Syracuse University Seeks to Prevent Campus Rape Victim From Obtaining Police Records

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Syracuse University successfully petitioned a state court in February to block a former student, known as Jane Doe, from accessing historical police records related to a sexual assault she suffered on campus in 1987. The university argued the subpoena for these records, intended to support Doe’s lawsuit under New York's Adult Survivors Act, was overly broad and burdensome, leading Judge Joseph Lamendola to significantly limit the documentation she could obtain. This legal dispute follows a ProPublica investigation into a surge of campus sexual assaults during the 1980s, which alleged that the university historically suppressed media coverage of such crimes. Doe’s legal team, led by attorney Andrew Stengel, appealed the court's decision in June, contending that the university’s intervention echoed past attempts to minimize the severity of sexual violence on campus.

Consequences

The appellate court's upcoming ruling will determine whether the victim can access the police documentation necessary to pursue her claims of institutional negligence. Should the current restrictions remain in place, it will significantly hinder the plaintiff’s ability to prove that the university failed to implement necessary security measures during an era of high crime.

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