DePaul University Sexual Assault Lawsuit: The Largest Catholic University in the U.S.

Sexual assault claims involving DePaul University

Claims arising at DePaul University in Chicago can run along two tracks at once, and they are not the same
thing. Title IX is a federal law governing how a school that receives federal funding responds to
a report of sexual harassment or assault. A civil claim is a separate action for the harm itself.

A survivor can have a Title IX complaint, a civil claim, both, or a civil claim where no Title
IX complaint was ever made. Being told the university’s process has concluded does not mean a
civil claim is over, and being dissatisfied with that process is not a prerequisite for one.

What the institution’s duty looks like

The questions are whether DePaul University knew, whether it should have known, and what it did. In a
campus setting that usually means: what was reported and to whom, what the institution did with a
report, whether the same person had been complained about before, and whether anyone was moved
rather than investigated.

Universities generate records continuously, conduct files, residence life reports, campus
security logs, Title IX office correspondence and personnel files. That evidence exists whether or
not you were believed at the time.

Who the claim runs against

DePaul is a private Catholic university and the largest of its kind in the United States. As with Loyola, where a religious office is involved the claim can run against more than one institution.

What the federal record shows

DePaul carries three open Title IX investigations with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, retaliation and sexual harassment, both opened in August 2022, and a third from March 2020. That is the second-highest number at any Illinois institution.

An open investigation is not a finding that the institution did anything wrong. It means the Office for Civil Rights is looking. It is relevant here for one narrow reason: it shows the institution’s handling of these complaints is already under external scrutiny, and that scrutiny generates records.

How this campus is organised

DePaul is the largest Catholic university in the United States and is split across campuses in Lincoln Park and the Loop, with much of its housing and student life concentrated in the former. Where a member of a religious order held the position, a claim can reach the order as well as the university, two defendants with two separate complaint histories.

If you were a student, staff member or neither

A claim does not depend on your having been enrolled. Staff, contractors, visitors and people
at campus events are all covered by the same institutional-liability questions.

Questions people ask