'Jane Doe' pushes for delay in UT sex assault hearing
A former University of Tennessee student has filed a statement in support of her request to delay a campus disciplinary hearing that would, she said, "require me to be in the presence of at least one of the men who raped me for a significant amount of time."
The woman is one of six unnamed "Jane Does" who brought a wide-ranging federal lawsuit against the university last Tuesday over its handling of sexual assault reports.
The suit alleges the university has created a student culture that enables sexual assaults by student-athletes, especially football players; displays "deliberate indifference" to claims of sexual assault; and uses an unusual student discipline process that is biased against victims who step forward.
A plaintiff known as "Jane Doe 3" faces a campus disciplinary hearing Wednesday to determine whether her alleged attacker should face university punishment. That hearing could last up to three days, according to court filings.
The scheduled hearing comes after months of delays. The woman first reported the alleged sexual assault by a UT student and two students from Tennessee State University to a resident assistant on Oct. 12, 2014. She has since left the university and no longer lives in Knoxville.
On Friday, attorneys for the six women filed a motion requesting U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger issue a temporary restraining order to stop the hearing, calling the process used by the university "unlawful."
Plaintiffs ask court to halt UT sex assault hearings
Along with a statement by Jane Doe 3, the latest court filing also includes a declaration by Brett Sokolow, a national consultant to colleges and universities on student disciplinary procedures and president and CEO of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management law firm.
Sokolow's declaration said Tennessee's public universities use a system of student discipline that does not comply with federal Title IX rules, which govern how universities must respond to allegations of sexual assault.
The system "deviates from the standard of care" required under those rules by giving only the accused student a right to counsel in the proceedings and only that student's attorney the right to cross-examination, Sokolow said. The process also violates federal rules because of inherent delays, he said.
UT gives students accused of offenses ranging from academic dishonesty to sexual assault three options. They can either appear at an administrative hearing in which they take responsibility for their actions and accept any sanctions. They can appear before a disciplinary panel that includes students who will weigh possible sanctions. Or they can choose a contested hearing conducted under a state law known as the Tennessee Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, or TUAPA, which gives students a right to an attorney and to conduct discovery.
The lawsuit claims that student-athletes accused of sexual misconduct are steered toward the TUAPA hearing.
UT's counsel, Bill Ramsey, has disputed that. On Monday, he said there was little new in the most recent filing to comment on.
"Before suspending or expelling a student for misconduct, the University of Tennessee complies with the contested case provisions of the UAPA, which provide constitutionally guaranteed due process to students accused of misconduct," he said previously. "Other states have state laws similar to the UAPA and offer contested case hearings to students accused of misconduct."
UT has not yet filed in court its official response to the lawsuit.
Reach Anita Wadhwani at 615-259-8092 and on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani.
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