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Carleton University in Ottawa and a student victim known only as Jane Doe have settled a lawsuit brought by Doe following her sexual assault in a campus chemistry lab in 2007. Doe was suing the university for $535,000 to cover the physical and emotional injuries she suffered. The case was controversial--and remains so--because, according to the CU: We're Asking for It blog,
Carleton University has not retracted or addressed their statements from the legal defense which stated that the "victim failed to prevent the assault" and that the injuries she "claims" to have sustained are "exaggerated, excessive and due to a pre-existing medical condition"
You can read statements from both parties in the lawsuit in this PDF, which provides a detailed account of the particularly violent assault on the then-25-year-old Muslim woman who was working alone in the lab after her professor left for the evening. According to the document,
The sexual assault has also had significant psychological and emotional consequences for Doe. In particular due to her religious and cultural background, Doe fears that public knowledge of the assault will cause both her and her family to be ostracized from her community. Doe likewise fears that public knowledge of the fact that she was sexually assaulted will negatively impact her prospects of marriage and a family life.
Doe's attorney also outlines Doe's previous plans to get her degree in a scientific discipline, intern, and then get a better-paying job. Doe had to abandon those plans and because of family and cultural commitments, is unable or unwilling to attend a university far from her home. Instead, she now works as a customer service representative with an annual salary of $27,000. Doe claims that as a result of the university's negligence in failing to secure the building, she has suffered not only physical, emotional, and psychological harm, but also a lasting loss of income.
In response, the university (in the legal documents) claimed that Doe was assaulted because she was negligent in providing for her own safety.
Female Science Professor explains her experiences as a female scientist working at a university, detailing how some men at her university failed to understand that their actions--such as setting up a 24/7 public webcam to show work going on in a lab--could jeopardize her safety and that of her students. For example, she cites a time
when a campus police officer who came to apprehend a strange, thieving, lying person who had been giving me trouble on and off for months blamed me for the situation because I leave my office door open when I am in the office during the day on weekdays.
She also contextualizes scientific work on a university campus:
[... T]he student chose to remain on the premises. Apparently the professor left at 11:30 pm and the student stayed on. There's no way to know how much choice was involved in the student's staying to work. Even if the professor didn't explicitly say "You must stay here and keep working or else", the student may have felt the need to stay and continue working for any number of reasons common to students involved in research. Choice isn't really the right word to use in the context of a student's decision about how much/when to work. As a professor, I choose to work at night in my office because it's the best way for me to get done all the things I need to get done. Does that really mean that my university has no responsibility for my safety when I am working in a campus building at night?
Students and supporters of Jane Doe and other victims (and potential victims) of sexual assault are now rallying for the establishment of a sexual assault support center on campus.
For more about issues surrounding victim responsibility, see Nordette's post from yesterday.
What are your thoughts? How much responsibility does a university bear for securing its buildings and ensuring the safety of its students, faculty, and staff, especially since all three groups work around the clock? Conversely, how much responsibility should individuals assume in protecting themselves?
Leslie Madsen-Brooks develops learning experiences for K-12, university, and museum clients. She blogs at The Clutter Museum, Museum Blogging, and is the founder of Eager Mondays, a consultancy providing unconventional professional development.
