JOHN DOE FILES Appeal. Claims UofArkansas ‘Out of Step’ w DeVos’ 2017 Title IX Guidance
A campus panel at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville failed to follow due process and university policy when it sanctioned a student for sexual misconduct, attorneys argued Friday in a court filing that asks for reinstatement of a lawsuit against the university. UA policies and procedures were “out of step” with guidance issued in 2017 under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the 54-page legal brief states. Among other claims, the filing also states UA failed to follow its own policy regarding consent to sexual activity. In the brief, attorneys challenged cross-examination procedures and the standard of proof used in sexual assault cases handled by UA.
The appeal seeks reinstatement of a lawsuit filed in September under the pseudonym “John Doe” and dismissed in April by U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III. Doe’s lawsuit argued violations of Title IX and due process when a three-person panel in April 2018 found him responsible for sexual assault in violation of UA policy, requiring him “to complete Title IX training, ten hours of community service and an online sexual violence accountability course.” The brief, filed in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, states the “district court’s analysis repeatedly relies on a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter issued by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in April 2011.” Yet the department withdrew that letter and “simultaneously released updated, interim guidance clarifying the constitutional concerns with the old guidance and the institutional processes propagated under it,” the legal brief states. “The University’s policy and procedures for resolution of Doe’s Title IX case were out of step with the applicable guidance, and the district court erred in relying on an earlier, rescinded guidance for its analysis,” the brief states.
arkansasonline-Jaime Adame
