Decision Roundup: Displined Student Edition

Here are some examples of recent judicial decisions involving Title IX's application to student discipline:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a male student's Title IX claim against University of California at Santa Barbara should be dismissed because the plaintiff did not exhaust the administrative remedies available to him as a matter of state administrative law. The plaintiff should have first challenged the university's decision by filing a petition for administrative mandamus before challenging the decision in federal court without any other .  Doe v. Regents of the University of California, No. 17-56110, 2018 WL 2709728 (9th Cir. June 6, 2018).

A student at a performing arts high school who was suspended for sexual harassment could not proceed on a Title IX claim containing "conclusory" allegations that the school's decision to initiate the disciplinary proceeding was motivated by the student's gender as opposed to the allegations of sexual harassment made by his peers. Nor were his claims that the school treated other female students more favorably sufficient to support a claim of disparate treatment due to sex. In re the matter of John Doe, v. Saint Paul Conservatory for the Performing Arts, No. CV 17-5032 (DWF/FLN), 2018 WL 2431849 (D. Minn. May 30, 2018).

A student suing the New School over having been suspended for sexual assault did not sufficiently plead a Title IX claim because the complaint lacked particular facts sufficient to cast some "articulable doubt on the accuracy of the outcome of the disciplinary proceeding." Moreover, the plaintiff supported his allegation that the proceeding was tainted by gender bias by pointing to the panel's finding that he "lacked empathy." The court rejected the contention that this statement indicated the panel was relying on gender stereotypes, noting that the empathy finding lacked a "bona fide connection to gender." B.B. v. The New School, No. 17 CIV. 8347 (AT), 2018 WL 2316342 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 30, 2018).

A court refused to enjoin the plaintiff's suspension from George Washington University on grounds that his Title IX claim was not sufficiently "likely to succeed on the merits." The student alleged in his complaint that the university was biased against males because it was under investigation from OCR, as well as under pressure from student protestors, over its alleged failure to discipline perpetrators of sexual misconduct.  The court conceded that this allegation could be sufficient to withstand dismissal, but did not rise to the level of likely success required for a preliminary injunction to issue. Doe v. Geo. Wash. U., 2018 WL1972461 (Apr. 25, 2018).