Content warning: This piece
describes depictions of drugging,
sexual
assault
and
sexual
harassment.
An anonymous plaintiff Jane
Doe filed a civil lawsuit against
the Psi Upsilon fraternity at the
University of Michigan, claiming
she was drugged and raped by a
member of the fraternity while
attending a party at the fraternity
house in August 2019.
The
fraternity
member
allegedly coerced Doe to an
upstairs room in the Psi Upsilon
house, according to the lawsuit,
which was filed Monday in the
Washtenaw
County
Circuit
Court. The fraternity member,
who was a senior at the time of
the alleged assault and has since
graduated, reportedly closed the
door and told Doe she could not
leave when she asked to do so.
The fraternity member then
gave Doe a cup of water that
tasted strange, according to the
complaint. The lawsuit alleges
that Doe became “completely
helpless,”
after
which
the
fraternity member raped her.
According
to
the
lawsuit,
Doe, who was underage as an
18-year-old freshman at the time
of the assault, was given alcohol
by members of the fraternity.
The lawsuit says members of
Psi Upsilon did not ask Doe
for identification even though
male guests were asked to show
identification.
The complaint says that Doe
was “so visibly intoxicated there
was no way she could have given
consent for sexual intercourse.”
Doe is being represented by
Vernon Johnson, the namesake
of Ven Johnson Law, a personal
injury law firm based out of
Detroit. The lawsuit names the
fraternity member as well as
both the University chapter and
international headquarters of Psi
Upsilon.
In a press release from the law
firm, Johnson said, “this is a cut
and dry case of assault, battery
and rape.”
“(The
fraternity
member)
knowingly coerced my client to
a private room, where he had a
spiked drink waiting for her and
then attacked her,” Johnson said.
“Intentionally taking advantage
of and raping women who are so
intoxicated they are incapable
of giving consent is a disgusting
and
reprehensible
practice.
These defendants must be held
accountable for their despicable
behavior.”
The alleged assault took place
“during what is referred to
within the fraternity community
as
‘Freshman
F--k
Week,’”
according to the law firm’s press
release. The lawsuit alleges that
Psi Upsilon Nationals and the
University’s Psi Upsilon chapter
“knew or suspected” that the
first week of the fall semester
is known by this nickname and
thus “encouraged, endorsed and
provided the opportunity” for
the fraternity member to rape
Doe.
Fraternity
members
in
the
University’s
chapter
of
Psi
Upsilon
allegedly
kept
a “scorecard” of how many
women the fraternity brothers
had sexual intercourse with or
engaged in sexual petting with
during “Freshman F--k Week,”
the lawsuit says.
In an interview, Johnson said
under Michigan’s social host
liability laws, the fraternity was
also responsible for enabling
the assault by serving underage
students alcohol.
“So here, as it pertains to
someone who’s going to want
to say ‘yeah, Johnson, but your
client was drunk” (…) The fact
that she got drunk and passed out
and otherwise was so inebriated
that she was incapable of giving
consent, that in essence is what
they created by giving her the
alcohol,” Johnson said.
In a statement to The Daily
from Thomas Fox, executive
director of Psi Upsilon Nationals,
wrote that the organization was
unaware of the allegations before
the lawsuit was filed Monday.
“Psi Upsilon Fraternity takes
all reports of risk management
violations,
especially
those
with regard to sexual assault,
very seriously,” Fox wrote. “We
are currently investigating the
incident and gathering further
information as we received no
notice of allegations prior to
this complaint being filed. The
undergraduate chapter is being
cooperative in this matter.”
When asked for comment,
the University’s chapter of Psi
Upsilon directed The Daily to
Fox’s statement.
The lawsuit was first reported
Thursday by The Detroit News.
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ALEX HARRING
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Daily News Editors
Lawsuit: Freshman was sexually
assaulted by Psi Upsilon member
Plaintiff alleges she was drugged while attending fraternity party in 2019
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
2 — Wednesday, October 7, 2020
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Beginning October 12, U-M will allow all undergraduate students to return to in-person research.
