Suit: Temple gave football player a pass after dorm rage

A former star athlete at Temple University has filed federal suit against the school claiming that she was kicked off the volleyball team and her full scholarship revoked after she reported that her ex-boyfriend, a Temple football player, assaulted her and threatened to kill her.

Emily Frazer was a starting middle blocker and team server on the 2011 Temple volleyball team, according to the school's website.

On Jan. 21, 2011, Frazer was visiting a fellow student in the Cecil B. Moore dormitory building when there was a knock on the door. When it opened, Frazer's former boyfriend, Andrew Cerett, forced his way in to the dorm room and begged Frazer to speak with him, according to the suit, filed Jan. 11 in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Frazer escaped from the room and ran down the hall to her own suite. Cerett, a punter for the Temple Owls, followed, kicked the door open, and began screaming and threatening to kill the sophomore, according to the suit.

"If I can't have you, no one can have you," he said. "We will be happier this way." Two students restrained Cerett and forced him away from the room. As Cerett made his way down the hallway, he punched a window spreading his blood along the walls, the suit states.

A student called Temple security and campus police found Cerett hiding on the building's third floor, the suit states. The suit alleges Cerett falsely imprisoned and assaulted Frazer, though it does not specify any physical contact.

Following the incident, Frazer claimed that Cerett stalked and intimidated her.

At a student disciplinary hearing, Cerett testified that he had consumed 19 shots of alcohol in the half-hour prior to entering Frazer's dorm. The disciplinary board suspended Cerett until Aug. 29, just until the start of the football season, after finding him in violation of prohibitions against intimidation or assault; property damage; guest sign-in procedures; the school alcohol policy and disorderly conduct.

Frazer said she was so emotionally distraught that she needed her mother to stay in her dorm room with her at night for months after the alleged assault. She couldn't focus on her classwork, she fell behind in classes, and couldn't sleep. Her grades suffered.

Frazer said after she insisted that the school officially discipline Cerett, the school punished her instead. She was removed from the Temple volleyball team and 100 percent of her scholarship was revoked.

On an appeal, she was able to get 50 percent of the scholarship reinstated, but was not permitted to return to the team.

Ray Betzner, a Temple spokesman, said the school does not comment on pending litigation. Cerett could not be reached for comment.

Frazer - who says she was deprived of her Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights - is seeking unspecified damages. The suit also names Cerett and Temple's campus security, Allied Barton Security Services, L.L.C.