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Students File Federal Complaints Against Columbia University For Mishandling Sexual Violence
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 25, 2014
Modified Apr 25, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 25, 2014
Modified Apr 25, 2014
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Just a day after Columbia University took a stand against sexual violence with a decorated sheet cake, 23 students filed three federal complaints against the University and sister college Barnard, claiming the administration violated Title IX, Title II, and the Clery Act by failing to adequately address allegations of rape and sexual assault.
The complaints were filed with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Thursday, with the students alleging the school failed to provide students with equal access to education, respond adequately to students' reports of sexual assault, and accommodate students' disability statuses.
The university has come under fire recently for failing to address rape and sexual misconduct allegations, and among the allegations enumerated in the federal complaints, students claim survivors of sexual assault tend to be discouraged from formally reporting the assault; individuals accused of rape and assault rarely face punishment for their crimes and are allowed to remain on campus; and victims are discriminated against and denied accommodations based on the mental health disabilities they suffer as a result of the rape and sexual assault.
Camila Quarta, a sophomore who was among the students who filed the complaints, says she was assaulted during her first semester at Columbia. Her assailant was merely suspended for one month of school after admitting to the attack, and she had to move off campus to avoid seeing him. "Each time I see him, it’s really hard, emotionally, and just walking around school, there’s this total paranoia that I’m going to run into him,” she told the Times.
Another student, Rakhi Agrawal, says she was denied mental health accommodations, deterred from seeking counseling and placed on disciplinary and academic probation; she says the university even threatened to expel her. "I was desperate. I tried to kill myself. I needed the support and protection of my Barnard community—but instead they put me on disciplinary probation for my suicide attempt," she said in a press release.
The university tells us that it has not seen the complaints and cannot comment on them, but it takes allegations of sexual assault, rape and misconduct seriously. Their statement:
Sexual assault and gender misconduct are unacceptable, including on college and university campuses. We have been working with students, faculty and staff to make that emphatically clear on our campus and have already taken the first of a series of significant new measures dedicated to preventing such sexual misconduct, supporting survivors, and improving adjudication of these painful cases. That process of action and reform will continue in the months ahead because we are committed to protecting the health, safety and well-being of every member of our university community.
It's not just Columbia that's come under fire for how it handles rape and assault on campus: data shows that about one in 5 female students are assaulted during their time in college, and universities nationwide have been criticized for discouraging students to seek help from outside law enforcement, providing inadequate counseling and failing to properly discipline students accused of assault and rape.
A number of elected officials, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, have launched efforts aiming to combat sexual assaults on campus. "The problem of how colleges are inadequately handling sexual assault cases is systemic and goes well beyond any one campus," Gillibrand told us in a statement. "But it is simply unacceptable that they become havens for rape and sexual assault."
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columbia university
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Rebecca Fishbein
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