“Some students were discouraged from filing a formal complaint, while others were not informed of their rights,” said Caroline Heldman, chairwoman of Occidental’s politics department, who joined Allred and the alleged victims at a news conference. “In some cases, the college chose to let perpetrators back on campus after they had been found responsible for non-consensual sexual intercourse.”
Los Angeles police say they have investigated three rape cases involving Occidental College students in the last three years, far fewer than current and former students outline in a civil rights complaint.
In the U.S. Department of Education complaint filed Thursday, attorney Gloria Allred’s law firm, which represents several current and former students, alleges that 37 students were “raped, sexually assaulted, battered, harassed or retaliated against for speaking out against sexual violence” since 2009.
The women say the college discourages reporting of sex crimes and proceeding with criminal and/or administrative action against the perpetrators.
Five current and former female students alleged in a news conference Thursday that they had been raped on campus or in nearby student housing during the years covered in the complaint.
A sixth woman described herself as a victim of sexual assault during the news conference outlining the complaint, which alleges that the college violated Title IX, which bars sex discrimination at schools.
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