WHAT IS “Fair” in Private University Sexual Misconduct Proceedings?
A federal district court in Rhode Island held that Johnson & Wales University (JWU) must face a trial in a lawsuit brought by a male student expelled by the university for sexual assault. The court held that a reasonable jury could conclude that JWU breached its promise to provide a “fair” disciplinary hearing to the student by failing to provide him with certain rights—including the right to cross-examine his accuser—even though none of those rights appeared in JWU’s conduct review process.
In an opinion issued November 26, 2019, the trial court denied the university’s motion for summary judgment. The court began by reaffirming that the relationship between a private university and its students is contractual, and that JWU’s “Student Code of Conduct” was the relevant contract between John and JWU. Next, the court examined the text of JWU’s code of conduct and concluded that it required JWU to provide Doe with a “fair” procedure because the Conduct Review Process stated that any resolution under that process would be “prompt, fair, and impartial,” and that JWU would “make every reasonable effort to be fair to all involved.”
The court concluded that, because “fair” was — as a matter of Rhode Island law — an ambiguous term that had many different meanings depending on the circumstances, a jury would have to decide whether JWU’s promise of a “fair” proceeding included the rights that John complained about. In reaching this decision, the court departed from rulings in other, similar cases, in which courts have concluded the accused students are not entitled to any procedures not expressly provided for in the university’s student handbook or other relevant document.
jdsupra– Brinkman and Cobb
