SDSU Sued Over Alleged Rape at Fraternity House

A former member of a sorority at San Diego State University, who said she was raped at a fraternity party last November, has filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the fraternity, the sorority, the university, the State of California and as many as 100 unidentified people allegedly involved in the incident.

The 19-year-old woman asks for unspecified compensation for physical, mental and emotional injuries suffered after the alleged attack at an “exchange party” between a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity chapter and a Delta Gamma sorority chapter.

The suit, filed Monday, claims that the defendants’ “lack of due care” in controlling the party caused the under-age woman to drink alcohol, become inebriated and lose consciousness, after which she was “assaulted and raped, ravished and had carnal acts performed with and against her” by unidentified defendants.

Reached by telephone Tuesday, the woman said that she was “definitely” willing to testify to her claims in court “because it’s not right what happened.”

On the advice of her lawyer, the woman, now a freshman at a different school, declined to answer questions, but said: “It’s just sad that it all happened.”

The woman’s father, saying that he believed his daughter would win a civil suit, nevertheless contended that filing a lawsuit was a bad idea. “To me, it’s stupid,” he said. “The only thing it’s going to get for my daughter is money and she doesn’t need money for what she’s going to go through.”

He added that, because criminal charges were never filed, a civil suit victory would not erase public doubt about her conduct.

The suit claims that photographs were taken of the woman while she was undressed and unconscious and that attempts were later made to obstruct the investigation into the incident.

The charges contained in the lawsuit mirror accusations made by campus police, who have said that the woman was raped by one man and sexually assaulted by two others in a private bedroom early in the morning of Nov. 15.

Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller decided in December not to file charges in the case, saying that prosecutors could not prove that a rape had occurred.

Fraternity leaders repeatedly have maintained that the woman voluntarily had sex in a private bedroom after knowingly drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana that evening.

Administrative hearings held by SDSU led to the expulsion of Pi Kappa Alpha from campus for five years and a range of punishments--including banishment from the California State University system--against 29 fraternity members. The fraternity is continuing to operate without affiliation to the university. It held recruitment drives for new members last week and is recruiting “little sisters” this week.

Fraternity leaders, who have filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, said Tuesday that they plan to stop distributing a brochure that links Pi Kappa Alpha with SDSU. They also will send a letter of apology to the campus newspaper, The Daily Aztec.

V. Frank Asaro, the lawyer who assisted the fraternity during the university hearings last winter, repeated the denials of the woman’s claims Tuesday. “This complaint will give the fraternity now the opportunity to set the record straight,” he said.

“It’s all going to come out, as to her participation,” Asaro said. “Her conduct is all going to come out and the record is going to be set straight.”

SDSU President Thomas Day said any question of the school’s responsibility is a matter for the courts to decide. “The university has extended itself to the greatest lengths to be sensitive to the situation involving the young woman,” he said.

A member of Delta Gamma also declined comment.

Included in the suit is a request for an injunction to stop the circulation of “compromising photographs” taken of the woman while she was undressed and unconscious. The suit alleges that the photos were circulated to the woman’s peers and others at SDSU, causing her “ridicule” and “humiliation.” It says that the whereabouts of the photos are unknown.