Lawsuit: University unfairly kicked student out over sexual assault allegation

Story here. Excerpt:

'A former University of Michigan student is suing the school, claiming an investigation into a sexual misconduct report that resulted in his suspension violated his constitutional rights.

Twenty-one-year-old Drew Sterrett, of New York, filed lawsuits in both federal and Washtenaw County courts in late April that say the university committed numerous violations while looking into a sexual encounter that occurred between Sterrett and an unnamed female student at Mosher-Jordan Hall in March 2012.

Sterrett was never criminally charged and the woman didn’t report any misconduct until August 2012. The lawsuit alleges the sex was consensual and the woman only reported it as misconduct after her mother found a diary chronicling the times she had sex.

Sterrett's attorney, civil rights lawyer Deborah Gordon, said this incident and others like the Brendan Gibbons sexual misconduct case are examples of why universities shouldn't investigate crimes like sexual assaults.

“I think they don’t know what they’re doing," she said Tuesday night in a phone interview. "I think if they’re going to take it upon themselves to investigate (the crimes), they need a heck of a lot more training.”

The university said it plans to fight the lawsuit.'