NOT SURPRISINGLY, BU officials paint a different picture when it comes to how the university handles campus sexual assault. BU associate general counsel Michael Rosen, for instance, maintains that the administration takes the issue "very seriously." It knows all too well "the myths that the institution doesn’t care," he says. "That’s why our administrative policy is not to cover up or paper over" rape allegations.

Rosen, who is handling the civil-rights complaint for BU, refuses to discuss the specifics of the Roslonski case: "I will not talk about merits of a case that’s being pursued in other forums," he says. But he defends the manner in which BU treats victims. According to Rosen, the administration receives "a large number" of rape complaints each year from students, all of which are investigated. According to the Boston University Police Department, nine "forcible sex offenses," including rape, occurred at BU in 2000 — as compared to five in 1999, nine in 1998, and five in 1997. Rosen declines to give statistics on how many formal complaints are filed with the OJA each year. But he claims that BU "has a strong record of suspending and expelling" perpetrators. According to Herbert Ross, the associate dean of students, BU doesn’t keep separate statistics on the number of students expelled for sexual assault and the number expelled for physical assault. Says Ross, "We don’t have statistics broken down into categories. So I couldn’t say how many students were expelled for sexual assault off the top of my head." Still, Rosen adds, the administration devotes "lots of resources" toward crisis counseling and campus safety.

When asked to respond to criticisms of BU staff members — how counselors have tried to enroll sexual-assault victims in AA and have discouraged them from talking about their experiences — he replies, "Victims can engage in unsafe behaviors. We’re very aggressive about telling all of our students, not just victims, about how their behaviors can put them at risk. We don’t apologize for that." And Ross maintains that BU is equally aggressive in counseling assailants. If the university finds a student guilty of rape, Ross says, "in most cases, students are expelled and don’t come back." Those who are suspended must show that they have addressed their behavior in therapy. Mental-health counselors, Ross says, evaluate student assailants to ensure that they are ready to return to campus. It’s possible, Rosen concedes, that an occasional student victim has received bad advice from an employee, leading her not to file a complaint. Or maybe a counselor has seemed insensitive to an emotionally vulnerable victim. "That can happen," he admits. "If we let someone down, we’d like to know about it. We care how our staff interacts with students."

But one "bad apple," as he puts it, doesn’t define the institution. As far as he’s concerned, BU thoroughly addresses sexual assault by providing an array of services. "We have counseling, investigation, and prosecution," he explains. "These things show that we have a hostile environment against people who violate the rules," not against rape victims.

The services provided by BU for sexual-assault victims do compare favorably to what’s available at other colleges in the state. The one exception is UMass Amherst, which offers a comprehensive range of rape-crisis services right on campus, everything from a 24-hour hotline and ongoing therapy to legal aid and medical treatment. According to local victims’ advocates, the UMass Amherst model, which operates out of the school’s Everywoman’s Center, is as comprehensive it gets — the university’s rape-crisis center, in fact, not only serves UMass students, but also area residents.

In Boston, by contrast, most colleges lack such a designated campus building largely because they can refer students to the nearby Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) — one of the oldest such facilities in the country. Some schools, such as Tufts, have a Women’s Center, where students can receive counseling, medical exams, and legal assistance. Tufts also runs a "student sexual assault" hotline with BARCC, which trains Tufts staff. Other schools, like BU, have little more than a campus crisis counselor. Observes one Boston victims’ advocate, "On paper, BU doesn’t stand out from other universities as terribly bad."

That said, BU has gained a reputation for being particularly harsh with rape victims. Timothy Corcoran — whose Milton-based law firm, Corcoran, Fitzgerald & Hennessy, represents Roslonski and Smithers — has handled as many as 25 sexual-assault cases against universities across the country, including some against other local institutions. He and his partner, Stephen Hennessy, are convinced that BU stands out. "In our experiences in all these cases," Corcoran says, "there is a different personality at BU. I think the description ‘Rambo-like tactics’ works best." Or, as Hennessy puts it: "Based on what I have seen and heard, the attitude at BU seems adversarial toward victims." Other Boston victims’ advocates agree. "BU may be the same in writing," says one. "But in practice, it really sucks when it comes to the victims."

The university’s blatant attacks against Roslonski since she went public have confounded observers. In the 15 or so years he’s been following this issue, the SOC’s Carter says he’s never seen a school official or a school lawyer discredit an alleged victim in such an "extreme" and "overt" manner as Smith did in his December 4 Free Press column. And most universities make a point not to discipline anyone who reports an assault — regardless of her behavior beforehand. "Schools should protect victims," he says, "not retaliate." Even if BU conducted its investigation fairly, he adds, "Its response to Roslonski’s public allegations is totally insensitive and over the top." And it’s especially vexing to Carter, whose organization bestowed its prestigious Jeanne Clery Award for outstanding leadership on campus crime on BU in 1996. Today, however, the university might earn a different distinction. Adds Carter, "I cannot understand the hostility. BU is just behaving like jerks."

Smith, for his part, says his comments to the Free Press about Roslonski reflected "a sincere expression of regret and concern" about her. He adds, "We will probably never know what happened that night. But in this climate, unless I accept at face value all of what the victim is saying, I’m a bad guy. I’ve acted on the basis of the evidence, and that’s because of the serious nature of the charge."

Whether the Office of Civil Rights will agree remains an open question. According to the OCR’s Murphy, investigators are currently gathering information, including BU procedures and policies, and interviewing officials and witnesses. "If we find the school has a problem," he explains, "we will ask it to change its policies." If BU fails to comply with that request, the OCR will take what he terms "extreme measures," including suspending the school’s federal funding.

To hear BU officials tell it, that will never happen. They’d have you believe that the current OCR investigation is no big deal. "I am quite confident it will find in favor of the university," Rosen says. Perhaps it will. But the fact that OCR has taken the complaint this far bodes well for Roslonski. Federal agencies don’t tend to waste resources on something that appears unwarranted. "In my experience," Carter attests, "the department won’t pursue a complaint unless the allegations are well documented upfront."

For now, Roslonski and other "beleaguered women," in Eagan’s words, must hold out hope. Her saga may not amount to a clear-cut and tidy rape case. Yet it has inspired at least two BU students who endured similar experiences to come forward — albeit anonymously — and has no doubt consoled others who have chosen to remain silent or have already graduated. After all, the vast majority of rapes involve alcohol. Many of them involve embarrassing and shameful details. But that doesn’t give a school the right to minimize the act’s brutality or to lash out at students who complain. As Roslonski says, "If I give up, it would be like letting BU get away with its poor polices. I want people to know BU has a problem with rape. I want this complaint to be a wake-up call."

Kristen Lombardi can be reached at klombardi[a]phx.com