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University of Michigan officials can be held personally liable for violating accused student's rights: judge
College fix via InstapunditThe University of Michigan’s refusal to recognize an accused student’s "clearly established due process rights" led a federal judge to deny its administrators "qualified immunity" in the student’s lawsuit. Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow went much further, declaring the school’s 2018 Title IX policy unconstitutional and an element of the "interim" policy that replaced it unconstitutional. "John Doe" sued the taxpayer-funded institution in 2018 because it placed an "indefinite hold" on his transcript and degree after a female student accused him of sexual misconduct. It also withheld "any form of hearing or cross examination," per its policy that year. Months later, in a different lawsuit against UMich known as Baum, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered public universities in its jurisdiction to allow cross-examination and live hearings when credibility is an issue in Title IX proceedings. But a lower profile 6th Circuit ruling against the University of Cincinnati in 2017 had already established that public universities must provide "some kind of hearing" for a student to "share his version of events" in disputes that are dependent on credibility. UMich’s argument that John’s due process rights were not violated because no sanctions or findings of guilt were levied against him was flatly rejected. "Plaintiff’s injury lies in the deprivation of one of the most basic due process rights‐the hearing itself," Tarnow wrote, granting John summary judgment on his due process claim. Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-03-27 |
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