UCLA Student Sues Campus Fraternities for Failing to Do More to Prevent Sexual Assault
LatestIn 2017, a UCLA student filed a Title IX complaint against another student for sexually assaulting her and won. (Her attacker, Blake Lobato, was expelled.) She is now suing two fraternities and a student group representing the interests of other frats on campus in order to change “a culture of alcohol abuse and sexual transgression,” reports the LA Times.
The civil complaint (filed under Jane Doe) accuses fraternities, especially Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, with “[doing] little-to-nothing to protect their members and guests from harm.” It also accuses the SAE chapter at UCLA of failing to intervene on the night she was sexually assaulted by Lobato:
The complaint alleges that Sigma Alpha Epsilon members continued to ply Jane Doe with booze although she was visibly drunk at the fraternity’s house party on Aug.12, 2016. It also alleges that the fraternity failed to provide security or supervision.
Lobato, according to the Times, says “the sex was consensual and the UCLA investigation [that led to his expulsion] flawed,” and is working to get his name removed from the complaint. The two fraternities and the Greek life council have declined to comment.