"Forcing a victim to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to find out the outcome of a hearing which they initiated, is not only against the law, it's inhumane."-Kate Dieringer

ED Letter To Georgetown University (July 16, 2004) ED Letter To Kate Dieringer (July 16, 2004)

Washington, DC-Georgetown University has been violating the rights of campus rape victims according a federal review released earlier this month. In order for victims to learn the results of disciplinary action taken against their alleged assailants Georgetown was making them sign documents agreeing not to talk about the outcomes of their own campus court hearings, something government officials said violates a federal victims' rights law.

"We have determined that Georgetown's approach is inconsistent with the requirements" of the federal Jeanne Clery Act wrote U.S. Department of Education official M. Geneva Coombs in a letter sent earlier this month to a student who complained about the practice.

"Forcing a victim to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to find out the outcome of a hearing which they initiated, is not only against the law, it's inhumane," said Kate Dieringer the Georgetown student who filed the complaint last year after going public about her own sexual assault case. "For all of Georgetown's continual spouting of the University's Catholic roots and values, this practice of silencing victims is truly an insult to the Catholic ideal of cultivating a humane environment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect."

Georgetown University has been notified by the U.S. Department of Education that they "expect it to conform its rules to comply with the" Clery Act. Under the law campus sexual assault victims must unconditionally be told the outcomes of hearings in their cases. Institutions that violate the law face fines of up to $27,500 per violation or loss of eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.

"This first of its kind ruling is a tremendous victory for campus sexual assault victims and student safety," said S. Daniel Carter, Senior Vice President of Security On Campus, Inc. a national non-profit victim assistance organization that assisted with the filing of Dieringer's complaint. "Campus communities across the country will now be more likely to find out about potential threats to their safety, and there will be better public oversight of otherwise secret campus courts. We applaud Kate Dieringer for her courage to stand up to this illegal practice and make campuses across the country safer."

Security On Campus, Inc. is the only national non-profit organization devoted exclusively to increasing security on our nation's college and university campuses, and to serving the victims of campus violence. The group was co-founded by Connie and Howard Clery in 1987 after their daughter Jeanne's brutal rape and murder the year before at Lehigh University. The Clerys were also instrumental in the passage of the federal Clery Act.