THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080391
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
A federal judge Tuesday dismissed Virginia Tech from a lawsuit filed by a former student who alleged she first was raped by two football players, then subjected to sex discrimination during campus disciplinary hearings.
Christy Brzonkala wanted U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser to force Virginia Tech to change the way it handles rape allegations.
But Kiser ruled that Brzonkala failed to provide statistics to support her discrimination claim.
``In the final analysis, Brzonkala has alleged a flawed judiciary proceeding, the outcome of which disappointed her, but she has failed to allege facts that would support the necessary gender bias to state a claim,'' Kiser wrote.
Brzonkala alleged that Virginia Tech gave preferential treatment to the players during the two campus hearings in which James Crawford was cleared and Tony Morrison was suspended and then allowed to return to school.
Morrison is a graduate of Indian River High School in Chesapeake.
Kiser said Virginia Tech's treatment of the football players was based on their status as athletes and defendants, not with the fact that they are male and Brzonkala is female.
Kiser ruled only on Virginia Tech's presence in the civil lawsuit. There will be a hearing June 10 on a motion to dismiss filed by the players accused in the September 1994 alleged attack.
Many allegations of sexual assault at Virginia Tech and at most other schools are routinely handled by school disciplinary panels and not reported to police.
Brzonkala wanted Kiser to require Virginia Tech to report all rape allegations to police. But the judge backed the school policy of letting victims decide whether incident reports are filed, saying that Virginia Tech properly treats rape differently than other felonies because of the crime's social stigma.
Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said, ``We believe that the court's action underscores the rights of universities to fairly and equitably administer judicial systems,''
Brzonkala's attorney, Eileen Wagner, said, ``This opinion has raised an impossibly high hurdle to any student who thinks she has been discriminated against because of her gender.''
Wagner said it was unfair to require Brzonkala, who asked that her name be made public, to back up her claims with statistics before campus rape data could be obtained as trial evidence. ``That's the most closely guarded secret on campuses today,'' she said.
This is the first rape case using the Violence Against Women Act, which lets victims of sex-based crimes recover damages in federal civil lawsuits.
The lawsuit seeks $10 million from Morrison and unspecified damages from the other players and the university.
Wagner said she plans to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond to overturn Kiser's ruling. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Christy Brzonkala, left, accused Tony Morrison and a second
Virginia Tech football player of rape. Morrison is a graduate of
Indian River High School in Chesapeake.
KEYWORDS: SEX CRIMES RAPE LAWSUIT VIRGINIA
TECH by CNB