‘ENDEMIC’

Students Sue Brown University for Allegedly Failing to Protect Women From Sexual Misconduct

Current and former Brown students allege in a class-action suit that the Ivy school routinely failed to protect its students against sexual violence.

Brown University has been sued by four current and former students who allege the school routinely failed to protect students against sexual violence that is “endemic” on the Ivy League school’s campus.

The suit, filed in federal court in Rhode Island on Friday, alleged that the university had failed to properly handle sexual misconduct complaints made by students to the university and its staff in compliance with the law and created a campus culture that “ignores and even tacitly allows” women’s trauma.

One plaintiff, Katiana Soenen, says she was discouraged from formally reporting a sexual assault in May because her assault took place off-campus. “There was no equitable investigation,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit details the experience of Soenen and other former and current students who say they are survivors of gender-based discrimination, sexual assault, sexual harassment or stalking while attending Brown beginning in 2018.