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UCSB Ruined an Innocent Male’s Life With a Shameful TitleIX Process. UCSB Got a Slap on the Wrist.

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UCSB Ruined an Innocent Male’s Life With a Shameful TitleIX Process. UCSB Got a Slap on the Wrist.

The University of California-Santa Barbara suspended an accused student based on physical abuse claims that his non-student accuser recanted before the Title IX investigation started.

It did not lift the “interim” suspension, which prevented “John Doe” from starting his freshman year, until a judge ordered it to let him back on campus with no restrictions in spring 2017. Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle said the university’s conduct through the process was “arbitrary and unreasonable.” Yet the public university will pay Doe less than $5,000 for the trouble it has caused him since fall 2016. In an Oct. 23 order, Anderle flatly rejected a motion by Doe’s attorney for nearly $465,000 in “private attorney general fees” under California law. The statute is intended to reward plaintiffs who enforce “an important right affecting the public interest” that helps a “broad class of citizens,” as if they were acting as attorney general.

thecollegefix By Jeremiah Poff

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NEW TITLE IX Rules Allow Students Accused of Sex Assault to Question Accusers

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NEW TITLE IX Rules Allow Students Accused of Sex Assault to Question Accusers

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is expected to issue new Title IX guidelines in November mandating that college students accused of sexual assault be given the opportunity to question their accuser, among other reforms designed to bolster the due-process rights of the accused. Under the revised Title IX guidelines, universities must afford accused students the right to question their accuser, though the questions can be communicated through a neutral third party and the two parties never have to face each other in the same room. The rule changes, will be subject to Congress’ mandated public-comment period before taking effect. This public comment period is welcomed, as former President Obama turned a blind eye to this mandate, and released his pro-accuser anti-due process Title IX guidelines without adhering to the Administrative Procedure Act. “Courts have recognized that cross-examination is an essential part of the process of figuring out the truth in cases where credibility is a factor,” said Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which advocates for more due process for those accused of campus sexual assault.

nationalreview By Jack Crowe wsj.com By Michele Hackman

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SETTLEMENT WIN for John Doe. Brown University Must Expunge Student’s Record.

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SETTLEMENT WIN for John Doe. Brown University Must Expunge Student’s Record.

Per KC Johnson, “this settlement comes 2.5 years after what was a quite comprehensive victory for acc’d student in MTD, and allows Brown to avoid a trial in the case.”

From Settlement Document:
The Court declares that the investigation and procedures related to the disciplinary suspension Defendant imposed upon John Doe breached his contractual rights under Rhode Island law and that the suspension and all findings are hereby null and void and expunged from Plaintiff’s record, as if they had never occurred.

Attorney’s Andrew T. Miltenberg, Esq. and Tara Davis, Esq. represented John Doe

READ: Brown Settlement 

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ONE LAWSUIT Filed a Week in Federal Court. Students Accused Suing Colleges/Universities.

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ONE LAWSUIT Filed a Week in Federal Court. Students Accused Suing Colleges/Universities.

The former Purdue University undergraduate called it a “Kafkaesque process.” Only identified as John Doe, the one-time Boilermaker was accused of and ultimately found responsible by the university for sexually assaulting his former girlfriend. He has continually denied the allegations, but after an investigatory procedure that he claims violated his due process rights and discriminated against him because he is male, he was suspended from the university for one year and had to involuntarily resign from the Navy ROTC. Doe then turned to the federal courts for relief. Doe claimed the process that found him responsible did not have a hearing of any kind. There was no cross-examination, no sworn testimony. He was not allowed to see the investigators’ report and was not allowed to provide evidence that supported his side of the story. Rather, he asserted, “there was no presumption of innocence but rather a presumption that the accusing female’s story was true.” After the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana dismissed his complaint, he pressed forward. Last month, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in John Doe v. Purdue University.

