Federal jury finds UMD failed to stop harassment of student cleared of sexual misconduct

Article here. Excerpt:

'A federal jury on Thursday decided in favor of a former University of Maryland student who sued the university for failing to protect him from harassment after he was cleared of a sexual misconduct claim.

The student sued the university in 2022 under the pseudonym John Doe. The jury said he proved by a “preponderance of the evidence” that the university was “deliberately indifferent” to the harassment against him given the known circumstances.

While the lawsuit sought about $10 million, the jury ultimately awarded John Doe $1 — legally known as nominal damages — which recognizes that a plaintiff’s legal rights were violated, even though there was no measurable harm.

The jury agreed with John Doe on all four questions on its verdict sheet. It found he was harassed because of his sex, that the harassment was severe enough to “deprive him of equal access” to education and that the university’s response was “clearly unreasonable.”

A university spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Diamondback on Friday that “the University of Maryland disagrees with, but nonetheless respects, the decision of the jury, and otherwise maintains that it appropriately followed and applied Title IX regulations,” referring to the federal law that bans sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding.'