Parents of alleged rape victim sue university

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The parents of a former University of Kansas student who says she was raped in university housing have filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming its residence halls are unsafe.

The university, however, said its campus housing is safe and the school works hard to ensure students’ safety.

James and Amanda Tackett’s daughter, Daisy Tackett, was a freshman at the University of Kansas when she said she was raped in a Jayhawker Towers apartment by another student-athlete in the fall of 2014, according to the lawsuit filed in Douglas County District Court.

The suit, which seeks class-action status, claims the school has misled the public by portraying the campus housing as safe.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Daisy Tackett, who attended high school in Dallas before going to Kansas, where she was a varsity rower, told the Lawrence Journal-World and The Dallas
Morning News she wanted her name used.

She did not file a police report after the alleged rape, but filed a complaint about a year later with the university’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, which oversees compliance with state and federal laws and university policies.

She said she contacted the IOA office after learning that the student she accused of rape tried to assault a rowing teammate this past fall.