The University of Oregon filed a counterclaim earlier this month against a female student who accused the school of mishandling her sexual assault case, insisting her lawsuit will deter rape victims from coming forward in the future.
A current student at UO, known only as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against the university and its men’s basketball coach, Dana Altman, in January, alleging the school recruited a man who they knew had been accused of sexual assault at his previous college. The school has kicked out this student and the two other men Doe said assaulted her at a March 2014 off-campus party.
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UO’s lawsuit is prompting outrage on campus, including an online petition launched over the weekend demanding that the school stop suing rape survivors.
Other colleges have pushed back in lawsuits against sexual assault survivors, but it’s highly uncommon for schools to go as far as Oregon has and sue the alleged victim. Emerson College claimed in October it had no legal duty to protect students from rape. The same month, Virginia Wesleyan University said in a court filing that a rape victim was “contributorily negligent,” but demanded her assailant be required to pay the legal bills.