The number of these kinds of lawsuits is rising nationwide. Brooklyn College history professor KC Johnson has become a critic of how universities are handling allegations of sexual misconduct. In general, Johnson said, schools have established procedures that incorporate no meaningful investigation and do not provide any way for the accused to defend themselves. As evidence, he pointed to the increase in lawsuits. According to his records, an average of one lawsuit has been filed every week in federal court by an accused student for the last 2-1/2 years. Most of the lawsuits end in settlements because, he said, universities do not want to go through the discovery process and a trial. The rise in these cases is linked to the 2011 “Dear Colleague letter” issued by the U.S. Department of Education under the Obama administration…  Johnson noted the most unusual aspect of the Purdue case was that the accuser did not appear before the university’s three-member advisory panel. Rather, the accuser submitted a statement that had actually been written by the school’s Title IX coordinator and director of the Center for Advocacy, Response and Education.

ibj.com By Marilyn Odendah

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Ex-FOOTBALL Players Sue Nikki Yovino & Sacred Heart University Over Fake Rape Claim

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Ex-FOOTBALL Players Sue Nikki Yovino & Sacred Heart University Over Fake Rape Claim

Two former college football players falsely accused of rape by a fellow student are now suing her and the university which suspended them. Dhameer Bradley and Malik St. Hilaire filed a lawsuit against Nikki Yovino. The lawsuit’s allegations against Yovino include slander and infliction of emotional distress. They also accused the school of wrongly suspending them. Bradley and St. Hilaire said they and Yovino had consensual sex at an off-campus party.  But, police said she later admitted making up the allegations so she wouldn’t ruin a relationship with a potential boyfriend. Yovino was sentenced in August to a year in prison after pleading guilty to falsely reporting an incident and interfering with police. The football players were never arrested, but both withdrew from the school while facing possible discipline.  At her sentencing hearing, Yovino made headlines after it appeared that she had rolled her eyes and smirked while St. Hilaire read his victim impact statement in the courtroom. ‘I went from being a college student to sitting at home being expelled with no way to clear my name,’ St. Hilaire said. ‘I just hope she knows what she has done to me, my life will never be the same. I did nothing wrong, but everything has been altered because of this.’

dailywire By Ashe Schow  dailymail  By Maxine Shen

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UNIVERSITY of Wisconsin Title IX Investigation Leads to Lawsuit by Accused Male Student

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UNIVERSITY of Wisconsin Title IX Investigation Leads to Lawsuit by Accused Male Student

In a new court filing, Quintez Cephus, a student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, alleges that the university violated his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process. According to the complaint, by conducting a Title IX investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct while Cephus was simultaneously subject to criminal proceedings, the university:

“[K]nowingly and intentionally forced [Cephus] into the predicament of having to either waive his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by choosing to participate in the University process despite the potential harm to his criminal defense, or decline to participate in the University’s process thus leading to the inevitable finding of responsibility and severe sanctions.”

Interestingly, the complaint shows that the Title IX Coordinator alleged that Cephus had violated state criminal law. The fact that a Title IX complaint flatly alleged that a student had violated state criminal law (rather than simply university policy) is a stark reminder of a point that campus due process advocates routinely make: Very often, Title IX investigations are not merely about violations of campus codes of conduct, but actually serve as parallel, less regulated, and less capable investigations into violations of criminal law. The complaint makes interesting arguments and highlights issues FIRE often sees regarding campus Title IX investigations running concurrently with criminal investigations and prosecutions.

thefire.org By Tyler Coward

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RULING: Insurer Has No Duty To Defend False Sex Assault Claim Against Butler Univ. Student

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RULING: Insurer Has No Duty To Defend False Sex Assault Claim Against Butler Univ. Student

A federal judge has ruled an insurer does not owe a duty to defend a female student who made a false accusation of sexual assault against a Butler University student who subsequently sued the university and his accuser. Christian Ayala sued Butler University, several university employees and fellow student/accuser Jane Smith after he was expelled from the Indianapolis school in May 2015. Ayala’s expulsion came after he and Smith engaged in consensual sexual activity in his dorm room, but an embarrassed Smith told her friends she had been sexually assaulted by Ayala.. Ayala filed a suit alleging civil rights violations, defamation, breach of contract, negligent infliction of emotional distress and other tort claims, though Smith was eventually dismissed as a defendant. However, her participation in the investigation and subsequent lawsuit was still at issue in Christian Ayala, a/k/a John Doe v. Butler University, et al.; Unitrin Preferred Insurance Company v. Privilege Underwriters, Inc., Wednesday’s ruling on cross-motions for summary judgment, handed down by Southern District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, concerned a dispute between Unitrin Preferred Insurance Company and Privilege Underwriters, Inc., or PURE, both of which issued insurance policies to the Smith family at some point in time. The PURE policy went into effect on April 29, 2015, so Unitrin argued PURE had a duty to defend Smith in Ayala’s lawsuit and, thus, should reimburse Unitrin for the costs it incurred in defending her. But Pratt agreed with PURE that the only actionable conduct taken by the Smiths — Jane’s false accusation and her father’s demand that Ayala be expelled — occurred on April 19 and 20, before the PURE policy took effect. Thus, PURE did not owe a duty to Smith, so it could not be compelled to reimburse Unitrin’s costs.

