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Wesleyan 'Rape Factory' Fraternity's Lawyers Demand Assault Victim Be Named Publicly

'Rape Factory' Frat's Lawyers Demand Victim Be Named
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By 

Senior Editor/Reporter, The Huffington Post

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Attorneys for the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Wesleyan University argued in a court filing this week that anonymity is inappropriate for a woman who has filed a lawsuit saying she was raped at a party at the Greek organization in 2010.

A motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court claims that the woman's use of a pseudonym "allows her to make defamatory statements against [the fraternity and Wesleyan] behind a cloak of anonymity," the Hartford Courant reported.

The former Wesleyan undergraduate, identified in court papers only as "Jane Doe," is suing the university for allegedly failing to warn the campus properly about a fraternity that some students referred to as a "Rape Factory." The suit claims that Wesleyan, a private school in central Connecticut, violated the federal gender-equity law Title IX by not protecting students and failing to provide Doe with resources after she was raped at the frat. She is also suing the Mu Epsilon chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and its national organization.

The woman said she was raped in a locked room during a 2010 Halloween party at Beta Theta Pi by John O'Neill, who was neither a member of the frat nor a student at the school. O'Neill pleaded no contest to lesser charges of third-degree assault and first-degree unlawful restraint and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Lawyers for the fraternity argue the woman "fails to provide support for her claim that the disclosure of her name would affect her emotional and physical well-being," the Courant reports.

However, Doe's suit contends that after her report, Wesleyan officials responded with emailed warnings to the student body and housing policy changes that led to harassment by some student supporters of the fraternity, who discovered her identity and targeted her with protests outside of her dorm and elsewhere.

"We disagree with the Fraternity Defendants' position on the pseudonym issue," said Timothy O'Keefe, an attorney for Doe, in a statement to The Huffington Post. "We believe Connecticut law protects a sexual assault victim's identity from full public disclosure in these circumstances."

O'Keefe said they plan to explain their position fully in objection papers they plan to file "sometime over the next several days."

In April, Beta Theta Pi was the site of an alleged physical assault and an attempted sexual assault, the Wesleyan Argus reported. Beta president Elliot Albert emphasized at the time they were outraged and said, "We collectively need to do a better job at raising awareness and prevention of these types of events."

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Before You Go

Schools Investigating Or Reviewing Policies On Sexual Assault
University Of Colorado - Boulder(01 of09)
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CU-Boulder has two federal complaints against it, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has opened one for investigation. (credit:AP)
Swarthmore College(02 of09)
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Students at Swarthmore College filed a Title IX civil rights complaint and a Clery Act complaint which alleges the college underreports sexual assaults and fails to respond to properly handle reports of sexual misconduct and harassment. The college promised to launch a review of their policies, and began announcing reforms in the summer of 2013. (credit:Wikimedia Commons)
Amherst College(03 of09)
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After Angie Epifano wrote a lengthy op-ed about her experience trying to report a sexual assault at Amherst College, the school started an internal review and a revamp of their policies. (credit:Wikimedia Commons/Screengrabs)
University Of North Carolina - Chapel Hill(04 of09)
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The University of North Carolina began looking into their own policies after students and a former administrator filed two complaints with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. The university now has three federal investigations launched by the Education Department, including one into whether the university retaliated against one of the complainants. (credit:Alamy)
University Of Montana(05 of09)
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Update: The DOJ found the university botched rape reports.May 12, 2012 report from AP:MISSOULA, Mont. -- The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into the way Missoula police, prosecutors and the University of Montana have responded to reports of sexual assault and harassment after the agency learned of complaints that cases were not being properly handled.The investigation was disclosed Tuesday after a preliminary examination conducted earlier this year concluded there was enough evidence to move ahead with a full probe, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said.Lawyers from the Justice Department's civil rights division will look at all 80 sexual assaults reported by women in Missoula over the past three years. Eleven sexual assaults involving university students have been reported in the past 18 months. Prosecutors were trying to figure out whether those university complaints were included in the total number of citywide assaults reported. (credit:Alamy)
Oklahoma State Sexual Assault Reporting - Reviewed By University Task Force(06 of09)
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Dec. 17, 2012:
It took nearly a month for Oklahoma State University officials to tell police that a single student had been accused by several others of sexual assault, prompting confusion and outrage over the lengthy delay.On Thursday, OSU President Burns Hargis announced he asked the Board of Regents' task force to review the school's handling of the sexual assault complaints. The task force was formed in July to review school policies and ensure a situation like the Sandusky scandal at Penn State does not unfold at OSU.Hargis said in a statement that OSU "cannot leave any doubt that we are indeed properly and appropriately handling sexual misconduct allegations," Tulsa World reports.
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University Of Notre Dame(07 of09)
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University of Notre Dame Under Federal Review After Second Family Complains About Assault Allegations Mishandle Feb. 19, 2011:
The University of Notre Dame has been placed under federal review by the U.S. Department of Education following two incidents of reported sexual assault that occurred this academic year.
 (credit:AP)
Yale University(08 of09)
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Two years after the Ivy League school went under a federal investigation, students and alumni once again say the university fails to properly handle sexual assaults and harassment.June 15, 2012 report from Time magazine:
The Department of Education announced on Friday that it had resolved a complaint that Yale University had failed to eliminate sexual discrimination on campus.The complaint, filed by a group of 16 current and former students in March 2011, stemmed from an incident on campus on the evening of Oct. 13, 2010, in which members of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity marched across the Yale campus to a dorm where many female students lived and chanted “No means yes! Yes means anal!” A video of the chanting men was posted online and quickly went viral, spurring an uproar at the university and nationwide.
Yale was fined $165,000 by the feds. (credit:Alamy)
Southern Methodist University -- Launches Task Force After String Of Sexual Assaults Reported(09 of09)
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Oct. 12, 2012 report from HuffPost:
Two students in separate cases were arrested last month on sexual assault charges. However, it raised eyebrows as people noted it took eight months to bring charges in one case while only a few days in the other. In response to the controversy, SMU announced a special task force to review how the school handles reports of sexual violence.Administrative action aside, problems persist on the Texas campus. On Wednesday, just a day before the first task force meeting, students received a crime alert warning of another sexual assault; this one allegedly targeting a young woman in her apartment west of campus by an acquaintance and fellow SMU student. The incident became the fifth sexual assault reported this year and the third in the past six weeks to go under investigation by University Park police.At least 40 sexual assaults were reported since 2006, according to the SMU Daily Campus, and almost all of them from SMU students. Over the past 25 years, more than 100 women at SMU reported being sexually assaulted.
 (credit:Alamy)
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