Stony Brook University must defend a Title IX suit accusing it of deliberate indifference to the alleged sexual assault of a student, a federal judge in White Plains, N.Y., has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Nelson Román rejected the university’s attempt to throw out the case filed by a woman who claims a male student had unwanted forcible sexual contact with her after she’d been drinking at an on-campus party in January 2014.
The suit contends that campus police, the university’s Community Standards Office and others were hostile because the woman demanded a full investigation and disciplinary charges.
The male student was found not responsible after a May 2014 disciplinary hearing, the decision said.
The suit contends the woman suffered from flashbacks, physical pain and post-traumatic stress disorder and that such stress and emotional trauma resulting from both the attack and the university’s response adversely affected her academic performance.
Román’s decision noted that the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights investigated the SUNY system’s general handling of sexual assault and harassment issues in 2007-08 and 2010-11, specifically targeting four campuses, but not Stony Brook. Because of the investigation, SUNY signed a voluntary resolution agreement to remedy Title IX deficiencies.
However, the suit claims the agreement hadn’t been implemented at the time of the Stony Brook incident.
