U.S. appeals court agrees that college can’t suspend student

CINCINNATI » A federal appeals court panel Monday upheld blocking a university’s suspension of a male student who argues he was completely denied his right to confront a female student accusing him of sexual assault.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal’s 3-0 ruling agreed with a federal judge’s 2016 preliminary injunction after the student appealed his University of Cincinnati suspension. He claims his constitutional rights to due process were violated.

The ruling comes after Friday’s announcement that the Trump administration is rolling back Obama administration policy on investigating college sexual assaults. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said Obama’s policy had been unfairly skewed against those accused of assault.

Women’s rights groups warn the new interim guidelines will discourage reporting of sexual assaults.

Judge Richard A. Griffin, writing the appeal court’s opinion, said the judges are “sensitive to the competing concerns” in the case and agree UC has a strong interest in eliminating sexual assault on its campus and providing appropriate discipline for offenders.

The University of Cincinnati student referred to as “John Doe” contends he was denied a fair hearing without confronting his accuser, who failed to appear at his university disciplinary hearing. He contends their sex at his apartment in 2015 was consensual, while she had reported it wasn’t. He met the woman referred to in court documents as “Jane Roe” through a dating app.

The court ruling said with the “he said/she said” nature of the case, UC officials needed to provide fundamental fairness to a state university student facing long-term exclusion.

“Defendants’ failure to provide any form of confrontation of the accuser made the proceeding against John Doe fundamentally unfair,” the ruling says. It agrees with the district court judge that the male student has a strong likelihood of gaining a permanent injunction.