BAD RULING: Due Process Denied at UMinn. Judge Dismisses Accused Students’ Lawsuit
A district court judge in Minnesota has dismissed a lawsuit from 10 former University of Minnesota football students who claimed they were denied due process when their former school found them responsible for sexually assaulting a female student. The case dates back to 2015. Police declined to charge the players, but the university went ahead with its own investigation. The Minnesota Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office (EOAA) recommended five of the players be expelled, four others be given a one-year suspension, and one player be given probation. An eleventh player was not found responsible and received no punishment.
The punished students sued UMinn, alleging their due process rights were violated and the university defamed them. The students claimed the school acted with bias against them because of their race and gender. After the students were suspended, UMinn president Eric Kaler made several statements to the media that the players claimed defamed them. The students claimed in their lawsuit that Kaler made more press statements after the redacted report prepared against the players was published by a media outlet. The players alleged that he claimed “there is no due process when it comes to athletic suspensions” and ‘[y]ou don’t have a constitutional right to play a football game,” according to court documents.
Judge Donovan W. Frank argued Kaler had “absolute immunity” in making these statements and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the players cannot amend their complaint. Judge Frank argued that other courts had found that bias against accused students (who are almost exclusively male) does not constitute bias against men, even though other courts have found differently. It’s a setback for student due process rights, even as many other accused students have received favorable rulings in recent years.
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