By Caroline Boras
Washington and Lee University has settled a lawsuit filed by a former student who said he had been discriminated against when he was expelled for sexual misconduct.
The university’s general counsel, Leanne Shank, announced on Feb. 5 that the lawsuit, John Doe v. Washington and Lee University, was settled “to the mutual satisfaction of both parties.”
“Throughout these proceedings, the university has maintained that its officials adhered to its policies and procedures and did not conduct a gender-biased investigation or process with respect to the complaint against John Doe,” Shank said in a statement.
John Doe asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice,” which means he can never file another case based on the underlying facts of this particular situation. U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon in Lynchburg granted the request on Feb. 11.
In his lawsuit, John Doe alleged that the school’s investigation was gender-biased. He accused W&L of violating its own policies and compromising his academic future by expelling him for sexual misconduct.
R. Craig Wood, a lawyer representing W&L, said he does not think the settlement will impact the school’s existing guidelines on sexual misconduct.
“It doesn’t change the policy,” he said.
Attorney David George Harrison, who represents John Doe, declined to comment.
John Doe sued the university in late 2014 after he was expelled. The Student Faculty Hearing Board had found him responsible for sexual misconduct involving a female student. The SFHB is composed of students and faculty who “hear and adjudicate allegations of prohibited student discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, hazing by individuals and retaliation,” according to W&L’s website.
The female student, known as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, said she was assaulted in February 2014, court records show. She reported the incident to the university’s Title IX coordinator, Lauren Kozak, in October 2014.
Title IX is a “comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Kozak was accused in the lawsuit of having said “regret equals rape” at a campus event. The event took place two years ago to raise awareness about sexual assault. But Shank said in her statement earlier this month that Kozak did not attend the event.
“After extensive discovery, the parties acknowledge that Lauren Kozak … discharged her obligations professionally at all times in this matter and did nothing to the prejudice of John Doe, either by her statements or actions. Further, the parties acknowledge that evidence was produced in discovery supporting the conclusion that Ms. Kozak was not present for, and did not make a presentation at, a meeting held on October 5, 2014,” Shank said.
Six months before the lawsuit was filed, W&L had adopted new guidelines and policies concerning sexual assault and harassment. That was in response to new guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Education on how colleges and universities must deal with such allegations.
At the time, there were 55 colleges and universities under investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
In his lawsuit, John Doe called W&L’s investigation “arbitrary and egregious,” and he said the school was overly aggressive in his case because the university was afraid of losing federal funding.
W&L said the new federal guidelines influenced the decision to develop and adopt new sexual misconduct policies, but denied the accusation that it did so out of fear of losing federal funding, court records show.
Melina Bell, W&L professor of philosophy and law, said Title IX regulations keep changing because the definition of sexual discrimination keeps expanding.
The Department of Education “regularly writes letters that explain to education institutions what they need to do…relating to Title IX” to clarify the definition of sexual discrimination, Bell said.
W&L’s guidelines are being “clarified and elaborated to identify more specifically what constitutes sex discrimination in education and what must be done to determine when an instance of sex discrimination has occurred and to stop any prohibited discrimination that occurs,” she said.
The Virginia legislature also passed a law last year requiring colleges to have a mutual aid agreement with law enforcement agencies.
Kozak explained to the Rockbridge Report that a review committee was set up in 2015 to review Title IX claims. If the committee feels that the safety of the victim or the community is in danger, it will inform law enforcement, which will then start a separate and simultaneous investigation.
That’s not to say that when the police receive a report from the Title IX office, they immediately execute an arrest warrant.
“Virginia law doesn’t change our responsibility under Title IX,” Kozak said.