Cornell case highlights ‘draining’ maze for victims to report campus sex assaults

How both universities and the criminal justice system respond to these types of assaults on college campuses is once again under the spotlight, after a former student at Cornell University filed a civil lawsuit alleging she was raped by several members of a fraternity two years ago, with prosecutors declining at the time to pursue a case.

For Mary, after her case was dropped by the police, pursuing her assault claim through Title IX became the only way for her alleged rapist to face repercussions: an expulsion from college.

One of the biggest challenges sexual assault survivors face is simultaneously navigating the university and the criminal justice system, which "serve different purposes, operate under different rules and timelines, and lead to different outcomes", said Zoey Scheinblum-Brewer, a policy coordinator at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, a nonprofit anti-sexual assault organisation.