MICHIGAN STATE Ignored 2018 Federal Court Ruling on Due Process Until John Doe Sued
Public universities under the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction have been on notice for seven months that they are required to provide an in-person hearing with cross-examination to students facing suspension or expulsion for sexual misconduct. Michigan State University is one of them. After all, the 6th Circuit decision last fall was against the University of Michigan, an hour away. Yet it appears to have ignored that binding order until a student sued the scandal-plagued institution for denying him what the order requires.
“John Doe” will not get the preliminary injunction against MSU that he was seeking because his punishment remains “interim,” according to the Monday opinion by U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney. But the judge ordered MSU to let Doe take a May 22 examination that he needs to complete in order to continue his fourth-year medical school studies, assuming he beats MSU’s charges. It also must give him a hearing by May 7 and rule on his case no later than May 14. According to Doe’s lawyer, the taxpayer-funded university never informed him that it had scheduled a “pre-hearing conference in April” and a hearing in May. It allegedly mentioned these meetings – required by the 6th Circuit – only after Doe sued, when the parties were in court arguing about Doe’s motion for preliminary injunction. “That was news to Plaintiff’s counsel” at oral argument, Maloney wrote in the opinion.
Maloney sided with MSU because “the final disciplinary action has not yet been decided,” even though Doe remained suspended indefinitely until MSU told the judge that it had scheduled a hearing in line with last fall’s 6th Circuit ruling. At that hearing, Doe will receive a “full and fair opportunity to confront his accusers and the allegations against him before final disciplinary action is taken against him,” the judge claimed, ignoring MSU’s ignorance of 6th Circuit precedent going back to 2017’s ruling against the University of Cincinnati.
Doe claimed that if Maloney didn’t give him relief, his medical school education could be delayed by up to two years “because of upcoming changes to the university curriculum” and the upcoming “Step 2” examinations he has to take this summer. That was the basis of Maloney’s limited decision to order MSU to let Doe sit for these exams, assuming he receives a “favorable disposition” from a hearing with cross-examination, as ordered by the 6th Circuit.
thecollegefix– Greg Piper Read Judge Maloney’s Opinion
