It’s a story that has become far too common these days: a college student is raped and reports it to their university, but the university does not handle the case appropriately or frankly at all. This tragic tale has happened once again with two rape victims at Kansas State University.
According to The New York Times, the two victims, Sara Weckhorst and Tessa Farmer, reportedly told the university that they had been raped on two separate occasions in university-recognized fraternity houses off-campus in 2014 and 2015.
The university refused to investigate their cases and cited policy: “[O]ff campus occurrences that are not related to University-sponsored programs or activities are investigated under this Policy only if those occurrences relate to discrimination, harassment, or retaliation alleged on campus.”
In short, because the fraternities were located off-campus, the university refused to intervene and investigate the case.
Weckhorst and Farmer filed lawsuits against the university for its failure to investigate and violation of Title IX, a civil rights stature that prohibits discrimination based on sex.
In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights wrote in a letter that stated that universities were obligated to investigate sexual assault cases that occurred at university-sponsored or related events on or off-campus under Title IX.
The U.S. Government has responded once again and stated that Title IX encompasses “all education programs of a federally funded school, including the house and events of a school-recognized fraternity…A school must respond to allegations of sexual assault in fraternity activities to determine if a hostile environment exists there or in any other education program or activity.”
Kansas State’s failure to act – along with any other university who chooses to act in such an abhorrent manner – demonstrates that if a person assaults another student, there will be no punishment. It also shows to these victims that their safety is of no priority to the university.
