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Abstract: 

In Rex v. West Virginia Sch. of Osteopathic Medicine, 2015 WL 4756279 (U.S. Dist. Ct. S.D.W.Va.),the inadequacy of the school’s policies exacerbated the trauma of a student who was raped by another student. The victim was a student at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM). She alleged that a fellow student drugged and raped her at an off-campus party hosted by an assistant dean’s son. After the incident, she had difficulty finding the proper person in authority to report the rape. In a federal case, a male student who had been charged with sexual assault while participating on a study abroad program and who was exonerated by the host institution and allowed to enroll for his final year at Middlebury College, then expelled when the alleged victim challenged the male student’s acquittal, was upheld in his suit against Middlebury, reinstated, and permitted to graduate with his class. The case raises a number of interesting jurisdictional and policy issues, including Middlebury’s decision to relitigate the case after, the John Doe alleged, it acquiesced to pressure from the alleged victim and the administrators at her college; also noteworthy was the court’s decision to grant preliminary injunctive relief, which the court noted is an extraordinary remedy that may be awarded only upon a clear showing of entitlement.

Keywords: Failure of University Protocols; Rex v. West Virginia Sch. of Osteopathic Medicine; Doe v. Middlebury College

Affiliations:  1: John Jay College of Criminal Justice.