COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The University of Maryland is faced with another lawsuit.
Thursday, sorority members and a women's collegiate sorority chapter took legal action against the university.
The suit claims that the university violated the students' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights "in a significant manner."
In March, a cease-and-desist letter came down from the university following allegations of misconduct that ‘threatened the safety and well-being of members of the university community.’
RELATED: UMD issues cease and desist order to IFC and PHA fraternities and sororities
Almost two weeks later, a group of students and fraternities petitioned the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for a temporary restraining order against administrators, barring them from implementing restrictions on ordinary and philanthropic activity that they outlined at the beginning of March.
Those restrictions were later lifted, allowing chapters to return to normal activities.
In this lawsuit, a coalition of six current students and the Gamma Mu Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta Women's Fraternity claim that through the No Contact Order that was issued by administrators, and the suspension of activities, their rights were violated.
“For two weeks, the University of Maryland trampled on the constitutional rights of all the women who are members of sororities,” said Micah Kamrass, partner at Manley Burke. “Without justification, they prohibited sorority women from speaking with their friends and forced them to participate in an interrogation. The university has since admitted that it did not suspect Kappa Alpha Theta of wrongdoing at the time it deprived the sorority’s members of these critical rights, and it has also since admitted that its fishing-expedition interrogation did not find any evidence of wrongdoing from members of Kappa Alpha Theta.”
WMAR reached out to UMD for comment. They said that "The university will not be commenting on pending lawsuits."
