Arizona State University settles lawsuit in dorm rape case for $850,000

A former student at Arizona State University who said she was raped in her dorm room will cost Arizona State University $850,000 and change the way all three state universities in Arizona respond to complaints of sexual harassment and violence.

The unidentified woman reported that a football-scholarship student raped her on March 12, 2004. An investigation by campus police concluded "non-consensual sexual intercourse" took place, according to court documents.  The Maricopa County Attorney's Office later declined to prosecute saying conviction was unlikely.  The accused student apparently told police in 2004 that the woman invited him to her room and initiated sex.

Court records show the alleged rapist had been kicked out of the university the summer before he was accused of rape because of inappropriate sexual comments and touching, and exposing himself to female students and staff. He was allowed to return to campus in August 2003 and to rejoin the football team, but he received no counseling.

After the rape complaint was filed, he was allowed to finish the semester. He was then expelled in May 2004 because the university had concluded that he "had more likely than not" sexually assaulted the woman, court records show.

The university claimed to have agreed to the settlement terms to avoid expensive litigation and "likely anguish" of the individuals involved if the case went to court, according to a statement released Monday by the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the state universities.

"Historically, universities have downplayed rapes," said Joanne Belknap, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and researcher in violence against women. "In general, they don't want people to know about it because people won't want to send their daughters there and women won't want to come."

This is the first settlement to require a statewide system of universities to change the way it responds to complaints of sexual harassment and violence, and it sends a warning to all universities and colleges, Belknap said.