AUTISTIC STUDENT Sues Saddleback For TIX Investigation of Consent Fist-Bump & Selfie
Marcus Knight, an autistic student with cerebral palsy, is suing Saddleback College after he alleges that his college record was “improperly” black-marked with two Title IX violations. Knight, 19, first came to national attention in 2018 when his attempts to make friends landed him in the Title IX office. California’s Saddleback College opened two Title IX investigations against him for a fist bump and selfie that two female students described as sexual harassment. His mother Aurora accused the college of multiple due-process violations and said the allegations weren’t even physically possible for her son, and crowdfunded to hire an attorney. According to the lawsuit, Knight asked one female student for a “fist bump.” Soon after, Knight asked to take a selfie with another student. The “fist bump” was reported to the Title IX office. And the selfie? When Marcus took it, he accidentally pressed “burst” mode a few times due to his cerebral palsy. The result? Knight had quite a few selfies with the woman, but she later alleged that Knight took “over 300” photos of her.
Knight’s mother said that “fist bumps” and selfies are ways that Knight develops a sense of belonging at college. “My son just wants to have friends like everyone else … why is that wrong?” While the college lifted Marcus’s suspension before his hearing, the Title IX violations remain on his record and he remains banned from school activities unless accompanied by his mother or a special-needs aide.
The lawsuit, filed by California attorney Mark Hathaway, accuses Title IX officer Juan Avalos of denying Marcus basic due-process protections. They include judging him using evidence “never before provided” to the student and denying him the right to question “the complainant or adverse witnesses” before neutral fact-finders in a “live evidentiary hearing.” And while the suit glosses over Knight’s autism, it’s easy to see how it could have disadvantaged him in the Title IX proceedings. “Simply put, [students on the autism spectrum] often do not possess the needed skill set to realize how their behavior may be perceived by other people,” said Lori Tucker, an educational law attorney and advocate for students with disabilities. “Even a simple misunderstanding or seemingly innocent misbehavior can result in involvement in a Title IX proceeding.”
Marcus’s chance to get into a four-year college is not possible unless Saddleback, a community college, rescinds its findings against him, the primary aim of the lawsuit.
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