Student sues Cornell for ‘refusing to investigate’ his sexual assault claim

UPDATE 6:09 p.m.

Cornell has now responded to our request for comment:

“Cornell University will vigorously defend against this litigation. Since this is an active case, however, we will not be making any additional comments to the media at this time.”

A Cornell student who says his sexual assault claim was deliberately mishandled is taking the university to court.

John Doe and Jane Roe, both Cornell students, accused each other of sexual assault after the same incident.

Both reported their claim to the university’s Title IX office, but according to court documents seen by The Tab, Cornell only investigated Jane Roe’s claim – and failed to properly handle John Doe’s.

Now John Doe is suing Cornell, alleging Title IX investigators discriminated against him because of his gender.

In the lawsuit, he makes the claims that the university:

– Refused to request that Jane Roe and third-party witnesses preserve and produce relevant text messages
– Manipulated interviews to build an unfair record against John Doe
– Conducted an unrecorded interview of a witness adverse to John Doe, in clear violation of Cornell policy
– Demanded John Doe answer an improper question during an interview despite his request to first speak to counsel

John Doe’s lawsuit adds the university’s refusal to properly investigate his complaint was due to “gender-based discrimination against John Doe as a male.”

“There is no [other] explanation for this,” it adds.

The lawsuit goes on to say Laurie Johnston, the university’s Deputy Title IX Coordinator, had “promised that she would promptly draft a formal complaint of gender discrimination against John Doe and forward it to John Doe and his father for review… To date, Ms. Johnston has not done so and has not responded to an email message… asking about the status of the claim against Jane Roe.”

John Doe’s lawyer, Alan Sash, told The Tab:

“That law requires that Cornell promptly investigate students’ complaints of sex discrimination against staff and faculty.

“Faculty and staff cannot get preferential treatment. Sex discrimination is a serious issue and Cornell needs to take it seriously.

“Cornell has refused to promptly investigate our complaint, so now we have asked a judge to compel them to do so.

“We sent complaints to the outgoing president and never heard from him; hopefully the new president will hear us and she will investigate the investigator once and for all.

“Cornell has given us a revolving door of excuses as to why it won’t investigate our complaint. That’s unacceptable. If Cornell is serious about tackling sex discrimination, then it must investigate all complaints even if it means investigating people on their payroll.”