Anita Wadhwani, and Nate Rau

The Tennessean

Five alleged sexual assaults detailed in lawsuit

Lawsuit blames top UT officials, including coach Butch Jones and UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, for 'deliberate indifference to the serious risks of sexual assaults'

Lawsuit seeks immediate stop to unusual administrative hearing process for sexual assaults

UT is latest major university sued under federal Title IX rules

Six women filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday claiming the University of Tennessee has created a student culture that enables sexual assaults by student-athletes, especially football players, and then uses an unusual, legalistic adjudication process that is biased against victims who step forward.

The lawsuit, filed by plaintiffs identified only as "Jane Does," accuses five Tennessee athletes of sexual assault. They are former basketball player Yemi Makanjuola, former football players A.J. Johnson, Michael Williams and Riyahd Jones and a current football player named as a "John Doe."

The lawsuit also details an incident involving a female student who says she was sexually assaulted by a nonathlete, who was named a John Doe. The alleged assault took place after attending a football team party at Vol Hall, a campus dorm where she was served drinks by former UT player Treyvon Paulk, the lawsuit says.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: University of Tennessee sex assault lawsuit

In making its case that the university enabled an environment of bad behavior and used a disciplinary system that favored the players, the lawsuit cited more than a dozen incidents involving football players that included underage drinking, sexual harassment, assault, armed robbery and sexual assaults that did not involve the Jane Doe plaintiffs. Some of the incidents cited have previously never been reported.

The plaintiffs say that UT violated the Title IX laws, which protect students from gender discrimination in federally funded education programs. UT created a hostile sexual environment for female students by showing “deliberate indifference and a clearly unreasonable response after a sexual assault that causes a student to endure additional harassment," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said blame for the hostile policies should be placed at the very top of the UT administration.

Tennessee AD Dave Hart at center of another controversy

“UT administration (Chancellor Jimmy Cheek), athletic department (Vice Chancellor and Athletics Director) Dave Hart and football coach (Butch Jones) were personally aware (as ‘appropriate persons’ under Title IX) and had actual notice of previous sexual assaults and rapes by football players, yet acted with deliberate indifference to the serious risks of sexual assaults and failed to take corrective actions,” the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say that UT’s administrative hearing process, which is utilized by public universities across the state, is unfair because it provides students accused of sexual assault the right to attorneys and to confront their accusers through cross-examination and an evidentiary hearing in front of an administrative law judge. The administrative law judge who hears the case is appointed by Cheek, the lawsuit says.

The university "delayed the investigation process until the athlete perpetrators transferred to another school or graduated without sanction or discipline," the lawsuit said. Johnson was suspended at the end of his senior season but was able to participate in the UT commencement ceremony.

Responding through legal counsel Bill Ramsey, the university released a detailed statement that said:

"Like the many other college campuses facing the challenges of sexual assault, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has devoted significant time and energy to provide a safe environment for our students, to educate and raise awareness about sexual assault, and to encourage students to come forward and report sexual assault. When the University receives a report of sexual assault, we offer care and support to the person who came forward and work to investigate and resolve the matter in a timely, thorough, and equitable manner. When warranted, the University takes disciplinary action but will not do so in a manner that violates state law or the constitutional due process rights of our students. "In the situations identified in the lawsuit filed today; the University acted lawfully and in good faith, and we expect a court to agree. Any assertion that we do not take sexual assault seriously enough is simply not true. To claim that we have allowed a culture to exist contrary to our institutional commitment to providing a safe environment for our students or that we do not support those who report sexual assault is just false. The University will provide a detailed response to the lawsuit and looks forward to doing so at the appropriate time, and in the proper manner."

An unusual hearing process

Tennessee is the only state in the country to use such an administrative hearing process, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that UT student-athletes frequently hired prominent Knoxville attorney Don Bosch to represent them in their administrative hearings.

“Athletes knew in advance that UT would: support them even after a complaint of sexual assault; arrange for top quality legal representation; and then direct them to the (Tennessee Uniform Administrative Procedures Act) hearing procedure that denies victims the right to a hearing and to the same equal procedural, hearing, and process rights as given to perpetrators of rape and sexual assault,” the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit.

Feds launch sexual violence investigation at UT

The plaintiffs are seeking damages including reimbursement and pre-payment for all of their tuition and related expenses incurred as a consequence of the sexual assaults, as well as damages for deprivation of equal access to the educational benefits and opportunities provided by UT. They're also seeking damages for emotional suffering. The lawsuit also is seeking an injunction that would force the state to stop using the administrative hearing process.

"This Title IX suit seeks to remedy institutional failures at UT and in its athletic program that, we contend, made female students vulnerable to sexual assaults," Nashville attorney David Randolph Smith, who is representing the plaintiffs, said. "With respect to the Tennessee Uniform Administrative Procedures Act (TUAPA) and the way in which sexual assault cases are handled at UT and other state colleges and universities, the case has important ramifications to ensure compliance with federal law.”

Lawsuit details assaults

The lawsuit comes on the heels of two Title IX investigations initiated by the federal government after it received complaints in June and July of last year. Title IX, in part, governs how universities should handle sexual assault allegations. University officials have said they are cooperating with the federal investigation. No further details about those investigations have been made public.

