Woman Sues College Over Roommate’s Sex
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Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(EASTON, Mass.) — Sometime college dorm rooms make for strange bedfellows.
Such was the case for Lindsay Blankmeyer, a former student at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., who filed a suit against the school claiming that her roommate’s alleged inappropriate sexual behavior drove her into a deep depression.
Blankmeyer is seeking $150,000 in damages in the suit, which was filed Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, citing violations of the Rehabilitation Act, the federal Fair Housing Act Amendments, and Massachusetts anti-discrimination laws.
According to court documents, she alleged that during her senior year, her roommate engaged in online and actual sex right in front of her. According to the suit, the roommate “would have sex with her boyfriend while [Lindsay] was trying to sleep just a few feet away,” and would also “engage in sexually inappropriate video chatting” while Blankmeyer was in the room.
Stonehill College told ABC News that it “responded swiftly and professionally to the concerns of the student in this case, seeking to help resolve the matter.”
“The issues between the student and her roommate were first attempted to be resolved through mediation with a residence director,” Stonehill spokeswoman Kristen Magda Magda wrote. “The student was then presented with multiple options for housing on campus, including a private room. The college also made special arrangements for the student to complete her degree while living at home. At no time did the student notify college staff that her concerns involved sexual activity by her roommate.”
However, Blankmeyer alleged in her lawsuit that that the resident director “did nothing to alleviate the problem,” and that her mental health began to deteriorate as a result.
Before a scheduled group mediation, Blankmeyer alleged that the roommate “grabbed Lindsay while she was sleeping and began shaking her and yelling at her. Lindsay was terrified and pretended to remain asleep,” according to court documents.
Blankmeyer already suffered from previous diagnoses of depression and attention deficit disorder, for which Stonehill had agreed to grant her extra time on exams and papers. She was, however, briefly hospitalized during her freshman year, according to the lawsuit.
When Blankmeyer’s parents and psychiatrist “all asked if Lindsay could have a single room … Stonehill refused Lindsay’s request … and in following weeks and months Lindsay fell into a dark and suicidal depression requiring her to take a leave of absence from school and undergo extensive psychiatric and medical treatment,” according to court documents.
Blankmeyer said the college offered her two unattractive options: She could move to a different dorm that had a hard-partying reputation and room with a girl she didn’t know, or she could move to a “small cubicle-like space” that was previously used as a study lounge.
The lawsuit alleged that Blankmeyer eventually moved to a hotel room, and became so depressed that she completed her bachelor of arts degree from home in New York in September 2011.
A call to one of Blankmeyer’s attorneys, John Tocci of the Boston law firm Tocci, Goss & Lee, was not immediately returned.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio