APPEALS COURT Rules USC Ran ‘Unfair’ Title IX Proceeding Against Expelled Fball Player
A state appeals court issued a reprieve to a football player expelled from the University of Southern California, finding that his Title IX proceeding was “unfair.” The private university owed former kicker Matt Boermeester a “meaningful opportunity to cross-examine critical witnesses at an in-person hearing,” a California Court of Appeal ruled recently.
USC opened its domestic-violence case in response to a neighbor’s report that Boermeester was abusing his girlfriend, fellow athlete Zoe Katz. USC had surveillance video from the alley where the Jan. 2017 playful incident took place, but refused to provide it to him. Zoe Katz accused the university of misrepresenting her statements and said that Title IX threatened her because she denied Boermeester abused her.
“We are very pleased that the Court of Appeal has again recognized that accused students under Title IX must have a meaningful opportunity to cross-examine critical witnesses at an in-person hearing,” Boermeester’s attorney Mark Hathaway wrote in a statement.
“It is gratifying that the new Federal Title IX regulations announced on May 6th will require the same fairness that Matt Boermeester has fought for so hard over the past three years, and finally won in the Court of Appeal today.”
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