Lawrence University is facing a new Title IX lawsuit alleging that university officials allowed a student to remain on campus after he was accused of committing sexually aggressive acts .

The student who filed this Title IX lawsuit alleges that the male student eventually raped her, despite previous reports describing his behavior several months before the alleged incident.

According to the Title IX lawsuit, an investigation conducted by the university had found that the male student had “engaged in a pattern of predatory sexual assaults” against three women and harassed a fourth.

Even though this behavior reportedly violated the university’s sexual misconduct policy, the university allegedly did not expel him until police involvement. The claim further states that three women had complained about the student to university officials, and that he had been banned from attending “most fraternities because of his sexually aggressive behavior.”

The woman who filed this Title IX lawsuit has chosen to identify herself as Jane Doe, and alleges university officials had practiced “deliberate indifference” towards the suspected male student.

This student was eventually expelled from campus, but only after the woman reported him for rape to the Appleton police. The Title IX lawsuit states that the assault occurred last fall when the woman was a freshman, while the male student was a junior.

Overview of Title IX Lawsuit

According to the Title IX lawsuit, Doe had met the man while working at an athletic facility on campus and had become friendly with him and communicated through social media sometimes.

However, on the night of a fraternity party in October 2017, Doe and the student met each other and he eventually invited her by text to his dorm to watch movies. During the text messages, she stated that she had been drinking and “didn’t want anything to happen” and he reportedly responded that nothing would.

By the time Doe had arrived at his dorm room, she says she was barely conscious and was allegedly raped by the male student. Doe had reportedly met up with the male student at a later time to discuss the incident with him, where he allegedly assaulted her again.

According to the Title IX lawsuit, Doe had reported these incidents using the university’s online sexual misconduct report system, but had received no reply. Later in January 2018, Doe went to the Appleton police and had also met with the university’s Title IX Coordinator, Kimberly Jones, and Dean of Students, Curt Lauderdale.

The lawsuit alleges that there had been three prior allegations against this male student, but the Title IX Coordinator claimed she was not aware of Doe’s initial report. The Title IX lawsuit references the male student in the claim, but only lists Lawrence University as the defendant. The plaintiff is seeking various damages including negligence and violations after Title IX.

According to the guidelines of federal law, Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any university or program run by federal funding.

Lawrence University Vice President of Enrollment and Communications, Ken Anselment, stated that the university has publicized procedures regarding how to handle reports of campus sexual misconduct.

Anselment also stated the university “takes all matters of student safety very seriously and remains committed to providing a fair and equitable process for addressing claims of sexual misconduct.”