ADVERTISING
WMG-contact@umich.edu
Starting
Oct.
12,
the
University of Michigan will
allow all undergraduate students
to return to in-person research
and scholarship, according to an
email update sent to the research
community
from
Rebecca
Cunningham, vice president of
research at the University.
Previously,
the
policy
on
undergraduate
research
only
granted
seniors
with
prior
research experience to return
to an in-person lab setting.
This new policy, however, will
expand the previous guidelines
to allow all undergraduates —
including those with no research
experience — to engage in
in-person research.
“Recognizing
that
our
research productivity is not yet
back to 100 percent, this next
phase will allow for increased
laboratory density, an expansion
of human research participants
and
increased
access
for
undergraduate
researchers,
who play a critical role in our
research mission,” Cunningham
wrote.
This new policy will also allow
labs to increase the capacity from
45 to 60 percent as long as social
distancing and face covering
guidelines are maintained on
any given shift. Cunningham
underscored the importance of
continual monitoring of virus
transmission as this new policy
is put in place.
“Research
leadership
will
continuously
monitor
virus
transmission rates over the next
4-6 weeks to ensure our research
community can safely maintain
this expansion,” Cunningham
wrote. “The health and safety
of our research community will
remain our top priority.”
As of Sept. 29, nine total
researchers have tested positive
for COVID-19 since May 21,
according to the email update.
Based on contact tracing of
asymptomatic
individuals
where a fellow lab member has
tested positive, no sign of virus
transmission has taken place in
research settings.
LSA sophomore Kylie Schache
conducts research in two labs
— a microbiology lab and an
Alzheimer’s lab. She said though
this
policy
will
technically
allow her to return to in-person
research, the capacity limits
will still prioritize the graduate
students
and
post-doctoral
fellows in her lab.
“If the option were open for
me to work in person, I would
certainly
take
it,”
Schache
said. “Right now, the issue is
letting undergraduates return
to research labs would take
time slots away from graduate
students or postdoc researchers
because of the capacity limits.
And so, I understand they have
seniority, since it’s their full-
time job to do research.”
Schache noted that even if
she were to return, she would
not have concerns with safety
or spreading COVID-19, given
that many of the procedures
within research settings already
account
for
cleanliness
and
sanitation.
“If there was a way that I
could return to in-person work,
I wouldn’t have any concerns
in terms of safety regarding the
virus just because labs are under
so
many
safety
restrictions
normally, since we work with
dangerous chemicals and what
not,” Schache said. “The safety
regulations in place right now
especially — I mean they’re
maintaining
distance
very
strictly, they’re keeping limits
on how many people can be in
the same space, PPE (personal
protective equipment) guidelines
are followed very closely, so
I won’t be concerned about
returning from that standpoint.”
LSA
sophomore
Nicholas
Cemalovic
shared
similar
sentiments in that graduate
students are often prioritized
when assigning shifts, since
they depend on the research
setting
for
their
degrees.
Cemalovic said he is involved in
an environmental toxicology lab
with the School of Public Health.
“I also understand that every
year, there are new grad students
rotating and there’s graduate
students who need to get their
degrees by being in there, so I
understand the hierarchy, but I
think introducing undergrads
slowly
would
be
great,”
Cemalovic said.
Back
in
March,
when
Cemalovic had to transition
into a remote research setting,
he said he found other ways to
stay engaged with the research
community, despite not being
able to return to in-person
work.
“I found a way to transition
into research in a different
way,” Cemalovic said. “I found
a lot of different methods that I
could still be active. So, during
that first bit of quarantine,
I was still going to talks and
lectures, I was doing a little bit
of literature review. A good thing
about a lot of wet lab biomedical
research is that there’s always
data being produced, so there’s
always data to be analyzed.”
KRISTINA ZHENG
Daily Staff Reporter
All undergrads eligible to resume
in-person research in mid-October
University allows labs to let younger students back inside buildings to work
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com