A former student claims a Christian college in Memphis banned her from campus for allegedly having premarital sex after she reported being raped by a classmate.
On Wednesday, 22-year-old Mara Louk filed a federal complaint with the US Department of Education against Visible Music College, claiming that the school did nothing when she told the school that a classmate choked and raped her last November.
According to the complaint, on November 2, 2021, an unnamed male classmate came to Louk’s home to play board games and eventually sexually assaulted her.
On Wednesday, Mara Louk, 22, (pictured) filed a federal complaint with the US Department of Education against Visible Music College
Louk’s complaint prompts the DOE to investigate whether Visible violated the Clery Act, a federal campus safety law that requires colleges to assist victims of on-campus crime.
School President Ken Steorts, who said he has not yet seen the complaint, said the college will cooperate with any investigation
The next day, she told a school administrator about the alleged assault and told them she shared a class with the student and wanted to make sure he couldn’t harass her on campus, the complaint says.
“I didn’t expect them to actually exclude him, but I trusted them enough to put a plan in place to keep him away from me and other students,” Louk told NBC News.
The day after, she filed a sexual assault report with the Memphis police department, but a week later she was told by police there was insufficient evidence to make an arrest, she said.
Then, on November 15, because the police had not charged the classmate, the school administration told her that he would continue to attend classes.
At the same meeting, Louk alleges that the school administration accused her of violating school rules against premarital sex with another student, although she denies having had sex with him.
She says the accused classmate told school officials that she had sex with her ex-boyfriend that semester and that the ex confirmed it.
Louk says the school then threatened to expel her if she didn’t sign a confession. Even then, she was expelled from the campus and had to end the school year remotely.
“I just felt like why did I even say anything?” said Louk. “That’s how I felt for a really long time because everything just seemed to get worse and worse”
Louk says what Visible Music College was doing was illegal and went against their supposed ethics as a Christian school
School officials also advised Louk that they would not conduct a Title IX investigation because the alleged attack did not take place on campus, the complaint said (pictured).
School officials also advised Louk that they would not conduct a Title IX investigation because the alleged assault did not take place on campus, according to the complaint.
Louk claims the school administration also tried to stop her from telling anyone else at school about her alleged rape.
“I just felt like why did I even say anything?” Louk told NBC News. “That’s how I felt for a really long time because things seemed to be getting worse and worse.”
The complaint asks the DOE to investigate whether the school violated the Clery Act — a federal campus safety law that requires colleges to assist victims of campus crimes — and whether the school louk under the Equality Act of the sexes, Title IX.
“Visible has fought back against Mara in a variety of ways,” her complaint reads. “Rather than investigating the rape and supporting Mara, Visible punished Mara for coming forward.”
Ultimately, Louk refused to sign the chaplaincy contract, finished the fall semester online, and then retired from college just nine credits away from her bachelor’s degree, NBC News reported.
The school has not investigated any of the allegations, but school president Ken Steorts, who said he has not yet seen the complaint, told NBC News the college will cooperate with any investigation.
“Visible will cooperate with any investigation into the allegations made in the complaint,” he said.
But last November, they issued a statement to Louk that they would not conduct an investigation into the alleged assault because they had no jurisdiction over an off-campus incident under Title IX regulations.
But Louk called out the school’s hypocrisy because she said they were willing to punish her for alleged premarital sex that took place off campus.
“They basically didn’t want to help me because it was off-campus,” Louk said, “but with a separate situation that was also off-campus, they wanted to deal with it and punish me for it.”
Louk says what the school did was illegal and went against its perceived morality as a Christian school.
“Besides what the school did to me, it was completely illegal,” she said, “it was completely immoral — especially with a school that claims to demonstrate Christian morals and values.” It is the complete opposite of what Jesus would do.”