TampaBay.com
Caitlin Johnson | Tuesday, January 27, 2015
TAMPA — The University of South Florida is under federal investigation for possibly mishandling a sexual assault case, making it the second Florida school to face scrutiny since the White House created a task force on campus rape last January.
The accuser, a 22-year-old woman who spoke with the Tampa Bay Times this month, said the university failed to properly investigate her case, which she said happened last February when she was still a student.
The woman did not report the incident to the police. She said she feared they wouldn't believe her because she was dating the man and also worked with him on campus. However, she reported it to university officials, who conducted an investigation and an appeal, both times finding insufficient evidence.
She sent a complaint against USF to the U.S. Department of Education on July 7 after the initial investigation, alleging discrimination and retaliation for reporting the rape. The complaint outlined the events and investigation and included more than 750 pages of documents.
The department opened an investigation Sept. 3. In a letter, it said the Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether USF "failed to provide prompt and equitable responses," whether such failure subjected the woman or other students "to a sexually hostile environment," and whether USF "retaliated against the Complainant by taking her off the work schedule after she reported the sexual violence."
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The Times is not naming the accuser because she says she is a victim of sexual assault. She said she has faced a series of roadblocks as she seeks resolution for the attack and its effects on her employment.
The man she is accusing declined to comment.
The rape occurred last February, the woman said. The man, who she said was her supervisor at her on-campus job, came by her apartment to discuss their relationship. At one point, the woman said, he demanded oral sex, pushing himself in front of her and later pulling her hair, cursing at her, and forcing her to have sex with him.
"I panicked," the woman said. "I didn't know what to do. My mind went blank."
Though she never said "no," she said she physically resisted and never verbally consented. She said the man continued to force himself on her and was agitated when she didn't respond willingly.
"He gave me this look like, 'Why aren't you doing what I'm telling you to do?' " she said.
"Can't you see I'm trying to have sex with you?" she said he asked her. "Then what are you waiting for?"
The woman reported the assault to her manager at her on-campus job a few weeks later, saying she didn't believe the police would help her, but she was hoping something could be done at work.
"I felt uncomfortable being with him at work," the woman said.
She said her boss offered to move her to another location, but did not offer to move the man. She said her boss told her that was all that could be done.
The next day, the woman went to the victim's advocacy office on campus, where she was told it was against university policy for her supervisor to hear such allegations and not forward them to the university.
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