It no longer seems to matter what the woman involved in a sexual encounter says. Schools are so hell bent on proving to the federal government that they take sexual assault accusations seriously that they’ll expel someone based on a third-party accusation – even if the alleged victim says there was no rape.
This is the exact scenario that played out at Colorado State University-Pueblo, according to a lawsuit filed by the accused student, Grant Neal. Now, in a first for accused students, Neal is suing not only his school but also the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, whose overzealous attention to the issue of campus sexual assault by way of non-binding but consequence-heavy “Dear Colleague” letters has created a culture where accusations equal guilt and due process rights barely exist, if at all.
Neal, a member of the football team and pre-med student, met a woman referred to in the lawsuit as Jane Doe in the fall of 2014, while she participated in the school’s Athletic Training Program. The two became close, according to the lawsuit, but did not pursue a romantic relationship because Jane thought it would jeopardize her position in the program.
