I am a Dayton Flyer fan that followed the University of Dayton’s Title IX investigation of Dyshawn Pierre in 2015 closely. There is plenty of information available on-line including the Title IX report, police reports and federal court documents involving a TRO and the dismissal of of Pierre’s civil case in 2017.
In Pierre’s case the Montgomery County prosecutor elected to not pursue criminal charges approximately two months before the Title IX investigation was completed. The girl involved did not report the case to UD’s Title IX office, rather an assistant softball coach did after overhearing other girls talking about the incident. This was approx. three weeks after the incident occurred. At that time, the girl went to the University’s Medical Center for a rape examination despite the fact that there is major hospital with a level 1 trauma center 1/4 of a mile away from the University. The nurse that provided the examination indicated in the Title IX report that she had no experience with sex related crimes. The Title IX report indicated that the girl went to Pierre’s room voluntarily, left Pierre’s room three times for various reasons and climbed in to Pierre’s bed three times before the alleged incident occurred. Apparently Pierre slept in a platform bed that required the girl to use a chair to step up on to a desk and then step to the bed. She did this three times. She passed Pierre’s roommate two times in the hallway and did not show any signs of distress. His roommate testified that he did not hear anything in any manner. She also changed her story multiple times. Pierre has a learning disability that makes it difficult for him to articulate his thoughts in writing. He was deemed to have violated the University’s code of conduct because he was not able to “adequately articulate” the girl provided consent.
Pierre retained an attorney from a NYC boutique law firm that specializes in these case and lost every time in federal court. Basically, there is legal precedent that essentially allows a private university to establish its own code of conduct policy and as long as the policy is precisely followed the accused has no recourse in the courtroom. Obviously, each case is different, and some Title IX decisions have been ruled unconstitutional, but the decks are stacked against the accused. I believe that Public Universities are required to establish policy that actually provide the accused with some due process.
The reason for having Title IX is good, but past guidance given by Civil Rights division of the Dept of Education is over the top. Schools are afraid of retribution for not following this guidance that includes the loss of federal aid / grants and issues with federal student loan programs.
