On April 4, 2011 the Department of Education issued its disastrous “Dear Colleague” letter to colleges and universities across the United States, requiring administrators who had neither the investigative nor prosecutorial prowess of the criminal justice system to determine the guilt and innocence of students accused of felony sexual assault, and to reach their conclusions independent of whatever the police and courts decide.
Worse – the Department of Education demanded these schools determine guilt via a radically low standard of evidence for sex-assault cases: the “preponderance of evidence” standard. Under this model if an administrator feels that there might be a 50.01% chance that the alleged crime occurred, he/she must find the student guilty (“responsible”) for sexual assault. This is further complicated by the lack of numerous other procedural safeguards and methods of evidentiary examination.
Predictably, a wave of lawsuits soon erupted as young men wrongly accused of sex crimes found themselves hustled through a vague and misshapen adjudication process with slipshod checks and balances and Kafkaesque standards of evidence. This page is dedicated to cataloging their legal challenges against schools which – they allege – have violated their rights to due process, unjustly destroyed their names, deprived them of educational opportunities, and committed various other crimes against them in the process of “just following orders.”
A few things to note:
- This list is sorted alphabetically by state, then by school.
- Blank cells refer to information not yet obtained or determined rather than left out through error.
- This list will be periodically updated. If you know of any cases that are not covered here, please inform this site in the comments section at the bottom, or via the contact form.
- Thanks to Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) and National Coalition for Men-Carolinas for sending me their lists. What follows is my own revision of their lists, with some additions and subtractions.
List of Lawsuits Against Colleges and Universities Alleging Due Process and Other Violations in Adjudicating Sexual Assault
|
State |
School |
Plaintiff |
Plaintiff’s Attorney |
Key Documents / Summary |
Outcome |
California |
Occidental College |
John Doe |
Mark Werksman,Mark Hathaway |
(1) Official complaint, part I, (2) official complaint, part II (includes screenshots of text messages between accuser / accused), (3) article by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) |
Pending. |
Delaware |
Delaware State University |
Andre L. Henry |
Daniel C. Herr |
Story from Inside Higher Ed. |
Pending. |
Indiana |
DePauw University |
Benjamin King |
|
Story in the university newspaper (page 1 and page 3). |
Pending. |
Massachusetts |
College of the Holy Cross |
Edwin Bleiler |
Nicole Collby Longton |
(1) Official complaint, (2) the school’s response, (3) article by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). |
Bleiler was acquitted, the school’s “finding” (judgment) against him was overturned, and he was reinstated. |
Massachusetts |
Williams College |
John Doe |
|
Official complaint (fee required). |
Pending. |
Michigan |
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor |
Drew Sterrett |
Deborah Gordon |
Official complaint. |
Pending. |
New Jersey |
Drew University |
Kevin Parisi |
Solomon Rubin |
Story in NJ.com. |
Pending. |
New York |
Columbia University |
John Doe |
Andrew T. Miltenberg |
Official complaint. |
Pending. |
New York |
Vassar College |
Peter Yu |
Andrew Miltenberg |
(1) Official complaint, (2) Vassar College’s official reply |
Pending. |
North Carolina |
Duke University |
Lewis McLeod |
Rachel B. Hitch |
(1) Official complaint, (2) article in the Wall Street Journal, (3) injunction by judge Osmond Smith blocking Duke’s expulsion of McLeod |
Pending. |
North Carolina |
Duke University |
Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, David Evans |
|
(1) Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson. New York: St. Martin’s Press. 2007, (2) Durham-in-Wonderland |
Players declared innocent, received settlement; 2007. |
Ohio |
Denison University |
Zackary Hunt |
Eric Rosenberg |
Article in The Denisonian (Denison U Student Newspaper) |
Confidential settlement; 2014 |
Ohio |
Kenyon College |
Stephen Zingarelli |
Gregory O’Brien, Eric Weiss |
Article in The Collegian (Kenyon College student newspaper) |
Pending. |
Ohio |
University of Cincinnati |
Ethan Peloe |
|
Official complaint. |
Pending. |
Ohio |
Xavier University |
Dezmine Wells |
Peter Ginsberg |
Official complaint. |
Confidential settlement; 2014. |
Pennsylvania |
Bucknell University |
Reed Dempsey |
Stephen Becker |
Official complaint. |
Charges against the university dismissed. Charges against police department pending. |
Pennsylvania |
Philadelphia University |
Anthony Villar |
|
Story in Philadelphia magazine. |
Pending. |
Pennsylvania |
Saint Joseph’s University |
Brian Harris |
Kenneth Dubrow |
Official complaint. |
Pending. |
Pennsylvania |
Swarthmore College |
John Doe |
Patricia Hamill |
Official complaint. |
Pending. |
Rhode Island |
Brown University |
Adam Lack |
|
Story in the Brown Daily Herald. |
Confidential settlement; 1998 |
Rhode Island |
Brown University |
William McCormick |
J. Scott Kilpatrick |
Story in the Brown Spectator |
Confidential settlement; 2011 |
Tennessee |
Sewanee, The University of the South |
John Doe |
Charles Wayne, Elisha King |
Official Complaint: Doe v. University of the South 2011 WL 1258104 |
University found negligent; plaintiff awarded $26k; 2011 |
|