A college in Virginia has demanded that a former student turn over the names of her sex partners as part of an ongoing legal feud with the college.
The student, filing anonymously as Jane Doe, is suing Virginia Wesleyan College (VWC), claiming that a student at the college working as a peer adviser supplied her with possibly-drugged alcohol in August 2012.
After consuming the alcohol, Doe says she was raped by another student at the school. While that student has since been expelled, Doe dropped out in 2013 and is now suing VWC for $10 million in damages. She says the school failed to adequately help her after her assault, even though the school helped her alleged rapist by classifying his expulsion as a “voluntary withdrawal” so he could more easily get into another college.
Now, as was first reported by Tyler Kinkade of The Huffington Post, the school is fighting back by, among other things, asking for Doe to supply a list of any boyfriends and sexual partners she has had since August 2012.
The school’s demand may seem outrageous at first, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Part of Doe’s argument for damages against VWC is based on her claim that she has become unable and unwilling to have sex as a result of her assault, and has struggled in her romantic relationships as a result. VWC says that it’s only fair for them to be allowed to question Doe’s later romantic partners to determine the truth about this alleged trauma. The school has also said it has no plans to make any arguments in court attacking Doe for having an “unchaste character.”
But Doe is resisting, saying VWC’s claims are an extreme invasion of her privacy. She says she won’t turn over such a list unless a court orders it.
“This is a drug facilitated rape of a freshman woman on her third day of orientation by a stranger,” Doe’s attorney Jonathan Halperin told The Huffington Post. “To ask the victim in discovery to name every sexual partner and romantic interest she has ever had is irrelevant and outrageous and totally inappropriate. It is intended to harass and intimidate the victim.”
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