Woman Alleges On-Campus Sexual Assault at Villanova University
A Villanova University student has filed a lawsuit against the university and entities connected to College Hall aka the Courts, a popular student housing building on the Main Line, alleging that she was sexually assaulted on Villanova’s campus after a night of partying at the Courts.
If this sounds familiar, it’s likely because another young woman filed a lawsuit in 2024 alleging the same. That civil case, which continues to wind its way through the legal system, garnered new attention earlier this year when the victim demanded that Villanova bar the student who took video of her sexual assault from walking at graduation. That sexual assault at Villanova took place in 2022, and former Villanova student Elijah Katzenell pleaded guilty to the crime.
The sexual assault at the center of this just-filed case allegedly took place one year later, in 2023, when the young woman was a freshman. In her suit, which she filed under a pseudonym, the woman says that she went to a party at the Courts on Friday, August 25, after starting classes at Villanova earlier that week. That first Friday of the academic year is known among Villanova students as Sylly Night, because students get, well, silly after days spent going over syllabi with their professors. The assault in 2022 occurred after Sylly Night drinking as well.
“She just sued the school.”
When the student got to the Courts, she says she found an unlimited supply of alcohol and no barrier to her, an underage student, obtaining it. She arrived at the party around 10 p.m. and, after drinking, left in a rideshare with friends around midnight. When she arrived back at Villanova, she encountered students drinking in an area outside her dorm, Stanford Hall. She continued drinking and, at some point, says she blacked out. That’s when a fellow Villanova student allegedly took her to the woods nearby and sexually assaulted her. After, he allegedly smacked her in the face to wake her up.
According to the lawsuit, she reported her allegations to school officials and the police, but the student was never arrested nor disciplined by the school. He is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In her lawsuit, the woman accuses Villanova of negligence for a variety of reasons, including failing to educate and warn students about underage alcohol use at the Courts and on campus, sexual assault risks on campus, and the types of activities that happen on Sylly Night, all things she says Villanova was well aware of. She also says Villanova failed to provide and maintain a safe campus. As for the business entities associated with the Courts, she accuses them of negligence as well, for failing to provide adequate security and preventing illegal activity from happening on their property.
The student who allegedly committed the sexual assault is studying mechanical engineering at Villanova. The woman stopped attending the school. Villanova does not comment on pending litigation.
Villanova University Named Defendant in Additional Sexual Assault Civil Litigation in Less Than Four Months
Original Article Can Be Read Here | Philly Magazine Journalist Victor Fiorillo