Most people who contact us about a campus assault have already been through something: a report to a Title IX office, a hearing, a decision that felt like it went nowhere, or a decision to say nothing at all and get through the semester.
The thing worth knowing first is that the campus process and a civil claim are entirely separate systems. One decides what the university does about a student. The other decides whether you are compensated. Neither result controls the other.
What the campus process is, and what it is not
Universities that receive federal funding must respond to reports of sexual harassment and assault affecting students, and they run their own grievance procedures to do it. Those procedures matter, but their limits are rarely explained:
- The remedies are institutional. Suspension, expulsion, no-contact orders, changes to housing or classes. A campus process cannot award you anything.
- The standard and the procedure are the university's, not a court's, and they have changed repeatedly with federal policy.
- A finding of "not responsible" does not decide a civil claim. Different rules, different evidence, different burden.
- A finding against the other student does not decide one either. It is evidence, not a judgment.
So a complaint that ended in nothing is not a reason a civil claim cannot succeed. It is frequently the reason people assume otherwise.
The records the university already publishes
Campuses are unusual among institutions: federal law requires them to publish safety information, which means part of the evidence is public before anyone files anything.
- The annual security report, with reported offense statistics by category and location
- The daily crime log, recording reports by date, time and general location
- Timely warnings and emergency notifications issued to the campus community, and whether one was issued at all
Those records can establish what the university knew about a pattern — repeated reports in the same residence hall, at the same venue, or connected to the same organization — and whether it warned anyone. That is a notice argument built from the institution's own publications.
Beyond the public material sit the records a claim compels: Title IX case files, prior complaints, student conduct history, residence hall access logs and campus security incident reports.
The settings these claims come from
- Residence halls, where access control, propped doors, key card systems and who was allowed in are all documented
- Fraternity and sorority houses, where a national organization as well as a local chapter may carry responsibility, and where prior discipline is usually on record
- Athletics, including travel, training and team housing
- Faculty and staff conduct, where the power imbalance over grades, funding or recommendations is part of the claim
- Campus events and venues, including alcohol service and security arrangements
- Off-campus housing the university owns, manages or effectively controls
Who a claim can be brought against
- The person who caused the harm
- The university, where it knew of a risk and failed to act, or where its response to a report was itself inadequate
- A national fraternity or sorority organization, as well as the local chapter
- A property owner or manager, for security failures at the location
- A contractor, such as a security or event management company
One procedural point: a public university is a government body, which brings a much shorter written notice requirement, exactly as it does for a public school district — the position explained on our high school abuse page. Private universities are not, and other deadlines govern. Working out which applies is the first thing we do.
Why the timing is different here
Most campus claimants were legal adults when it happened, and that matters. Maryland’s no-deadline rule for sexual abuse claims, in force since October 1, 2023, covers only abuse that happened while the survivor was a minor. Abuse of an adult student follows Maryland’s ordinary limitation rules, which are far shorter.
A student who was under 18 when it happened, such as a first-year who arrived at 17 or a minor in a campus summer program, falls under the Child Victims Act instead, with no deadline at all. Ask us which applies — including the notice question, which is the more urgent one at a public university.
What does not change: people assume they are out of time far more often than they actually are.
How these claims are handled
We deal with the university, its insurer and its counsel so you are not the one having those conversations, and we can work alongside a Title IX process that is still running rather than requiring you to abandon it.
We do not name individuals on this website and we do not publish clients' stories. Courts can protect a survivor's identity in some circumstances, and we explain what is realistic before anything is filed.
If you are still enrolled, that is an immediate practical concern separate from the legal one, and it is worth raising at the first conversation.
Support, whether or not you call us
If you would rather speak to someone who is not a lawyer, the national sexual assault hotline is 800-656-4673, at any hour.
