Former TCU Student Files Federal Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination and Gross Negligence in TCU's Handling of Campus Rape Investigation

FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --A former Texas Christian University (TCU) student today filed a federal lawsuit against the university, alleging discrimination and gross malfeasance by TCU officials after she reported that another TCU student raped her.   

The lawsuit alleges that her experience with the school is part of a broader, systemic problem at TCU – one of tolerance, willful ignorance, discrimination, and institutional failure in responding to sexual assault on campus. As the complaint alleges, "TCU's policy is substantially certain to encourage TCU men to rape TCU women." With more than 11,000 undergraduate students enrolled, 61 percent of whom are women, the complaint alleges that female students are not safe at TCU and that parents should be aware of the risks.

According to the complaint, which cites TCU's Board of Trustees reports available on its website, the university recorded more than 560 sexual assault-rape reports between August 15, 2020, and December 31, 2024. The records demonstrate that TCU launched formal investigations in less than five percent of those cases. 

During the 2024 Fall Semester alone, there were more than 60 reports of sexual assault-rape. According to TCU's own data, during the same timeframe, only three sexual assault-rape cases were formally investigated by TCU, and none resulted in disciplinary action. 

The plaintiff's case centers on her own rape, which she immediately reported to TCU. At the time she reported it, she provided school officials a recorded conversation of the alleged rapist admitting only hours after the assault that he had neither sought nor obtained her consent before penetrating her while she was asleep, according to the complaint. As the complaint states, "The evidence confirming the rape was overwhelming."

The filing claims that the university took no action until the victim retained legal counsel who intervened. Months later, TCU selected a hearing panel made up of TCU administrators, faculty members, and a retired judge from Massachusetts, which unanimously found the assailant guilty of having sexually penetrated the plaintiff without her consent. As punishment, the complaint states that the TCU panel members required the assailant to write a three- to four-page paper on what mutual sexual consent means and then discuss it with a TCU faculty member in a private meeting, required him to rewatch a standard orientation video on sexual assault prevention that he had viewed just six weeks before the incident, and moved him to a different on-campus dorm.

The investigation resulted in no apology to the victim, no record on the assailant's transcript, no suspension, no punishment commensurate with Texas State law, and nothing that approximates or seeks to be proportionate to the offense. 

The lawsuit characterizes this collective punishment as grossly inadequate and an invitation for male students to commit further rapes. 

As the complaint alleges, "this policy of non-punishment actually encourages rape because male students at TCU know that nothing will happen to them for raping TCU's female students." 

"The facts of this case demonstrate a shocking disregard for the safety and well-being of TCU's female students," stated Thomas Wolf, lead counsel for the victim. "TCU's deliberate indifference to the pervasive problem of sexual assault on its campus has created a culture of impunity, where rapists are emboldened to commit crimes without fear of consequence. It is time for TCU to be held accountable for its failures and to take meaningful steps to protect its students from sexual violence. Given TCU's track record, only the courts can make that happen."

All other victims of rape at TCU are encouraged to contact Alison Duffy, Esq. at the firm of O'Hagan Meyer, PLLC, [email protected] (703-775-8606). All communication with this firm on this issue will be held in strict confidence and, unless told otherwise, will not involve any legal or financial obligation. 

SOURCE O’Hagan Meyer