A lawsuit filed last week against the University of Southern California by a law school graduate, Courtney Whittier, alleges the school’s “replete with sexual misconduct,” and that there’s a “policy of indifference” to misconduct claims. The complaint alleges violations of the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
According to the complaint, Whittier alleges she attended a school-sanctioned event at a bar in December of 2017, after which she was raped by a fellow USC student. As reported by the ABA Journal, after Whittier reported the rape to the dean, she alleges the school failed to properly handle the claim:
Whittier alleges that the school’s Title IX coordinator pressured her not to initiate a Title IX investigation. When the school did conduct an investigation, it violated its own policies by allowing the alleged perpetrator to review Whittier’s evidence before submitting his own evidence, Whittier claims. The alleged perpetrator was also allowed to submit additional evidence that was never revealed to Whittier, the suit says.
“Most egregiously,” the suit says, “USC predetermined the outcome of plaintiff’s complaint in favor of perpetrator before finishing its investigation.” The suit cites an alleged statement by the Title IX coordinator that she would find for Whittier “over [her] dead body.”
According to the complaint, Whittier’s alleged attacker was represented in the Title IX proceedings by a lawyer who had previously sued the school on behalf other students accused of sexual misconduct. Whittier says this led the school to find in favor of her alleged rapist.
In the Title IX investigation, Whittier’s case was handled by an “Investigator Doe.” Doe filed a lawsuit against USC in July 2020 also alleging violations of Title IX. Whittier says this is when she became aware of the scope of the problem at USC:
Investigator Doe said in the suit they had no training in Title IX investigations, which was a violation of a prior consent decree between USC and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, according to Whittier. The agreement was reached after the office concluded that the school violated Title IX in the way that it responded to sexual misconduct reports, Whittier said.
Investigator Doe alleged that they were removed from Whittier’s investigation after opposing a decision to allow the alleged perpetrator to review evidence before he submitted evidence, a violation of USC policy, Whittier alleged.
USC said of the complaint, “We are reviewing the lawsuit in detail.”
Read the full complaint below.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).