A federal judge dismissed much of a lawsuit against the University of Nebraska alleging officials acted with "deliberate indifference" in responding to reports of rape or sexual harassment by Husker athletes.
In a 35-page order entered Wednesday, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert F. Rossiter Jr. said while UNL had not violated the students' civil rights or subjected them to harassment and retaliation, it did make some missteps in investigating their claims.
Filed in July 2020, the lawsuit alleged university officials failed to act in a timely manner or handled reports of sexual misconduct with indifference because the accused were male student-athletes on Husker teams.
Of the nine women who joined in the lawsuit, four were named, including a former Husker volleyball player. The lawsuit described instances of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and stalking by other UNL students, as well as retaliation and continued harassment after the misconduct was reported.
It also drew rare involvement from the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, which in a filing last summer chastised UNL for misapplying Title IX case law.
Rossiter, however, said seven of the nine women — including all four who were named in the lawsuit — failed to make a claim that met the standard required of Title IX lawsuits, and dismissed their complaints.
Two women's complaints, both by unidentified former students, were allowed to continue.
A woman identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 1 was stalked and harassed by an ex-boyfriend who was aided by a university employee who relayed a message to her despite the university issuing a "no-contact directive" to that student, Rossiter wrote.
"These allegations are sufficient to allege (UNL) had 'prior notice of a substantial risk of peer harassment … based on evidence [of] previous similar incidents of' harassment," Rossiter wrote.
Another woman, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 2, reported a sexual assault to a professor and later filed a formal complaint and initiated a Title IX investigation in November 2017.
Although UNL offered the woman accommodations as required by federal law, Rossiter said the student who assaulted Jane Doe 2 and was in her doctoral program continued to harass her after she had filed a complaint against him, leading her to drop out the university.
"Such allegations are sufficient to show the discrimination was 'so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive' such that it 'deprived [her] of access to the educational opportunities … provided by the school,'" Rossiter wrote.
The judge said other women's claims failed to meet the standard set forth in federal law, however.
Rossiter dismissed a complaint by Capri Davis, a former Husker volleyball player who filed a complaint after she and an unnamed woman were groped at an off-campus party, saying that while "completely inappropriate and indecent," the act could not be considered "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" to deprive her of educational opportunities.
The court also dismissed complaints from three women who reported instances of rape and sexual assault to the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, which is the office charged with investigating Title IX complaints at UNL, only to have investigators conclude there was no wrongdoing.
Rossiter said while Title IX investigators could have done a more thorough investigation into a complaint filed by Sheridan Thomas, who reported being raped by a football player in 2015 and said investigators did not interview potential witnesses she provided, but said she failed to state a claim that the university had acted unreasonably.
Similar claims made by Miranda Melson and Sydney Brun-Ozuna were also dismissed. Melson and Brun-Ozuna alleged the university had acted indifferently after they had reported being sexually assaulted. Rossiter said they had failed to provide claims that the university's actions — or lack thereof — had deprived them of educational opportunities.
Rossiter also threw out allegations that several women had faced retaliation after reporting being sexual assaulted, saying the retaliation they faced was from their alleged abuser and not from the university or university officials, as well as claims that they had been denied equal-protection rights afforded by the Fourteenth Amendment.
In a statement, the university said it was pleased with the judge's dismissals.
"The opinion provides substantial affirmation for the university's confidence in its overall Title IX process," spokeswoman Leslie Reed said.
UNL "cannot comment on the specifics of any Title IX case," Reed added, and disagreed with the factual assertions made in the remaining claims.