Stanford accused in lawsuit of ignoring complaints about serial sexual 'predator'

Suit claims male student violently assaulted several women,
but the university discouraged them from filing complaints and
questioned one woman’s clothes

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Wednesday 7 December 2016 05.04 GMT

Stanford University ignored complaints about sexual assault, dismissed victims with disturbing allegations and failed to discipline a “known predator”, according to a federal lawsuit, allowing the student to violently attack multiple women.

The complaint alleges that an unnamed male student strangled one victim and told her “no one will notice when you die” before raping her and that he repeatedly told another woman to “kill herself” after sexually assaulting her.

Despite having knowledge of the man’s attacks against multiple students – which occurred between 2010 and 2014 – Stanford officials did little to punish the perpetrator and protect other women, the lawsuit claimed. On the contrary, university officials allegedly discouraged victims from filing complaints, in one case questioning whether a victim’s clothing put her at risk for assault.

The shocking accusations paint a picture of a system that endangers students and come at a time of increased scrutiny of the sexual violence, harassment and discrimination that survivors’ advocates say are rampant on US college campuses.

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