theindianalawyer  By Olivia Covington

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INNOCENT CU Boulder Male Student Sues University Over Sex Assault Investigation

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INNOCENT CU Boulder Male Student Sues University Over Sex Assault Investigation

A former University of Colorado student whose sexual assault case was dismissed has sued the school, claiming the school did not conduct a fair investigation before expelling him in 2016. Giroloma Messeri filed a suit against the university, Chancellor Phil DiStefano, Title IX Coordinator Valerie Simons, Deputy Title IX Coordinator Regina Tirella, and two Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance investigators and three standing review committee members. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, claims the defendants violated Messeri’s 14th Amendment due process rights, Title IX rights, and also accuses the defendants of breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Messeri was charged with sexual assault for an alleged 2016 incident, but the Boulder District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case in August, saying it did not believe it could get a guilty verdict at trial. “The university used this flimsy information to persuade law enforcement to pursue an investigation while moving forward to suspend Mr. Messeri, all without providing a hearing and the right for him to cross-examine the complainant,” Messeri’s attorney Jason Savela said in a statement. According to the lawsuit, video surveillance and witness statements of Messeri and the woman’s behavior corroborate Messeri’s assertion that the sexual activity was consensual. In addition to damages, Messeri is asking that his disciplinary record be cleared, the woman’s complaint be destroyed, and the restraining order preventing him from visiting the CU dorms be lifted.

dailycamera By Mitchell Byars

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HS MEAN GIRLS Admit Making False Sex Assault Accusations Against a Male Student Because They ‘Just Don’t Like Him’

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HS MEAN GIRLS Admit Making False Sex Assault Accusations Against a Male Student Because They ‘Just Don’t Like Him’

Seneca Valley School District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is facing a lawsuit from a former male student who was forced out of school—and investigated for sexual assault—due to a series of false accusations made by female students. The girls—dubbed “mean girls” in the lawsuit, admitted on tape that they made up the assault story. One said, “I just don’t like him” and “[I] would do anything to get him expelled.” Months later, T.F. was again falsely accused. Another girl said that T.F. had broken into her home and sexually assaulted her. The lawsuit claims she was coached by T.F.’s first accuser. As a result of this accusation, T.F. was charged with assault and criminal trespassing. He was removed from school in leg and wrist shackles and spent 9 days in juvenile detention. By the end of the summer, the conspiracy against T.F. was unmasked: other students came forward with Snapchat messages that contradicted the claims of the “mean girls,” who eventually admitted to lying. All charges against T.F. were dropped. But T.F.’s family is understandably distraught that the girls have suffered no consequences: neither the police nor the school district have taken any action against them, according to the lawsuit. And so the family is pursuing legal action against the girls’ parents, the school district, and the district attorney.

reason.com By Robby Soave

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RULING in Case Challenging Sept. 2017 TitleIX Interim Guidance Opens Door For More Lawsuits by Advocacy Groups

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RULING in Case Challenging Sept. 2017 TitleIX Interim Guidance Opens Door For More Lawsuits by Advocacy Groups

A federal judge has granted the Department of Education’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging ED’s Sept. 22, 2017 interim guidance, which rescinded its problematic April 4, 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter regarding how schools must respond to allegations of sexual misconduct under Title IX. But the ruling still has the potential to make the government vulnerable to a barrage of lawsuits from nonprofit organizations that previously looked unlikely to succeed…It’s not yet clear whether SurvJustice, Equal Rights Advocates, and Victim Rights Law Center will amend their complaint in response to this ruling, or whether ED will publish new proposed Title IX regulations that would arguably moot the case. If the former, the case will continue to be one to watch closely. If the latter, we look forward to participating in the notice-and-comment process along with the plaintiffs and everyone else who will be affected by the new regulations — just as we all should have had the opportunity to do in 2011.

thefire  By Susan Kruth

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