6th Circuit Reinstates Discplined-Student's Title IX Claim

Yesterday the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that dismissed Title IX claims against Miami (Ohio) University in the case of a male student who was suspended for four months for "non-consensual sex acts" with a female student while he was intoxicated.  The district court had concluded that the male student, who brought various claims against the university in challenge of his suspension, did not adequately allege that the procedural errors he claimed affected the outcome of his case were motivated by bias on the part of university administrators. On appeal, however, the appellate disagreed. Specifically, the appellate court credited the plaintiff's allegations of the university's pattern of pursuing investigations and disciplining male and not female students, including the allegation that the university initiated an investigation against him but not the female student in his case. Focusing on the low burden on plaintiffs at the stage of a motion to dismiss, the court concluded that, "discovery may reveal that the alleged patterns of gender-based decision-making do not, in fact, exist. That information, however, is currently controlled by the defendants, and John has sufficiently pleaded circumstantial evidence of gender discrimination."  In particular, I think discovery could potentially reveal information that either refutes this pattern or explains it by something other than gender bias. 

As for other claims in the plaintiff's case, the court affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the plaintiff's deliberative indifference and hostile environment Title IX claims. But it partially reversed the lower court's dismissal of his equal protection and due process claims. The equal protection claim involved a similar allegation as the Title IX claim: that the university had information that could have lead it to conclude that either student violated the sexual misconduct policy (specifically, he alleged that she kissed him without consent) and only chose to investigate him and not her.  The due process claim that was reinstated involved an allegation of decisionmaker bias.

Doe v. Miami Univ., 2018 WL 797451 (6th Cir. Feb. 9, 2018)