Last Monday, five female Howard University students filed suit against the university in the United States Court for the District of Columbia, claiming that the school did not do enough to protect them from sexual abuse by one of its employees.

The employee, librarian George Bright-Abu, was arrested earlier this year after Rukayatu Bello and Mercedes Woodson, both HU students, filed a police report alleging sexual misconduct. In a July trial, Bright-Abu was found guilty of one count of simple assault and two counts of misdemeanor sexual abuse. He was sentenced to sixty days in prison and probation.

In a statement released by the five students’ attorneys last week, they say Bright-Abu “sexually assaulted two full-time students during the 2010-2011 academic year. This included unwanted touching, flirting, fondling and degrading propositions of a sexual nature.” Bright-Abu was the work-study supervisor of all five plaintiffs in the federal case filed last week.

The lawsuit details months of unwanted sexual harassment and abuse by Bright-Abu, which Howard allegedly did nothing to stop. Woodson told MyFoxDC that after she reported an incident in November 2010, university administrators did not take action. “Basically, it seemed as though they weren’t really concerned and wanted me to overlook it,” Woodson told the station. In addition to Bello and Woodson, three other Howard students have come forward in this new lawsuit, alleging that Bright-Abu abused them and the university did nothing to stop him.

“Howard University created a hostile and abusive working environment for all plaintiffs by continuing to employ Bright-Abu after being made aware of his ongoing physical and verbal sexual assault,” Christal Edwards, one of the attorneys, told WJLA. After several months of university inaction, the lawsuit alleges, Bello and Woodson finally filed a police report.

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“Studying”: Not just for Lauinger anymore!

First, the bad news: Vox will be blogging on a reduced schedule during study days, finals, and winter break. We’ll do our best to run three posts a day, but finals may intervene—besides, the student body just won’t be doing as many delightful and interesting things over the next few weeks as it normally does.

Now for the “good” news: as Lauinger Library will be flirting with its maximum occupancy levels for the next thirteen days, Vox has a round up of the various other study spots on campus suggested by the University and favored by Voice staffers.

Our staff suggests:

• The Car Barn. Specifically, the graduate student lounge on the second floor. Former Vox editor Juliana Brint writes has “lots of tables and couches, tons of outlets, [and] multiple vending machines. It’s got its own microwave, and it’s right near one of the nicest bathrooms on campus.” And one of those vending machines sells energy drinks.

• The Hariri Building. Aside from probably having the highest working-to-non-working outlet ratio of any building on campus, it’s shiny, clean, and within I-hope-no-one-steals-my-laptop walking distance from Uncommon Grounds and Vital Vittles.

• Off-campus wi-fi hotspots. When Georgetown just can’t hold all of us, it’s time to venture off campus to places like the Barnes and Noble on M Street, which have food, tables, and wireless.James McGrory suggested a host of wi-fi abundant locales around the District back in August, like Baked & Wired (near B & N) and Crepes-a-Go-Go. (See a trend? These places may be a bit of a hike, but they serve up delicious study snacks).

• Blommer Science Library. Located on the third floor of the Reiss Science Center.

Check out Georgetown’s suggestions, with classroom reservation links after the jump!

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We know you got three shots of espresso. It’s on tape.

This finals season, wouldn’t it be nice to know that the line at Midnight Mug went out the door before giving up a coveted spot on Lau 2?

Students at North Carolina State University enjoy this very privilege thanks to a website the university library created. It allows users to access a livestream of the library café via mobile device so that they can monitor lines. Students can also browse the library catalog and search for available public computers.

A feature that will allow students to book study rooms and request books right on their phones will be available in the future. The application is not limited to iPhones, either, so even those who don’t worship at the feet of Apple can reserve books right from their phone.

Sounds like a great program, but of course, Georgetown should focus on getting full wireless coverage before it takes that big leap into Big Brotheresque mobile shortcuts.

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus blog.

Photo from Flickr user Travelin’ Librarian used under a Creative Commons license.