Straws in the Wind - Part 441

From the Daily Princetonian: A federal appeals court ruled that a Title IX lawsuit brought by a male undergraduate student who was suspended in 2023 after being found responsible for choking two female students can move forward. The ruling, decided on July 21, reversed the New Jersey district court’s decision dismissing the lawsuit in its entirety. The ruling allows the male student to continue pursuing his Title IX lawsuit against the University. At issue is whether or not sex motivated the University’s decision to suspend the male student.

At the center of the case are claims from two female students, identified in court documents as “Sarah Smith” and “Jane Roe.” They filed separate complaints against the male student, “John Doe,” alleging that he choked them in arguments at or on the way to campus parties during the spring of 2023. The following fall, Doe, a sophomore at the time, was investigated for the two incidents after Smith and Roe separately submitted reports to the University. According to court documents, the Faculty-Student Committee on Discipline found Doe responsible for assaulting Smith and Roe. Doe was also found in violation of the University’s Alcohol Policy by allegedly hosting and serving alcohol to underage individuals. 

Doe was suspended for two years on grounds that he violated the University’s Personal Safety Policy, which bans “any physical assault committed … on the premises of the University or in the local vicinity, especially when unprovoked and/or when injury results.” Doe filed a lawsuit against the University for breach of contract, Title IX violations, and negligence in June 2024, which was later dismissed by the New Jersey district court for failing to state a claim.

In a ruling released this July, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed the dismissal unanimously and sent the case back to the district court for further evidence-gathering and trial. The appeals court found that Doe’s allegations about the University’s handling of the investigation were sufficient to allow his Title IX claim to proceed. Doe alleged that both Smith and Roe’s stories had “evolved” over the course of Princeton’s internal investigation and an “inconsistent manner of seeking out evidence.” Universities including Princeton have “struggled to find the proper balance” between protecting victims and ensuring that respondents receive fairness, Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause wrote in the ruling...

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/08/princeton-news-titleix-lawsuit-suspended-male-student-appeals-court.