COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) - North Idaho College is being sued by a woman who says she was gang-raped as a freshman and the college failed to do anything when she reported it.
The woman says the college instead disciplined her when she began drinking and acting out after the attack, reported The Spokesman-Review (https://bit.ly/2dfeCsi ). The rape took place at an off-campus party in 2013, when she was 17, according to the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court.
College spokesman Tom Greene said the school doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, says the college violated Title IX. It also argues that the victim experienced serious psychological injuries after being forced to re-encounter her attackers as a result of NIC’s “deliberate indifference.”
Title IX is a federal law forbidding discrimination on the basis of gender in education programs that receive federal funds.
The psychological trauma resulted in the young woman abusing drugs and alcohol, leading to monitoring and disciplinary actions by the school, according to the lawsuit. It says NIC officials “did nothing to investigate the perpetrators of the gang rape, and instead ignored the situation entirely.”
The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual crimes.
The Coeur d’Alene police department investigated the incident and the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office declined to prosecute it, according to Detective Jared Reneau.
The young woman’s attorney, Rebecca Rainey of Boise, was not available for comment Tuesday.
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, https://www.spokesman.com
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