Men face high bar to claim discrimination by campus sex assault tribunals

Story here. Excerpt:

'On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of Manhattan dismissed an anonymous male student’s gender discrimination case against Columbia University and its board of trustees. The student, who was suspended for three semesters after a campus tribunal determined he had engaged in non-consensual sex with an anonymous female student, had contended that Columbia’s investigation and prosecution of the incident violated Title IX, which prohibits universities from gender discrimination. The John Doe student, who said his accuser consented to their encounter in her dorm room bathroom and even provided the condom they used, alleged he was treated unfairly because of Columbia’s atmosphere of heightened sensitivity to women complaining of sexual assault by men.

Judge Furman determined, however, that even if Columbia’s tribunal reached the wrong conclusion in John Doe’s case and even if Doe is right that Columbia’s sexual misconduct disciplinary proceedings have a different impact on men than women, the student didn’t provide enough plausible allegations that Columbia discriminated against him because he is a man. So under the tough pleading standards the U.S. Supreme Court established in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly in 2007 and Ashcroft v. Iqbal in 2009, Furman said, John Doe’s case has to be dismissed.'