For Immediate Release March 3, 2003

Washington, DC-In a complaint filed Monday with the federal government it was alleged that Georgetown University has a policy of violating the rights of campus sexual assault victims, and silencing them when they try to speak out.

Kate Dieringer, a Georgetown sophomore, who was drugged and raped the fall of her freshman year filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) alleging that she was denied her rights under the federal "Campus Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights" a portion of the Jeanne Clery Act campus crime reporting law.

Dieringer went public last fall with charges that her case was mishandled, and her case has sparked widespread discussion on the campus about problems with the school's sexual assault policies. "Georgetown discriminated against me by denying me an effective and equitable response to my sexual assault complaint," she said. "They tried to deter me from even coming forward at all with discouraging remarks, frustration, and contradictory information."

Dieringer alleges that her rights were violated when she was required to sign a confidentiality agreement as a condition of being told what action the school took against her assailant. The federal Clery Act requires that colleges and universities provide this information unconditionally. Under Georgetown's policy, however, a rape victim who shares the final results of their case can themselves be subject to disciplinary action.

"Georgetown's policy of silencing rape victims serves only to perpetuate this crime of silence," said S. Daniel Carter a victim advocate with the non-profit organization Security On Campus, Inc. based in King of Prussia, PA. The organization has filed a brief with the DOE in support of Dieringer's complaint, and asking that immediate corrective action be taken.

"It denies victims the proper opportunity to heal, to redress any grievances they have with the process, and to warn others that a potential danger to their safety may still be on campus," said Carter of Georgetown's policy of silencing rape victims.

Last December Dieringer also filed a complaint with the DOE's Office for Civil Rights alleging that Georgetown violated her civil rights under the Title IX gender equity law by failing to provide an adequate resolution to her report of rape. That complaint is currently under review.

"My case shows the students here that you can rape and still attend and are accepted by Georgetown University," she said.