UPDATED: Feb. 19, 2019 at 10:06 p.m.

A former graduate student is suing Syracuse University in federal court, accusing the university of wrongfully expelling him after a sexual misconduct allegation, according to court documents.

The graduate student, listed as “John Doe” in the lawsuit, attended SU from 2016-17 as a student in the Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed Feb. 11, court records show. SU expelled the student in spring 2017 after the University Conduct Board concluded he was guilty of sexual assault, per the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, the graduate student accused SU of violating his rights under federal law, the New York State Constitution and the university’s own policies. The student requested SU pay direct and indirect damages the student experienced after his expulsion as well as punitive damages for allegedly violating his rights, court documents show.

Sarah Scalese, SU’s senior associate vice president for university communications, said in a statement Tuesday that the university is committed to investigating and resolving Title IX complaints as fairly, efficiently and sensitively as possible.

“That is what happened in this case,” Scalese said. “Per federal privacy law and University policy, we do not comment on the specifics of any individual cases.”

The lawsuit lists Sheila Johnson-Willis, SU’s chief equal opportunity and Title IX officer, and Bernerd Jacobson, the university’s senior equal opportunity and Title IX investigator, as defendants in addition to the university and its Board of Trustees.

SU’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Inclusion, and Resolution Services started an investigation into the student’s conduct after the Syracuse Police Department declined to investigate further into the matter, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that SU’s investigation of the student’s conduct was biased.

The university used a “trauma-informed approach” to investigate the matter, according to a press release the student’s lawyer sent to The Daily Orange.

Michael Allen, a Connecticut-based lawyer, is representing the student. John Doe is a resident of Connecticut, where both students referenced in the court documents met prior to coming to SU, according to the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, the male student denied that any sexual acts with the woman student were nonconsensual. The University Conduct Board rejected the woman’s accusation that all sexual encounters with John Doe were nonconsensual, according to the lawsuit.

The University Conduct Board determined that the student was guilty of committing rape against the woman on Nov. 13, 2016, according to the lawsuit. The Board expelled the student in May 2017, per the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also made a claim that SU did not notify John Doe there was a complaint against him.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Sarah Scalese was misquoted. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on February 19, 2019 at 8:33 pm

Contact Casey: casey@dailyorange.com | @caseydarnell_