Jane Doe’s attorney: CMS and CMPD still owe my Myers Park High client an apology | Opinion

It takes courage to speak out after campus sexual violence. I would know. After suffering such sexual victimization in college, I became a lawyer to help fellow survivors like Jane Doe in the Myers Park High case fight for justice — something I never received in my own case.

Having another person sexually abuse you leaves you feeling degraded, violated and humiliated. The weight of pervasive victim-blaming in our society then adds harm above and beyond the already crushing impact of sexual trauma.

As a result, most survivors stay silent because they struggle with shame and self-blame even though sexual abuse is never the fault of the victim.

Thankfully, Jane Doe did not stay silent. She, along with the other brave survivors from Myers Park High have spoken out about being sexually assaulted and continue to fight for justice.

While Jane Doe detailed her kidnapping and sexual assault during a rape kit at a local hospital the day the incident occurred, both the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials took the attacker’s word about what had happened, impeding any real chance she had at justice. Rather than taking ownership for their failures to promptly intervene and protect her from being taken into the woods, CMS blamed the victim — just as they had done in the past.

During the trial, two fellow students provided gut-wrenching testimony about how Myers Park officials, including the school resource officer, had done little to nothing about their 2014 reports of being raped by male classmates in the woods.

Instead of addressing the known issue of student sexual assault in the woods, both students told the jury that former Myers Park Principal Mark Bosco held a student assembly to tell female students that they would not be protected if they went into the woods with male students.

By my definition, that’s deliberate indifference. Despite such evidence, the jury chose not to find CMS liable under Title IX in Jane Doe’s case. Their verdict form indicated that though they believed Jane Doe had suffered severe, pervasive and objectively offensive sexual harassment, but they did not find sufficient evidence of “deliberate indifference” by CMS.

While Jane Doe did not achieve a legal victory at trial, she obtained a moral victory that will help sustain her during the legal battle ahead upon appeal. On Feb. 16, I filed a notice of appeal with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Justice has not yet been served for her or the other survivors who suffered in the woods near MPHS, but change is already underway. Students, alumni, and parents have protested at CMS schools, and community members have demanded that the CMS Board do more to educate students on Title IX and investigate sexual misconduct reports.

Leadership changes within CMS and MPHS indicate the Board understands more needs to be done to protect students from campus-based sexual misconduct.

The community has demanded reforms and must continue to do so until campuses are safer for all students in Charlotte.

Survivors should be encouraged that the jury ultimately believed Jane Doe’s account. This means that CMPD and MPHS officials have lost their power to summarily dismiss student-survivors who report campus sexual assault. Had officials acted upon the reports made by the previous victims in 2014, there would not have been an unchecked risk of student sexual abuse in the woods. Essentially, they could have prevented Jane Doe’s sexual assault.

While legal justice is never guaranteed, a proper response by CMS and CMPD officials to reports of campus sexual assault can and should be guaranteed after this trial.

To ensure Charlotte is safe for all students, the community must continue to stand with survivors and demand more education, training, and accountability for officials to ensure their proper responses to campus sexual assault reports in the future.

While Jane Doe can appeal to keep seeking accountability, CMS and CMPD can choose at any time to make things right with her and the other survivors. The CMS Board and the City of Charlotte have every ability to acknowledge and apologize for their inadequate responses to Jane Doe and the other MPHS survivors to avoid ongoing legal battles at great time and expense to taxpayers.

These survivors deserve a measure of justice, and my firm will continue fighting until that day comes.