Student Claims U-M Failed to Protect Him Against Rape Threats

The Fleming Administrative Building at the University of Michigan. (Photo: U-M)

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A University of Michigan student alleged in a federal civil rights complaint filed Wednesday that he was fired him from his RA job after complaining the university didn’t protect him from another student who threatened to rape him in a dorm bathroom, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The complaint was filed as the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, which has put 76 universities on notice for their handling of sexual assault reports, and its one of three filed against U-M.

The other two complaints were combined in an ongoing case that questions the university’s handling of rape allegations against former Wolverine football player Brendan Gibbons.

The student who filed the recent complaint told the Free Press university officials fired him last year from his job as a residential assistant at a large campus dormitory instead of trying to resolve his concerns.

The student, whose identity the newspaper agreed to protect, said he reported the threat to a supervisor, but received no protection – even after some of his belongings were vandalized after he made the initial report. He said in the complaint he felt threatened on several occasions in the following months when he encountered the student in the hallway.

The student said he reported the threat to university housing rather than police “because I thought they would be more compassionate and would prioritize my welfare,” according to the complaint. “Unfortunately, instead of keeping me safe, I was re-victimized by campus housing officials.”

The university claims the student was fired because he was overwhelmed by incidents in the residential hall, according to the complaint.

U-M officials were contacted by the Free Press, but declined comment. Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the university hadn’t yet seen the complaint.

The Office of Civil Right hasn’t said if it will investigate the complaint, but if it does, U-M will join a handful of institutions – including Michigan State University – with two or more complaints, the Free Press said.