JUDGE RULES. Expulsion is Reversed. Cal Poly Chancellor Failed to Give Doe Due Process.
On July 12, 2018, Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant ordered California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White to set aside his improper expulsion of an accused student in a faulty Title IX investigation conducted at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo under the executive orders issued by Chancellor White in June 2015. The court found that Chancellor White and the university’s Title IX personnel failed to afford the accused student Due Process, failed to provide adequate notice of the charges, failed to disclose all the evidence, failed to provide an opportunity to question witnesses directly or indirectly where witness credibility was an issue, and failed to present substantial evidence to support their decision that John Doe had violated Cal Poly’s Title IX misconduct policy. John Doe was a graduating senior with two credits left to complete his bachelor’s degree when Chancellor White and the university ordered him expelled.
In March 2016 the university charged John Doe on its own behalf because Jane Roe would not file a formal complaint and refused to participate in the investigation. The allegations came to the attention of Cal Poly’s Title IX office after Jane Roe and her roommate met with a resident advisor about an incident at a fraternity dance the previous night. In a meeting with the resident advisor, Jane Roe read from a text she had written about the alleged assault, but she never provided the actual text and the Cal Poly Title IX investigators never spoke to Jane Roe.
On June 7, 2016, three weeks before the investigation process was completed, Cal Poly Title IX Coordinator Brian Gnandt wrote to John Doe that Title IX investigators Stephanie Jarrett and Tera Bisbee were still “finalizing the report, which substantiates your violation of CSU Executive Order 1097,” indicating that Mr. Gnandt had already made his decision against the student. On July 28, 2016, Cal Poly Title IX Coordinator Brian Gnandt wrote again, stating his opinion that “based upon the preponderance of the evidence, the University has found sufficient evidence of a violation of Executive Order 1097.” John Doe appealed the decision to the Office of the Chancellor. Although Chancellor White denied John Doe’s appeal, Judge Chalfant found that Chancellor White’s Special Consultant for the appeal, attorney Marcie Gardner, reached false and mistaken conclusions regarding the evidence, and improperly considered evidence that was never provided to John Doe.
On December 9, 2016, Cal Poly Sanctions Hearing Officer Joy Pedersen recommended that John Doe be sanctioned to expulsion, which was approved by Keith Humphrey, Cal Poly Vice President for Student Affairs. John Doe appealed the expulsion sanction decision to the Chancellor, arguing that evidence was not disclosed to him, that he was not offered a fair opportunity to be heard, and that expulsion when he was about to graduate was unreasonable and contrary to the purpose of the Title IX policy to ensure that students are not deprived of access to educational programs and activities. On January 18, 2017, Pamela Thomason, CSU Systemwide Title IX Compliance Officer denied John Doe’s appeal, finding that no prejudicial procedural errors occurred and that the expulsion was reasonable.
Judge Chalfant disagreed with the Chancellor and in addition to ordering Chancellor White to reverse John Doe’s expulsion, Judge Chalfant directed the university “to take such further action as is consistent with his status of a student at SLO.”
COURT Notice of Order John Doe-Cal Poly Article by Ashe Schow
