As More College Students Say “Me Too,” Accused Men Are Suing For Defamation

Article here. Excerpt:

'About a month after her divorce was finalized, a PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis was walking across campus when a stranger approached and asked for her name. Once she identified herself, the stranger quickly handed her an envelope before disappearing. Inside, there was some unsettling news: her ex-husband was suing her for defamation. Her offense: reporting to the university’s Title IX office that he had raped her. It was late in the day, so she spent a nerve-wracking night until she could contact an attorney and start on a journey that would drain her savings as she tried to prove she'd told the truth.

Eleven months earlier, in January 2016, the woman known as Jane Doe in court papers had told the school that her then-husband, identified as John Doe, had raped her on Dec. 17, 2015, while they both were students at Washington University. They’d been married less than two years. Within a few months, the university found John, a law student at the time of the reported rape, in violation of campus sexual assault policies. Since he’d already completed classes, the university put his law degree on hold for two years. Jane thought this ugly chapter of her life was over, until that day in December 2016 when the stranger approached.

Now, John was blaming her for his loss of a job at a law firm and demanding that she pay damages for having hurt his reputation, his career prospects, and his physical and emotional well-being.

"I thought I was done suffering at the hand of this person," Jane, 27, told BuzzFeed News. "I thought he was done making my life miserable. All of a sudden I'm being sued."'