The Tennessean was the first last year to detail a sexual assault report and order of protection sought against Makanjuola, who transferred to the University of North Carolina Wilmington with public well wishes from his coaches shortly after the February 2013 alleged assault was reported to UT officials. In July 2013, an administrative law judge at the university found that “by a preponderance of evidence” Makanjuola had violated university codes of conduct by sexually assaulting the woman. The district attorney did not pursue charges.

UT never disclosed rape allegations against 2 athletes

Williams and Johnson are awaiting separate trials to be held in June and July related to the alleged assault of the same woman during a football party in December 2014. Both men have denied the accusations.

Johnson and Williams are among at least six players on UT's Fall 2014 roster who have been accused of sexual assault.

Riyahd Jones, 20, was named as a suspect in a reported sexual assault that allegedly occurred at an off-campus apartment Feb. 5, 2015, according to a Knoxville police report. Jones, a senior and Vols defensive back for the prior two seasons, was part of the football team until Jan. 2, 2015. The woman chose not to pursue charges against Jones, and Knoxville police said in April that it would close the case.

The alleged assaults took place on and off campus and involved women who ranged from a freshman who had been on campus just three weeks to a varsity team athlete. At least three of the accusers dropped out of school within weeks or months after they reported their attacks to university officials.

Two of the student-athletes named in the lawsuit — Johnson and Makanjuola — were publicly praised by UT coaches and administrators while they remained on their teams, graduated or transferred, even as those officials were aware that sexual assault allegations had been made against the players.

Last February, a Tennessean investigation detailed how a campus investigation into a sexual assault allegation against a football player was handled when a female student stepped forward in September 2014, three weeks into her freshman year. The report did not name the victim or the football player. The Tennessean, relying on university emails to the woman and her parents and a campus report, detailed how the investigation took what experts called an "unusual" turn. The case was transferred from one university department to another, with the charges against the football player dropped midway through the investigation and the eventual finding that the incident was "consensual." Typically, campus administrators do not conclude whether an incident was "consensual," instead finding there is not enough evidence for them to conclude an assault took place.

'Undue influence' alleged

In March, the ongoing Tennessean investigation revealed that a former vice chancellor at the university had raised concerns in the spring of 2013 that athletics department director Hart exerted undue influence over student-athlete discipline. At the time, Vice Chancellor Tim Rogers, who oversaw the office that investigated allegations of student misconduct and sexual assaults, said the UT athletics department placed students and institutional integrity in "peril." The concerns were outlined in a memo written by Rogers and obtained by The Tennessean.

Rogers, a 38-year veteran of the university, authored a memo detailing his concerns about pressure from athletics department administrators on how athletes should be disciplined for misconduct ranging from minor infractions to sexual assaults. The document said the athletics department's "undue influence" into allegations of student-athlete misconduct had been "enabled by way of the Chancellor's directives and interference." Cheek at the time refuted those allegations.

UT athletics accused of influencing student discipline

Rogers took his concerns directly to UT President Joe DiPietro and Cheek in the spring of 2013. DiPietro told The Tennessean that he never investigated those claims but spoke with Cheek and Hart. DiPietro said he was "confident in the statements" from Cheek and Hart that no such influence existed. Rogers abruptly retired in June 2013 shortly after his conversation with DiPietro, saying at the time it was due to an "intolerable situation."

The lawsuit claims Rogers' memo detailed a "hostile sexual environment, rape culture and an increased risk of placing athletes with freshmen women at Vol Hall," the site of some of the incidents.

Other prominent lawsuits

There have been several prominent lawsuits against universities under the federal Title IX law.

A young woman recently agreed to a $950,000 settlement with Florida State University after she sued over how the school investigated and adjudicated her claim of sexual assault against star quarterback Jameis Winston. That case centered around the so-called “after clause,” regarding how universities handle sexual assault claims after they are filed.

In 2007, two former Colorado University students who said they had been sexually assaulted reached settlements totaling $2.85 million after they alleged the university created a party culture to show football recruits a “good time” without proper supervision. The plaintiffs in that case, citing the so-called “before clause,” said Colorado was to blame for fostering an environment that led to their assaults.

The suit filed on Tuesday against Tennessee cites both clauses — claiming the university allowed an out-of-control party culture among student-athletes. The Jane Does also say that after they stepped forward to report assaults, the university’s adjudication process was unusual and weighted in favor of the athletes.

The women are represented by Smith, who has been on the winning side of several prominent cases. Smith, who specializes in civil litigation and medical malpractice suits, was one of the lead attorneys representing victims of the 2003 Nashville nursing home fire.

He also was lead counsel in the lawsuit that attempted to block the petition effort to hold a referendum deciding whether to make English the official language of Metro government. Smith was the lead attorney on the successful legal challenge to the state's initial law allowing guns in bars.

Tennessean reporter Matt Slovin contributed to this story. Reach Anita Wadhwani at 615-259-8092 and on Twitter @anitawadhwani. Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and on Twitter @tnnaterau.

About the lawsuit

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief requiring UT to address its violations of Title IX law, including: "instituting, with the assistance of outside experts, and enforcing a comprehensive sexual harassment policy, including procedures for effective reporting of sexual harassment incidents, an effective and immediate crisis response, and an expanded victim assistance and protection program, adopting a real zero tolerance policy under which there will be expedited proceedings and punishment proportional to the offense for violation of sexual harassment policies."