HOW HUNDREDS of Title IX Campus #MeToo Punishments Could Get Tossed
Accused men everywhere are suing over due process. “If you’re found responsible for sexual misconduct at a university in America, your future is arguably over,” said one attorney. A Michigan State undergrad accused of sexual assault. A Cal grad student who says he was denied due process. The Maryland baseball players accused of rape. A Baylor professor who says he was falsely accused of raping a student. They’re all suing to clear their names and turn back what had been a wave of Title IX complaints that swept U.S. college campuses during the peak of the #MeToo and “believe all women” movements.
A John Doe case against Michigan State claims the university failed to offer the accused student due process by prohibiting him from being present during a live hearing in which he could question his accuser directly. A student at Cal State Fullerton filed a similar class action on July 16 against the California State University system, seeking to “clear the records of those who’ve been wrongfully punished,” said attorney Mark Hathaway, who filed the case. And earlier this month, a University of California graduate student filed a class-action lawsuit in Alameda County against the entire 10-campus system, claiming that campus policies on sexual misconduct are unfair and denied him due process. Hathaway is behind both California suits. He said that dozens of students “did not get a fair hearing” in Title IX cases and were expelled or suspended without due process. Hathaway estimated that as many as 500 plaintiffs could join the UC class-action and hundreds more could join in the Cal State case. “I don’t see [the barrage of lawsuits] as a backlash to the #MeToo movement. It’s a backlash to the if-you’re-accused-you’re-guilty movement. Saying ‘believe all the women’ is like saying ‘believe all the men,’” he added. “What does that leave you with?”
Ohio lawyer Eric Rosenberg said that he has represented more than 20 students in lawsuits in which accused have sought legal recourse over what he called false allegations of sexual misconduct, including a student who filed suit against Purdue University in June. “If you’re found responsible for sexual misconduct at a university in America, your future is arguably over, the lawsuit is the only way that these students are able to move on professionally and academically.” Rosenberg continued, “I have zero tolerance for sexual assault, I really do. But what’s happening in many of these proceedings is, you don’t get the evidence. You don’t get to hear or see the materials that are being used to reach a decision.”
“These lawsuits are not a response to the #MeToo movement, they’re a response to the fact that the students’ professional and academic lives have been terminated. Their primary goal is to have their academic record expunged so that they can move on. If they can’t get that, they can’t move on,” Rosenberg added.
thedailybeast-Olivia Messer
