FAYETTEVILLE -- A federal district judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit claiming a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville student was wrongly sanctioned last year for violating the school's sexual-harassment and sexual-misconduct policy.
The lawsuit challenged UA's procedures for resolving sexual-misconduct complaints at a time the U.S. Department of Education has proposed new regulations in part aimed at providing protections for students accused of misconduct.
U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III in his opinion and order stated the "UA investigation and resolution process included Doe every step of the way." "Doe" is a reference to the student who filed the suit.
Among several issues raised, the lawsuit filed by "Doe" in September alleged a lack of meaningful cross-examination of the student filing a complaint against him, "Jane Roe." "Doe" also claimed UA had a "predetermined" outcome to his case.
But Holmes said the university "allowed him multiple opportunities to further develop the record and ensure that "Roe" was adequately questioned."
In his order, Holmes granted a motion filed by attorneys representing the university to have the case dismissed.
"We appreciate the court's detailed and thoughtful decision," UA spokesman Mark Rushing said in an email, adding that "we are grateful that the Court has confirmed that our process is fair and lawful, and we will work hard to keep it that way."
The lawsuit, filed under a pseudonym, was filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville. Attorneys for "John Doe" include Heather Zachary and Alec Gaines with Williams & Anderson PLC.
"We are devastated by Judge Holmes's ruling and do not feel the opinion aligns with recent decisions in other courts or recent guidance and proposals issued by the United States Department of Education related to due process on college campuses," Zachary said in an email Thursday.
She said her client "is still processing the decision and whether to take an appeal to the Eighth Circuit."
In his order, Holmes stated "Roe" "filed a complaint with UA alleging that Doe sexually assaulted her in violation of University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Policy 418.1, because Roe was too incapacitated to engage in consensual sexual behavior."
The lawsuit stated "Doe" was a UA senior when a three-person panel in April 2018 found him responsible for sexual assault in violation of UA policy, reversing an earlier ruling by the university's Title IX coordinator.
Under Title IX, federal authorities have said schools must react promptly and effectively to address sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The sanction imposed by UA on "Doe" required him "to complete Title IX training, ten hours of community service and an online sexual violence accountability course," the lawsuit stated. It identified him as a student who first enrolled at UA in fall 2015 and as "a three-year Chancellor's and Dean's List honoree who graduated with a 3.90 GPA."
"Doe" had asked for unspecified damages and the reversal of findings against him, as well as a court-ordered halt to "continued due process violations" in the university's handling of sexual-misconduct complaints.
As one claim in the lawsuit, the plaintiff, in court documents, stated that his due-process rights were "violated by the failure of the University to allow him or his representative to cross-examine his accuser."
The issue of cross-examination in such hearings has been raised in proposed regulations from the U.S. Department of Education.
The proposed regulations call for colleges and universities to "provide for cross-examination to occur with the parties located in separate rooms with technology enabling the decision-maker and parties to simultaneously see and hear the party answering questions."
The UA policy, as posted on its website, states that students in such sexual-misconduct cases "will not be allowed to personally question or cross-examine each other" but "will be allowed to question witnesses and will be allowed to hear the testimony of the other party via closed circuit television or other means."
Holmes, in his order, stated that the plaintiff "was able to submit cross-examination questions to the panel to be asked of Roe and the hearing panel members were able to ask probing questions of Roe and other witnesses to resolve factual and credibility issues in the case."
Holmes went on to state: "UA's current procedure strikes an appropriate balance by including the accused in the process during the investigation and appeals hearing, while protecting potential victims from being traumatically cross-examined by the accused."
The lawsuit also claimed that a "widely-followed on-campus protest" by "Roe" served as the university's "motivation" for reversing an initial finding that the plaintiff was not responsible for misconduct.
"Simply alleging that panel members may have accepted Roe's version of the truth because she was a female or led a campus movement publicly challenging the Title IX Coordinator's initial decision does not convert a possible claim of actual bias to a plausible one," Holmes stated in his order.
Under UA's current process for resolving student complaints of sexual misconduct, the university's Title IX coordinator makes a ruling that can then be appealed and heard by a mixed-gender, three-person panel. Members of the panel are required to have gone through in-person training, and students are not allowed to serve on such panels.
The university's policy outlining procedures for responding to student complaints of sexual assault and sexual harassment has not changed since 2017, Rushing said, though in July 2018 "minor updates were made to the contact information for the Title IX coordinator and deputy Title IX coordinators," Rushing said.
Rushing said the current cross-examination policy not allowing students to personally question each other "remains in effect at this time but we are monitoring the status of all proposed federal regulations and will evaluate any possible adjustments as necessary."
Metro on 04/05/2019