In February of 2002, two female Ohio State students reported being raped in residence halls on opposite sides of campus. Both women were freshman. Both knew their assailant. But neither realized they were not their rapist's only victim.
Three-and-a-half-years after the attack, the second victim, Jane Doe, maintains a $6 million lawsuit against the university. Doe claims that OSU was negligent in failing to protect her from her attacker, former student Jeremy Goldstein. The university is liable for her suffering, Doe said, because the University's policies require subjects of such a serious complaint to be removed from campus.
Instead, after the first rape report, Goldstein was transferred to a different residence hall.
University officials are not discussing the case with news media while it is in litigation, said Ruth Gerstner a spokeswoman for the university. But the university has filed a motion to dismiss the case stating that "the victim is, in hindsight, simply unhappy with the consequences of her own decisions," such as her decision to delay filing a police report.
But Doe, whose name does not appear on legal documents, charges that her case was mishandled by the university at every juncture. Not only did the university fail to protect her from Goldstein, Doe said, it did not offer her the support that she needed to recover mentally from her attack, or to build her case against Goldstein.
"It has been over three years since I sought help from (the university) and I am still battling them now," Doe said. "Had the university followed its own policies and procedures I would not have endured the pain, anxiety and depression that I have."
Much has changed since Doe was a freshman who studied communication and pledged Kappa Kappa Gamma. Doe withdrew from classes at OSU three months after her attack, in May of 2002. At the time, she was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, she said.
In October of 2004, Jeremy Goldstein, pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal sexual imposition - a first-degree misdemeanor. The conviction was the result of a plea bargain.
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