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Brown University Student Files Federal Complaint After School Allows Her Rapist Back on Campus

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A rape victim at Brown University has filed a federal complaint against the school failing to expel her fellow student even though he was found responsible of raping her.

According to the Huffington Post, Lena Sclove accused Brown of violating the federal gender equity law Title IX, as well as the Clery Act, a campus security law. The U.S. Education Department is set to review the complaint and then will decide whether or not to investigate, which could result in sanctions or fines.

The HP obtained documents proving a disciplinary hearing in Oct. found Sclove's assailant responsible of four violations of the school's student conduct code. In an attack on Aug. 2, 2013, the assailant committed "sexual misconduct" that involved "penetration, violent physical force or injury," according to a document detailing the charges.

Sclove said she sustained a spinal injury during the attack, which caused her to miss time in school rehabbing. She was also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

CLICK HERE to read the HP's report last month with details of the disciplinary hearing.

The panel originally suspended the assailant for two years, long enough to allow Sclove to graduate before he would be eligible to return. However, J. Allen Ward, senior associate dean of student life at Brown, lessened the suspension to one year from the attack, allowing him back on campus ahead of the fall semester.

Sclove even filed an appeal following the school's punishment, but a separate dean upheld the disciplinary panel's ruling.

"Even after finding the respondent responsible for violent sexual misconduct charges, Brown failed to impose a real sanction or to take appropriate measures to ensure Lena's safety and those of others on campus," Carol Robles-Román, president and CEO of the nonprofit law firm Legal Momentum, said in a statement. "By imposing a mere one-year suspension, the university minimized the respondent's violent conduct and the serious injuries that he inflicted on Lena."

The Legal Momentum firm helped Sclove file the federal complaints, which also allege she was led to believe she could not file a student conduct code complaint and criminal charges. She later filed her criminal complaint in March we she learned she could in fact file both.

"I was told the disciplinary process would be more humane," Sclove told the HP. "I believed them and then my parents and I put our faith in this process. I found out Brown believes that raping a person on campus does not merit the highest penalty."

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