ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (KWQC) - The former Augustana College student who filed a lawsuit against the school claiming retaliation and discrimination when filing a Title IX complaint wants to share her story in hopes of changing future cases. Grace O’Shea was a sophomore at Augustana when she says she was sexually assaulted by a man she didn’t recognize while she was at a bar off-campus.
O’Shea says the assault happened in the early morning hours of April 15, 2018. Later that day, O’Shea got a sexual assault kit and reported the incident to Augustana College. The school says the location of an assault, on or off-campus, does not impact a report. The next day, the alleged assault was also reported to Rock Island police. O’Shea says she moved on with her life, thinking she wouldn’t see her alleged attacker again. That was until September of 2018 when he was on Augustana’s campus as a student.
“There’s not really words to describe how much they have wrongly treated survivors,” says O’Shea. She says at first, she didn’t recognize the man she says assaulted her in April of 2018, and that almost gave her some peace of mind when she went back to school the next year. “Going back my Junior year, feeling safe, knowing that I don’t know who this person is that I know they don’t go here and then starting my senior year with my whole life and ahead of me. And then just this new drastic change in my life was really really difficult.”
Once O’Shea says she recognized her alleged perpetrator’s identity, she filed a formal complaint. The hearing date for her trial was set for July 14, 2020. However, O’Shea says that the hearing was canceled when she received a letter from the school saying it was due to the alleged perpetrator not being a student at the time of the alleged assault. Augustana’s policy on their website though, says everyone in the Augustana community, including visitors, must abide by their policies. O’Shea claims the school assured her that wouldn’t be an issue, prior to filing the complaint.
There are different options available for survivors, including a no-contact order. Even so, O’Shea says she felt she would be punished if she accidentally ran into her alleged perpetrator on campus, particularly since they were both in sports and would be in similar buildings, “it does have an impact on freedom that you feel you have on campus.”
Augustana College says they work to help students through this process as much as they can. Dr. Jessica Schultz, the Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and Associate Professor of Psychology says, “for students and individuals, recognizing that this is among the most difficult experiences likely that they’ve experienced. So really wanting and seeking to provide as much care and support as we can, through the process.” Schultz says the school offers various resources, including “counseling on or off-campus, medical resources, access to academic support or academic accommodations, really depending on what a student needs.”
Schultz says cases are generally resolved within 90 days. While she can’t comment on specific cases, “each case is unique and a case is typically resolved within that 90 days.”O’Shea says hers took 177 days and even then was dropped. “That’s one more day that you have to keep what happened fresh in your mind. And when you’re being asked to gather details and name people who might have seen something that night, your focus shifts away from the things that are important to you like classes, friends, family, athletics. And your entire life becomes just the worst day of your life, over and over and over and over again... it really adds up.”
A few days later, O’Shea submitted an appeal letter, detailing the alleged Title IX violations. That appeal was denied on August 14.
O’Shea says during the interview process with Augustana’s Title IX investigative team, an officer asked what she was wearing, how much she drank, and whether she was “looking for a good time.” O’Shea says that line of questioning for a survivor is “just not acceptable at all.” She says her friends were also asked questions about her “promiscuity” and how she behaves herself around boys, “it’s just not fair” says O’Shea.
Then, O’Shea decided she needed to file a lawsuit against Augustana College for what she calls “discrimination” and “retaliatory actions.” O’Shea’s attorney Nicole Gorovsky adds, “it was an ongoing hostile environment, especially because this student ended up on the campus. But even before that, she had some difficulty in accessing all of her education as a result. But then it got worse obviously when the student ended up on campus. So Title IX says that the school has to deal with that situation.”
O’Shea hopes by bringing the lawsuit forward, “that has some bearing on the way they handle these cases in the future.”
Gorovsky says she’s not sure when their case will be heard in court due to the pandemic affecting their timeline. The lawsuit includes various charges, including three counts of violation of Title IX and violation of preventing sexual assault in higher education. While O’Shea reported her assault in 2018, her alleged perpetrator is not facing any charges at this time.
TV6 also reached out to O’Shea’s alleged perpetrator. His legal team says they cannot comment at this time but will consider commenting once they’ve had a chance to read the complaint.
Augustana College released a statement last week when O’Shea originally filed the lawsuit. It reads in part: We care about our students deeply, and we serve students fairly and equitably. Our actions are guided by our mission, values, and our community principles. And the press release you received does not reflect what we know to be true about the college or our policies prohibiting sex discrimination on campus.
You can hear Dr. Schultz explain how Title IX complaints are filed and how nationwide data influences their processes here:
Copyright 2020 KWQC. All rights reserved.
"story" - Google News
December 01, 2020 at 01:18PM
https://ift.tt/2Jtms54
Augustana graduate shares her story on filing a lawsuit against college's Title IX process - KWQC
"story" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YrOfIK
https://ift.tt/2xwebYA
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Augustana graduate shares her story on filing a lawsuit against college's Title IX process - KWQC"
Post a Comment