LANSING, Mich. (WSYM) - A federal lawsuit that claimed Michigan State University mishandled sexual assault reports from Shayna Gross, Emily Kollaritsch, and a student referred to as Jane Roe 1 will move forward, according to U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney.
Maloney refused to dismiss the lawsuit filed by three former students. However, he did dismiss claims of deliberate indifference against MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and Provost June Youatt. Maloney also dismissed a Title IX claim by one of the students listed in the lawsuit, because he said the facts weren't strong enough to establish a claim. Claims that the university violated due process and failed to provide constitutionally-guaranteed rights were also dismissed.
The three students accused the school of taking too long to investigate their claims of sexual assault, and violated federal law under title nine.
According to the Lansing State Journal, Shayna Gross said she was assaulted in February 2013 at a party, where she said her memory got fuzzy after a male student was mixing her drinks. She said when she woke up that morning, that male student informed her they had sex three times. Gross reported the assault a year later, and it allegedly took MSU eight months to investigate, as reported in the Lansing State Journal. MSU later expelled the male student, reported the Lansing State Journal. Media reports indicated the male student appealed twice, and after the second appeal Gross was informed by the vice president of student affairs and services, Denise Maybank that the previous findings would be set aside, and the entire case would be reinvestigated by an outside party. The outside law firm did not determine a rape had occurred and Maybank overruled his expulsion and denied Gross' appeal, according to the Lansing State Journal.
Emily Kollaritsch said she was sexually assaulted by the same male student in October 2011. That month, reports said the male student attempted to rape Kollaritsch in his on-campus residential room, and sexually assaulted her at Spartan Stadium. Kollaritsch reported the sexual assaults to the Michigan State University Police Department on January 30, 2012.
Jane Roe 1 reported being sexually assaulted in November of 2013. Reports tell us it took a year for MSU to complete their investigation. The victim's mother called university officials between March and May of 2014 to figure out what was taking so long. MSU officials claimed they were waiting for the sexual assault nurse examiner report from Sparrow Hospital. After calling Sparrow in May, she was told that MSU had had the exam since March 14, 2014, the Lansing State Journal reported. Contradicting MSU officials' earlier statements, according to the lawsuit said Lansing State Journal.
Previously Kollaritsch said MSU was not looking out for any victim, and they were only looking out for themselves. "What gives me the most pain, whom we were told were supposed to our advocates, protect us from our assailants, betrayed us in a way that we've never imagined," Kollaritsch said. We have reached out to MSU spokesperson Jason Cody for comment, but we have not heard back from him yet. A trial date has not yet been set in the case.
