CAMBRIDGE (CBS/AP) — A 2015 graduate of Harvard is suing the school over allegations that it forced her to live in the same building as a student who sexually assaulted her and that officials failed to act on her complaints.
Alyssa Leader filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Massachusetts.
“Harvard doesn’t want to admit that it has a sexual assault problem,” Leader says.
The lawsuit says Leader told campus officials that a male student who lived in her dorm had been sexually abusive while they dated but that Harvard refused to move him to another hall.
Leader says one official discouraged her from filing a formal complaint.
“This lawsuit is about change and affecting change,” says Leader’s attorney Irwin Zalkin.
Harvard says it responds fairly to all allegations of sexual assault.
The Associated Press and CBS Boston generally don’t identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Leader has done.
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