university said they were molested in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. sued accused The university failed to protect students at Yeshiva University High School for Boys.
different $380 million lawsuit The last was dismissed in 2014 for its handling of sexual abuse allegations, but was revived in various forms after the state of New York changed the legal statuettes for alleged sexual abuse cases.
the university Committed to “Restructuring” An office that deals with sexual assault and assault in response to the case and appoints a new Title IX coordinator to assist with sexual assault cases. Unlike most other large universities, the school’s Title IX office did not previously have an official dedicated to such matters.
Student activists said those steps indicated progress, but not enough. Monday’s lawsuit said the changes were “meaningless window-dressing.”
The student’s attorney, Kevin Mulhern, said in a statement that he and the plaintiffs believe the university’s “completely unreasonable dismissal of a rape complaint is the first time that UU has condoned rape or sexual assault.” done and forgiven”.
“My client is and will be tireless in the pursuit of justice because he is compelled to do everything in his power to prevent what happened to him from happening again,” Mulhern said.
Yeshiva University’s basketball team garnered national attention this year with a record-setting winning streak that earned it a stellar profile on ESPN and other national outlets.
There is no allegation of wrongdoing by the basketball team or other players.