Men Accused Of Sexual Assault At UT-Austin Sue University Over Their Treatment

AUSTIN, TX -- A pair of University of Texas at Austin male students university officials are seeking to discipline after being accused of sexual assault have turned around and sued the college for mistreatment.

According to a report in the Austin American-Statesman, the two men are suing the school to prevent being punished, saying they are being used as scapegoats for a university stance on getting tough on those accused of sexual assault.

The two men aren’t identified in the lawsuit, but are described as a 24-year-old recent graduate and a 21-year-old one semester shy of graduating with a physics degree. Neither face criminal charges, and have denied the charges.

In the lawsuit, the men seek an undetermined amount of money from the university. They are being represented by Brian Roark, who served as legal counsel for former Longhorn football player Kendall Sanders, who was expelled before his sexual assault trial.

The university seeks a range of disciplinary actions against the two men now suing the school for their treatment: A ban from any UT campus; no access to attaining a degree from the school system; and a transcript notation alluding to the charges. The undergraduate also faces expulsion.

The graduate detailed in the lawsuit that he learned in December 2014 that a woman he had sex with the previous August was not accusing him of sexual assault, the Statesman reports. Austin police and the Travis County DA’s office investigated but ended up not charging him with a crime.

According to the undergraduate student, he had sexual intercourse with a woman who was not a UT student after leaving a party near campus after midnight on March 6, 2015. About a month later, the woman’s father called UT police and accused the man of sexually assaulting his daughter.

Both lawsuits argue that UT has sought to gain a reputation for being tough on sexual assault, the Statesman reports. As a result, UT employees who conducted the investigation were biased in reaching their findings, the suit reads.

“The university has been placed under enormous political pressure to appear tough on those accused of sexual assault and as a result have adopted a practice of expelling males from the university without regard to the rights of the accused student of the evidence,” each lawsuit reads. “The university has furthermore sought publicity and prestige by portraying itself as a national leader in the effort to curb on-campus sexual assaults.”

UT-Austin investigates more than 100 allegations of sexual assault a year. In a previous piece, the Statesman reported that one of every five female undergraduate students at UT say they have been been sexually assaulted since enrolling.