(OSV News) — The University of Notre Dame has cleared and rehired a former residence rector of anonymous online sexual assault allegations, as her civil defamation case against her unknown accusers proceeds in an Indiana court.
The university provided OSV News with a statement from Karen Kennedy, associate vice president of residential life, who said a “thorough investigation” had determined “there was no evidence to support that any of the alleged misconduct occurred.”
Kennedy’s statement was shared in an email to residents of McGlinn Hall, one of the campus’ women’s residences, the university told OSV News.
Elizabeth Greenop — who had been removed as McGlinn’s rector and placed on leave in August pending a university investigation — will now serve as an assistant director of residential life, according to that office’s website and an Oct. 29 article by the school’s independent newspaper, The Observer.
Greenop had been the subject of several graphic sexual assault accusations posted in June and July to shareyourstory.notredame, an Instagram account not affiliated with the university.
Following professional news standards, OSV News did not disclose Greenop’s name in its initial coverage due to the uncorroborated nature of the anonymous, social media-based allegations.
Greenop’s name and association with the matter became public record due to her August filing of a civil suit in St. Joseph County, Indiana, Superior Court.
The suit holds that the allegations made by the 10 defendants — referenced as “Jane” and “John Doe(s),” the legal convention for persons whose names are unknown or withheld for privacy — constitute both defamation and a false-light invasion of privacy, a charge similar to defamation.
In her affidavit, Greenop had denied all of the claims made in the allegations, noting she had “not been arrested for or charged with any crime in connection” with them.
Without naming Greenop, Kennedy said in her statement that “the rector in question was fully and thoroughly cooperative throughout the entire investigation, which included significant efforts to identify individuals with any knowledge relevant to the alleged misconduct as well as any misconduct involving the types that were alleged.”
Kennedy said the investigation “also included numerous interviews with members of the residence hall community,” adding that “at no point did anyone interviewed identify themselves as being subject to the alleged misconduct or as being aware of anyone else who had been subject to such misconduct.”
On Oct. 9, Greenop won a court order allowing her to subpoena social media giant Meta to identify those behind anonymous Instagram posts accusing her of sexual assault.
She can now demand that Meta, the parent company of Instagram, provide “documents and records sufficient to identify” the individuals behind both the allegations and the Instagram account that published the claims.
The administrator of the shareyourstory.notredame Instagram account declined comment to OSV News regarding the lawsuit and the results of the university investigation.
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
