K.C. Johnson (@kcjohnson9 on Twitter) of Minding the Campus has posted the latest “John Doe” lawsuit alleging violation of due process rights in a sexual assault case, and John Doe v. Georgia Tech is the kind of nightmare that makes me want to shout:

WARN YOUR SONS, AMERICA!

NEVER TALK TO A COLLEGE GIRL!

According to the lawsuit, Jane Roe was John Doe’s date at a party at his fraternity in October 2013. Jane got drunk on wine and, at some point during the evening, she followed John to his room. She became sick and began to vomit, and John and one of his frat brothers (a “sober monitor”) helped Jane find her friends and leave. In February 2015 — 16 months later — Jane claimed John had sexually assaulted her at the party. The alleged “assault”? According to her, John Doe “touched her genitals and penetrated her vagina with his fingers ‘for around 30 seconds without consent.'” No witnesses or evidence corroborated Jane Roe’s claim and John Doe’s lawsuit alleges that a clearly biased “investigation” by the assistant dean of students, Peter Paquette, ignored contradictory testimony from the “sober monitor.”

John Doe, who has a 3.74 GPA, was expelled in April 2015, only three credits short of graduation! His lawsuit illustrates how and why these processes have become wildly one-sided:

After a 2013 controversy involving one fraternity, Georgia Tech “rewrote its Student Sexual Misconduct Policy and began to conduct its investigations such that an accused individual at Georgia Tech is now ‘almost always found responsible,’ according to an investigative report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.” In other words, past misbehavior by other students created panic that shifted the process decisively against the accused.

In February 2015, Jane Roe was having academic difficulties which she blamed on stress related to the alleged “assault” 16 months earlier and, by making this accusation against John Doe, she thereby secured the “opportunity to retake her exams and classes for that semester.”

The investigation relied largely on vague hearsay — the lawsuit calls it “prejudicial and unsubstantiated rumors” — to the effect that John Doe had some kind of bad reputation.

Most disturbing of all, perhaps, was a Facebook message by Jane Roe in which she revealed she was “a trained peer educator on sexual violence prevention” and in that role had “worked very closely” with Peter Paquette and other officials who were subsequently involved in the decision to expel John Doe, who “was never informed of this flagrant conflict of interest.”

Dear God, America — warn your sons!

Even if Jane Roe’s allegation were true — and there is zero evidence to corroborate it — should John Doe be expelled for “getting to third base” with a drunk girl at a party? Go read the full complaint and tell me if the behavior of Jane Roe, “trained peer educator,” doesn’t look selfish and spiteful. Here’s what I think: Jane Roe was embarrassed over getting so wasted at that party, and because John Doe never asked her out again, she was concerned that this episode had damaged her reputation. Meanwhile, she hears gossip that John Doe is kind of a “player,” and that October 2013 date with him looms large in her mind as a cause of her problems. So when she starts flunking classes in February 2015, well, two birds with one stone: Accuse John Doe of sexual assault and get a “do-over” for the semester. Oh, and since she’s been working with Dean Paquette in the “sexual violence prevention” program, Jane Roe knows all the ropes of the investigative process.

John Doe never stood a chance, you see, but he never saw it coming. Just a bad night at the frat house — his date got so drunk she threw up and had to leave the party — and for the next 16 months, John didn’t even realize this ticking time bomb was going to blow up and destroy him.

NEVER HAVE SEX WITH A @GeorgiaTech GIRL! https://t.co/nyONfegGQ7 — Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) November 26, 2015

A description of the GA Tech process in due process lawsuit; a single-investigator model in action: pic.twitter.com/mCC9DQvpXC — KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) November 25, 2015

Some of the "evidence" cited by the single-investigator–including anonymous hearsay material: pic.twitter.com/DTilziCfhC — KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) November 25, 2015

@kcjohnson9 In GA Tech's defense, the process is considerably more rigorous if a student is accused of being a witch. — John A. Boudet (@JohnBoudet) November 25, 2015

Parents must warn their college-bound sons: Don’t be a “John Doe.” Don’t become a target in this hysterical witch hunt. Never — NEVER! — talk to a college girl. It’s not worth the risk in 2015 when, apparently, the only girls who go to college are selfish, dishonest and irresponsible.





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