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2017 Institutional Failure, Campus and Danger in the Dorms: Regulatory Limits and the Promise of Tort Law Andrea A. Curcio Georgia State University College of Law, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Andrea A. Curcio, Institutional Failure, and Danger in the Dorms: Regulatory Limits and the Promise of Tort Law, 78 Mon. L. Rev. 31 (2017).

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INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE, CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT AND DANGER IN THE DORMS: REGULATORY LIMITS AND THE PROMISE OF TORT LAW

Professor Andrea A. Curcio*

In the winter of 1979, outside a fraternity house at a small liberal arts elite college, the boys built a snow sculpture ql a train 1 ivith the number 5 displayed on i1. The sculpture glorified the fact that 5 boys had raped a young college woman. The train remained outside thr: ji-aternity house for weeks while school administrators drove by the house on their way to and from campus. No one questioned the boys. 2

* Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law. The author thanks Professors Wendy Hensel, Eiken Kaufman, & Timothy Lytton, as we\! as Thomas Michael Hodd! Jr., all of whom provided insight and expc11isc that greatly assisted with the research and drafting of this paper. While they may not agree with all the interpretations or conclusions of this paper, their help was deeply appre­ ciated. The author also thanks Billy Fawcel! for his work as a graduate research assistant and the Geor­ gia Slate University College of Law librarians, in panii.:ular Pam Brannon, for their collective unending patience and support with research requests. rinal!y, she thanks the University of Montana School of Law for hosting this important symposium. I. Julie K. Ehrhart & Bernice Sandler, Campus Gang : Party Games?, As:/N oio AM. Crn.Ls. P1m.1ff·1 ON rHL S·1AHJS or WoMLN 2 (Nov. 1985), https://perma.cc/JTP6-GDSP (noting that fraternity members often ca!! gang rape "pulling a train" to symbolize "men lining up like train cars to take turns'"). 2. This story is based upon my own experience. I also had a roommate who was raped in a dorm room her sophomore year of college. This all happened almost forty years ago. Unfonunatcly, the stories of campus , silence abou! thal violence, and universities ignoring the problem are not new. As for the snow sculpture, it is impossible to say whe01er university administrators knew what the sculptun.: symbolized. I can only say that the gossip on campus abou! that sculpture was rampant and widespread. 32 MONTANA LAW REVIEW Vol. 78

J. INTRODUCTION3

For decades many institutes of higher education (IHEs) have purpose­ fully ignored the peer-on-peer sexual assaults occurring with alarming fre­ quency on their campuses4 and have discouraged victims from reporting or pressing criminal charges against their alleged perpetrators.' These institu­ tional failures have gotten significant attention recently. 6 What has not re­ ceived much attention is the fact that most on-campus sexual assaults hap­ pen in college dorm rooms. 7 Ignoring where most on-campus sexual assaults occur matters for nu­ merous reasons. First, while schools have begun addressing the issue of campus sexual assault, many still are not being totally open about th