Reed College.John Kroger.jpg

John Kroger is the president of Reed College, a noted liberal arts college in Southeast Portland now being sued by a former student identified only as "John Doe."

(Jamie Francis/The Oregonian)

Lawyers for Reed College have fired back at a former student who has accused the school of wrongly kicking him out and falsely labeling him a sex offender.

In its answer to the ex-student's lawsuit in Portland's U.S. District Court, Reed describes him as a drug-slinging, group-sex-initiating degenerate would have been expelled anyway.

The school alleges that even before "John Doe" - as he's identified in court papers -- filed his lawsuit last month, he admitted that he used cocaine, violated Reed's honor principle, provided alcohol, Xanax and ecstasy to other students (to be the "cool friend who facilitates a fun night"), made vile statements to his ex-girlfriend accuser and retained a sexually explicit video of her on his cellphone until Reed ordered him to delete it.

Doe's lawsuit, which names Reed and his ex-girlfriend (identified as "Jane Roe") as defendants, accuses the school of defamation, breach of contract and wrongful expulsion under Title IX. He alleges that Reed's Sexual Misconduct Board was biased against him as a matter of gender and that school officials accepted Roe's accusations that he sexually assaulted her at face value "because she is female."

"Doe was properly disciplined and expelled from Reed," the school's lawyers wrote in their answer to the lawsuit. "His conduct, even without taking into consideration Roe's accusations of sexual misconduct, would have resulted in his expulsion."

One of Doe's lawyers, David Angeli, told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday that his client's use of drugs and alcohol, along with his emotional venting at Roe, was scarcely unique at the private Southeast Portland college.

"Apparently Reed contends that when it sees drug use or emotional rhetoric among its students, it takes swift and stern action," he said. "We don't believe that to be the case, but look forward to reviewing in depth how Reed has handled other comparable situations to determine whether gender played a role."

Doe accuses Roe of lying to school officials about their consensual relationship and he alleges that The Reed Institute - better known as Reed College - railroaded him through a disciplinary process intended only to expel him.

He maintains that he and Roe dated and later engaged in group sex with other young women, sometimes under the influence of ecstasy, a psychoactive drug better known as "Molly." But, he alleges, things blew up when he broke up with Roe and she later punched him in the face and went to school officials, telling them she didn't consent to one of their evenings of group sex.

The wheels of the school's disciplinary process soon rolled into action.

Reed's response to Doe's lawsuit suggested that Roe couldn't have consented to the sex on the night of the alleged assault because "ingesting impairing substances renders consent void."

The college also alleges that Doe was granted multiple chances to provide information about his actions, participated in a formal hearing with witnesses, underwent a review by the school's vice president and dean of student services and stated his case before an appeals board and school President John Kroger, Oregon's former attorney general.

-- Bryan Denson

503-294-7614; @Bryan_Denson