Four years ago, Fernanda Aragon traveled from Mexico to Chicago to attend Loyola University.
“ I was really excited to meet people, “ Fernanda said. “My first night as a Freshman once we were all settled into the dorms, I went out with my roommate.”
Fernanda’s first night on campus would turn her life upside down.
“The next thing I remember is waking up naked, “ Fernanda recalled.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
Fernanda does remember being at a party, playing a few drinking games and meeting another student who invited her back to his room. Everything after that was a blur.
Fernanda is not alone. Roughly one-in-five females are sexually assaulted while in college, according to the Department of Justice. Students are most at-risk during the first few months in school.
Illinois colleges and universities are required by state law to send their annual crime data to the state’s Attorney General Office.
Local
NBC 5 Investigates downloaded and analyzed three years of these crime reports filed by 167 Illinois Colleges---thousands of pages reporting thousands of allegations of sexual violence, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. In all, more than 7,000 reports of incidents for 2018-2020.
We found that nearly half, 47.4% or 3,520 incidents, were filed anonymously or confidentially.
Of the others, reported to the school’s Title IX office, nearly half, 1, 805, involved incidents of sexual violence, while another quarter, 969, involved stalking. The rest involved allegations against someone in a dating or domestic relationship.
Even though some of these incidents involve sexual violence, universities are not required to report any cases to local police.
“I started going to therapy and I have been in therapy ever since, “ Fernanda said
After more than a year of therapy, Fernanda said she reported to the University in 2021 that a fellow student sexually assaulted her.
“It was definitely very scary sharing something so intimate and something so vulnerable to these people, “ Fernanda recalled.
After eight months of investigating, Fernanda said Loyola University found “insufficient evidence” against the accused student. However, Fernanda said the University did issue a no contact order for both students.
“Had everything been done right initially, we would be able to prosecute this person beyond a reasonable doubt in the criminal setting, “ said attorney Mark Curran, a former state and federal prosecutor who also served as the Lake County Sheriff.
Curran offered to represent Fernanda when Loyola’s student conduct office investigated a complaint against her for talking publicly about her case.
“The way that hearing went down, it was just absolutely frightening. I was so appalled and offended by the way they treated Fernanda, “ Curran added.
Loyola found Fernanda guilty of harassment and bullying and put it on her permanent record for posting a TikTok video.
“I was raped on campus and nothing was done about it. What mattered was that I uploaded the video,” Fernanda said.
Now, Fernanda is joining a federal civil lawsuit against Loyola University along with ten other women alleging Loyola mishandled and underreported sexual assault complaints.
Loyola has filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuit and told NBC 5 Investigates they do not “comment on pending litigation.”
“Once I realized that it wasn’t just like a me problem, it was a like a school wide, problem that kind of encouraged me, “ Fernanda added.
