Georgetown student plasters hundreds of flyers around campus accusing a classmate of rape

A student at Georgetown is accused of raping a female classmate in flyers handed out all over campus.

More than 300 flyers were printed out by the male student's accuser, complete with his picture and a phone number to call for more information.

His fraternity confirmed to babe that he's currently on suspension in light of the accusation, a status that could lead to his permanent expulsion.

Although the flyers were removed within 24 hours by friends of the accused, they'd already widely circulated on Snapchat and dominated student conversation.

The male student named in these flyers did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Jasmine posted the flyers with her siblings last weekend

It began when a female junior was speaking to her roommate earlier this month – they had a conversation where it appeared they had been assaulted by the same man. The junior asked to remain anonymous for her own safety, so in this article we've called her Jasmine.

"I thought if flyers were put out with a hotline, girls who have been assaulted by him can come forward with it," Jasmine says.

She printed out full-color flyers with the words: "Have you seen this RAPIST?" splashed across a photo of him at the Capitol building, encouraging people to call a phone number to share their stories.

Jasmine then had her brother, sister and friend drive from New York City to Washington D.C. on Saturday night and distribute 300 flyers around campus. According to a police report seen by babe, Jasmine's siblings were caught after midnight by Georgetown cops and banned from returning. They face a fine up to $1000 and a potential six-month imprisonment if they come back.

Why Jasmine plastered her campus with flyers

Jasmine says since posting them, three women have contacted her to share similar experiences, which they've also reported to Georgetown's Title IX office.

She also described her own experience, which she says took place on January 29th, 2016, when she went to pregame in the male student's dorm. At the time, she was a freshman at another university in DC (she later transferred to Georgetown).

Jasmine remembers playing drinking games in his room. "He was telling me to drink more than I usually do," she says. "He was urging me to drink a lot more. At the end of the day, it’s my choice to drink but I didn’t feel like I was in any type of danger. So of course I thought, 'It’s fine.' I told him my limits. And he said that was fine."

She remembers going to a party on Georgetown's campus, before returning to his place with him. "My friends had no idea where I was – they were also drunk and weren’t thinking straight," she says.

At his dorm, she says an assault took place.

"I specifically asked him to stop, and he told me no. I was like, 'You’re hurting me and I don’t really want to do this.' He was like, 'No I can make you feel better.' I was really stuck in that situation."

Jasmine says she went to hospital immediately after and was assisted by a rep from the Network for Victim Recovery of DC, a support group for sexual assault survivors. We reached out to the staff member Jasmine named says because of their organization's policy, they "cannot confirm or deny that someone received our services."

Jasmine didn't file a police report at the time, or a Title IX report at her previous school. She says it was the conversation with her roommate, in which she realized both had encounters with the same man, that motivated her to speak out.

The male student has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Before deleting his Facebook account, he posted: "It's really true what they say, the hardest times reveal your truest friends, and I am truly blessed. Thank you to everyone who believes in me and has been here to support me. There will be justice."

The student's fraternity told us he had been suspended, which might result in permanent expulsion. A national representative told us: "We’re working with [the local chapter] to determine the next step on permanent membership status."

Georgetown students are in uproar about the flyers

A sophomore who asked to remain anonymous told babe she saw the flyers being put up around campus on Saturday night.

"They were literally everywhere," she says. "They were also posted on people's Snapchats. The flyers were put everywhere but by the next morning they were all gone, I'm sure that people threw them away."

"I was extremely surprised by it," the student added. "A lot of people are talking about it."

A male student, who also asked to remain anonymous because he is in the same fraternity as the alleged rapist, says the flyers have received "a lot of attention."

"Some of my friends went around trying to take them down from where they were posted," he explained. "Without knowing anything about the facts of the case, it strikes me as a horribly irresponsible way of resolving whatever dispute is taking place. I can only imagine it will lead to a very long and unpleasant legal process that both sides of the dispute would do better to avoid. Obviously if the accusations are false this seems like defamation of character. If they are true, this was not the way to go about resolving them."

Jasmine's post follows a trend of publicly naming men accused of sexual misconducts. In December, a Middlebury student named more than 30 alleged rapists in a viral Facebook post. The much-discussed Shitty Media Men list, which emerged in late 2017, also contained rape and sexual assault allegations against dozens of men.

Georgetown said they do not comment on individual reports of sexual misconduct, but sent a statement to say:

"Georgetown has multiple mechanisms for survivors, witnesses, and concerned parties to report sexual misconduct. The University has a comprehensive process for investigating and responding to reports of sexual misconduct. We also offer resources to support members of our community who have been impacted. We encourage members of our community to utilize the many resources available to report or seek support after an incident of sexual misconduct."

@hshukman