By Maggie Harned
HILLSDALE, MI. — Two Hillsdale College students who reported incidents of sexual assault by male students have accused the school in a federal lawsuit of conducting “phony investigations” into their respective allegations. The two young women also claim the school then blamed them “for being raped.”
The federal lawsuit against Hillsdale College in Michigan asserts that the College “exposes students to an unacceptable and unusually high risk of sexual assault.”
The two female students filed the lawsuit through the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan against Hillsdale College on Wednesday, October 25, 2023.
Both women issued reports and filed individually but on behalf of other similar students. The women report that they were raped in 2021 and in response to their reports, Hillsdale conducted a “phony investigation” and then continued to blame them for the assaults in question.
Grace Chen, one of the reporting parties, is currently a junior at Hillsdale College and an athlete on the track team. Chen reports that “the school refused to protect her from the assailant and failed to explain its findings,” according to the lawsuit. Chen claims she continued to see her assailant up to multiple times a week without the protection provided by the College.
Chen originally reported the assault to Hillsdale College, which arranged for Chen to meet with a lawyer hired by the College to investigate the rape allegation. Chen recounts that they “promised to do a swift and thorough investigation,” and “they said I didn’t have to go to the police.”
Danielle Villarreal, the other reporting party, no longer attends Hillsdale College. Villarreal filed her report of assault to not only the College but also the police. After learning that her assailant had gone unpunished, and remained on campus, Villarreal unenrolled herself from Hillsdale College. Villarreal now attends Vanderbilt University and told NBC News, “I felt it wasn’t safe for me to be there anymore.”
Villarreal claims the college “backtracked on its initial indication that it believed her” and “refused to put anything in writing.”
In the court papers filed on October 25, 2023, lawyers for Villarreal and Chen alleged that the school struck back against the women and in turn blamed them for the reports, all while failing to properly investigate the allegations.
The lawsuit also alleges that Hillsdale College’s sexual misconduct policy “is so deficient that even if the school had enforced it diligently, it still would not have prevented sexual assaults on campus.”
In an email correspondence with Hillsdale College spokesperson Emily Stack Davis, Davis said that the allegations were properly investigated. She continued to say that findings and punishments are kept confidential. Davis wrote, “In an effort to maintain confidentiality for all parties, including witnesses, written findings are not distributed.”
Hillsdale College, a small private conservative Christian liberal arts college was founded in 1844, with only 1700 students and a $900 million endowment. The school does not accept government funding, excluding it from subjection to federal regulations such as Title IX. Title IX is a federal law that requires institutions to have a system in which they respond to allegations of sexual assault or misconduct.
Davis, the correspondent for Hillsdale College, said that the school does have a process for reporting and investigating its sexual assault allegations. Davis claims that every incoming student is provided with copies of the Hillsdale College Sexual Misconduct Policy and must attend a “mandatory, in-person presentation on sexual misconduct.” Davis also adds that the college’s sexual misconduct policy is made publicly available on their website.
The lawsuit will look into the allegations of both Grace Chen and Danielle Villarreal and the duty of Hillsdale College to protect its students against sexual assault according to their sexual misconduct policy.
