‘Key evidence’ ignored
Kudos to The Daily Mississippian for trying.
The University of Mississippi’s student newspaper was rebuffed by the university in its quest to see the “final rulings” against a student who was found responsible for sexual assault in a Title IX proceeding.
The university cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to deny the newspaper’s public records request, which also sought transcripts from the proceeding, after the accused student filed a federal lawsuit against the taxpayer-funded institution.
The lawsuit claims Ole Miss expelled “John Doe” after he appealed his monthslong suspension for allegedly sexually assaulting a female student.
The lawsuit claims gender bias against Doe, though the university responded to the court that Doe hasn’t shown a “particularized causal connection between the flawed outcome and actual sex bias” alleged by Doe.
Doe claims that his sexual relations with “Jane Roe” on March 30, 2017 were consensual, though the university says the parties were initially “unsure” whether they wanted to have sex.
Roe accused Doe of “repeatedly” ignoring her statements that she didn’t want to have sex, but she told university police she didn’t believe she was raped until her friends “told her” she was, according to the suit. She even asked police to not notify Doe before a party where she thought she might see him.
Doe alleges the Title IX investigation rejected “key pieces of evidence” he supplied and blocked him from subpoenaing witnesses or cross-examining other witnesses, depriving him “basic procedural due process.”
It’s the second such lawsuit filed by an accused student against the university in just the past few months, according to the Daily.
MORE: Students want due process (unless it benefits accused rapist)
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