'They could have taken care of me... and they took advantage': Girl 'sexually assaulted and filmed' by frat boys speaks of her torment as college expels them but only AFTER they graduate

James Madison University found Mike Lunney, Jay Dertzbaugh and Nick Scallion responsible for the sexual assault of Sarah Butters during spring break 2013

The three Sigma Chi Fraternity Brothers were banned from the school campus - but allowed to graduate

Miss Butters has dropped out of university after her grades slipped following the attack and she lost financial aid



A college student who was sexually assaulted by three fraternity brothers told MailOnline today that she will always be angry at her so-called friends for taking advantage of her when they could have chosen to help.



Sarah Butters, 21, from Hopewell, Virginia, was attacked by three men - Mike Lunney, Jay Dertzbaugh and Nick Scallion - during spring break 2013 before they shared the video with other students at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virgina.



Despite the fact the school determined the Sigma Chi Fraternity brothers had assaulted the young woman, officials came up with the unique punishment of 'expulsion after graduation'. Two men graduated in May and the third will be returning to school for his senior year next term.



Miss Butters said today: 'I definitely blame them and I'm very angry. I had been drinking but they could have taken care of me or helped me but instead they took advantage.'

She added: 'I will always be angry at them. They are the ones who made the decision to commit that act.'



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Miss Butters, pictured right, has dropped out of university following the sexual assault after her grades slipped and she was unable to retain financial aid

Jay Dertzbaugh (pictured left) and Nick Scallion (pictured right) along with Mike Lunney were found responsible by James Madison University of the sexual assault of a fellow students Sarah Butters during spring break 2013. The three frat brothers, identified by TV station WHSV, were punished by being banned from JMU - after they receive their degrees



Miss Butters has since dropped out of university after her grades slipped and she lost financial aid.

The attack on Miss Butters took place in March of her sophomore year when she took a trip to Panama beach, Florida with a group of girlfriends from college. Dozens of other JMU students also poured into the resort to party.



She told MailOnline on Thursday that the last thing she remembered before the attack, which followed a day of drinking on the beach, was being in a male friend's apartment.

While still on her trip, Miss Butters learned that a video had been made of her, visibly drunk and topless, being groped by the three men in a bathroom, Huffington Post reported.

The tape reportedly shows the men, laughing and trying to pull Miss Butters onto their laps and trying to remove her bikini bottoms, according to Huffington Post.

Lunney, Dertzbaugh and Scallion were first identified by WHSV.



Miss Butters said she confronted the three men, whom she considered friends, who denied the attack.



She said: 'I asked the boys what they knew about this video and they told me: ''I don't know what you're talking about.'''



When she returned to college in Virginia, Miss Butters found that the video had been shared further and was being talked about online on school gossip sites. She got access to the video in order to see if for herself.

Student Sarah Butters was sexually assaulted by three frat brothers at James Madison University in 2013. The men have been banned from the college - but are allowed to graduate first

She told MailOnline today: 'I felt like the girl [on the video] wasn't me. It was like looking at someone else. I was disgusted. I hated that this had been made public.'



JMU Students discussed the video on JMU gossip site, School Dirt.



'No surprise here,' one person wrote.



Another wrote: 'How the f*** are these kids still on campus?'

Miss Butters consulted her father, a police officer, as she was totally 'overwhelmed' by what had happened.



On advice from her father and several legal experts, she decided not to go to police in Florida because it would have been difficult and costly to take action against her attackers out of state.



She said today that she was advised not to go the police in Virginia because the case would have been difficult to prosecute because it did happen out of state.



In January this year, Miss Butters worked up the courage to hand the tape over to officials at JMU and filed a formal complaint.



Director of judicial affairs Josh Bacon told Miss Butters he could not determine if the video was consensual, she said.

At a first hearing, the school found Lunney, Dertzbaugh and Scallion responsible for sexual assault and sexual harassment. Their punishment was being expelled after receiving their degrees.



Miss Butters said: 'I told the hearing that I was not okay with that. I had to see them on campus. This did not affect their lives and it affected my life for a year.'



A school official told her it was rare for anyone to expelled and the student handbook listed suspension as the harshest punishment for sexual assault.



Miss Butters appealed the punishment and a hearing board decided to expel the three fraternity brothers.

Lunney, Dertzbaugh and Scallion then subsequently appealed and a final hearing board in April decided to stick with the 'expulsion post graduation' punishment.



The three men were barred from contacting Miss Butters, are not allowed to walk at their commencement ceremony and cannot return to campus after graduation. However they will receive their degrees.

Another of the school's punishments was to have the three men create a 30-minute presentation on sexual assault 'for possible presentation to student organizations', according to a document seen by MailOnline.



Following the school's muted reaction, Miss Butters complained to federal officials in April which has brought JMU under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

In a statement to MailOnline today, JMU said: 'The University takes the issue of sexual assault/harassment very seriously, and will cooperate fully with the OCR investigation.

'It is an important and deeply troubling problem, and the public discourse should serve to bring focus to the topic. Due to legal/privacy requirements, there are limitations to what we can say publicly about a pending matter of this type.'

The Virginia school is among 63 higher education facilities across the U.S. being federally investigated for their handling of sexual assaults.



Miss Butters said that she believes her treatment by JMU will make other victims of sexual assault hesitate about coming forward to report what has happened to them.



She said: 'I feel like it sends an awful message to female students if someone like me, who has video evidence of being sexually assaulted cannot see her attackers punished. It was a miserable, stressful process.



'I feel it is putting other students at risk having these men walk around campus. Instead JMU wanted to give these men diplomas.'



James Madison University (pictured) punished three male students with a ban from campus after they graduate - despite seeing a video of the fraternity brothers sexually assault a fellow student while she was visibly intoxicated and topless