Last spring, two undergraduate women filed charges of rape and assault against Harvard undergraduate men.

Now, the women are speaking out publicly for the first time, saying they felt betrayed by the College in the aftermath of the attacks.

The first case, brought against Joshua M. Elster, Class of 2000, ended with his pleading guilty to rape and other charges last September.

Another case was brought against D. Drew Douglas, also Class of 2000, who eventually pled guilty to a charge of indecent assault and battery. Unlike the woman raped by Elster, Douglas' victim chose to take her case first to the Administrative Board instead of to state court. She now says she regrets this decision.

The women first spoke out this week in the most recent issue of Perspective, the campus' liberal monthly. The Crimson has confirmed that neither Elster nor Douglas has yet been expelled or dismissed from Harvard.

"In my opinion, the people I worked with in the administration were unequivocally more concerned with protecting the Harvard name and hiding the process than helping me," the woman assaulted by Douglas told The Crimson in an e-mail message. "They had no qualms about putting me through hell to buy time until the school year ended."

"That is what angers me most," she added.

According to Middlesex County prosecutors, Elster and the woman he raped knew each other for about one-and-a-half months before the rape occurred. They had arranged to meet in her room on Jan. 29 of last year.

At that time, Elster and the victim first engaged in consensual kissing. Then, when the woman rejected his further advances, Elster struck her across the face, forced her to disrobe and raped her. He then left. Neither was under the influence of alcohol.

Elster pled guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to three counts of rape, two counts of assault and battery and one count of indecent assault and battery on Sept. 9. The former Kirkland House resident is currently serving three years probation but no jail time.

As part of his probation, Elster cannot contact the woman he raped, walk on Harvard property or enter University buildings during the three years.

The Ad Board has also determined that the rape occurred. Though Elster has left Harvard indefinitely, the College has not formally dismissed or expelled him, according to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '08. Therefore, Elster is still officially a Harvard student.

The woman raped by Elster said she was told by the administration that she would be notified if the College decided to dismiss or expel Elster.

"The way I think about it is, that when the administration doesn't expel the person who raped me, my safety and my welfare doesn't amount to a hill of beans," the woman raped by Elster told Perspective. "If Harvard is so concerned with their name, then why do they have a student who raped another student?"

According to Secretary of the Faculty and longtime Harvard administrator John B. Fox Jr. '59, Elster is probably the first Harvard student to be charged with and convicted of rape.

Douglas, the other undergraduate charged withrape and assault, is orignally from Newton, Wisc.,and lived in Mather House while at Harvard.