5 Cases That Could Shape Campus Sexual Assault Investigations

Article here. Jump the paywall by Googling the first paragraph text. Excerpt:

'After Yale University expelled Jack Montague, a former basketball team captain determined by school officials to have sexually assaulted a female student, his lawyers went out on the offensive.

Employing an increasingly common strategy for male college students accused of sexual misconduct, Montague’s lawyers sued Yale in June, accusing the school of violating the former basketball star’s due process rights. The suit claims Yale railroaded Montague to counter criticism that it hasn’t reacted strongly enough to reports of sexual assault.

The case comes as universities are amping up their response to sexual assault allegations. Those efforts have gained steam as reports of campus assaults have grown more widespread, and following a U.S. Department of Education threat, in a 2011 directive, to withhold federal funding under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act to schools that don’t adequately respond to sexual violence.

As some schools have attempted to address the issue, however, their actions have led to court disputes. Some come from men who claim that they were unfairly disciplined in connection with an alleged assault. Others are advanced by female students who allege that their schools didn’t do enough when they stepped forward to report themselves the victim of an assault.

Yale, represented by Connecticut’s Donahue, Durham & Noonan, has yet to answer Montague’s suit.

Here’s a look at five other pending cases that may provide guidance on how universities should handle sexual misconduct inquiries.'